The Air Force awarded Raytheon a $32.5 million contract for Griffin A and B air-to-surface missiles with $85.5 million in potential options under an indefinite quantity/delivery arrangement, the company announced Nov. 7. The 33-pound aft-firing AGM-176A Griffin missile is employed by AC-130W Dragon Spear gunships and is also a feature of the precision strike package, which is planned for integration on Air Force Special Operations Command’s next generation AC-130J Ghostrider gunship. The Griffin B is a forward-firing variant capable of launch from light fixed-wing aircraft, such as remotely piloted aircraft. Raytheon marked the 2,000th Griffin delivered to the Air Force and Marine Corps early this year.
Australia’s military will help the Pentagon pursue so-called “air-breathing” hypersonic weapons and more under the U.S.-run Allied Prototyping Initiative, the U.S. Defense Department said Nov. 30. The Southern Cross Integrated Flight Research Experiment (SCIFiRE) initiative “will be essential to the future of hypersonic research and development, ensuring the U.S. and…