Navy League 2024: Raytheon focuses on RAM production, enhancements

Raytheon Technologies is ramping up production of RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile guided weapon systems. (Raytheon Technologies)

Raytheon Technologies is ramping up RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) production as it works on improving operational missile communication capabilities, Roger Bissmeyer, company's RAM programme director, told Janes .

Future missile iterations will likely feature “next level of communication,” Bissmeyer noted. “When missiles talk to the ship and the ship talks to missiles, that's a whole new level of capability,” he added during a 28 March interview in advance of the Navy League Sea-Air-Space 2024 global maritime exposition, starting on 8 April in National Harbor, Maryland.

The RAM 2B airframe was developed with more capability in mind, with “room for additional software-driven capability”, he said, adding that a missile flew in February 2024 with upgraded software.

Raytheon Technologies and its German industrial partners working in collaboration with the United States and German navies have developed a software factory, he said, with expectations for additional missile software upgrades for years to come.

“Capability to the fleet is our focus. Can we upgrade missiles without bringing them all the way back? That's a big deal. There's a lot of opportunity there.”

The company is focused on building Block 2As and Block 2Bs whose upgrades include “completely different” guidance and control sections, he said, adding missiles can better detect what is in front of the weapon, understand the situation, and adjust.

Launchers are also in production, he noted, with recent upgrades to maximise the capabilities of the overall system through trajectory shaping and faster firing.