US Navy completes AARGM-ER STV flight on F/A-18 Super Hornet

The US Navy (USN) completed a milestone captive-carriage flight of an Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile – Extended Range (AARGM-ER) Separation Test Vehicle (STV) on an F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet multirole combat aircraft at the Naval Air Warfare Center Atlantic Test Ranges in Patuxent River, Maryland, on 22 April.

Disclosed on 7 May, the STV flight marked the first time the AGM-88G AARGM-ER weapon system demonstrated its ability to communicate with the F/A-18 E/F platform. The flight was also conducted in support of the first AARGM-ER live-fire Flight Test Vehicle (FTV) event planned for the second quarter of this year at Point Mugu Sea Test Range in California.

A US Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hornet conducts a captive-carriage flight with an Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile – Extended Range (AARGM-ER) Separation Test Vehicle at the Naval Air Warfare Center Atlantic Test Ranges in Patuxent River, Maryland, on April 22. The navy is integrating the AARGM-ER with the F/A-18E/F and EA-18G, and it will be compatible for integration with the F-35. (US Navy)

“The Separation Test Vehicle (STV) used had a full-flight control system but an inert rocket motor and a special telemetry instrumentation system instead of the warhead,” USN Captain Mitch Commerford, Direct and Time-Sensitive program manager at Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) told Janes. “When separated on a future test event, the STV will fly and demonstrate all of the flight characteristics of the first live-fire Flight Test Vehicle prior to rocket motor ignition,” he added.