WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The US Air Force ordered a $4.8 million contract to continue work on a counter electronics, high-powered microwave weapon to be carried on cruise missiles, the Raytheon Company announced in a press release.
“The US Air Force has awarded Raytheon Company $4.8 million to continue the Counter-Electronics High Power Microwave Advanced Missile, known as CHAMP, aboard the Conventional Air-Launched Cruise Missile (CALCM),” the release stated on Wednesday.
CHAMP is a payload that can disable adversaries' electronic systems, the release explained.
“Non-kinetic systems give the [United States] the option to defeat enemy infrastructure with little collateral damage,” Raytheon Advanced Missile Systems Vice President Thomas Bussing said. “The pairing of CHAMP and CALCM, a proven weapon, lowers risk and brings tomorrow's capabilities forward to today.”
As part of the contract, Raytheon will refurbish the CHAMP payload and a pair of CALCM cruise missiles and deliver them to the Air Force Research Laboratory, the release added.
The new project is the first major CHAMP activity in the US defense-industrial sector since the Air Force Research Laboratory successfully demonstrated the technology in October 2012, the release noted.
