$20.7B AMRAAM multiyear: Raytheon gets a five-year deal to nearly double air-to-air missile output

The money

The $20.7 billion figure is a ceiling, and it spans the base period plus both options ^[1, 2]. The Pentagon release describes the contract as a “joint program investment” carried out by the Department of War, the Air Force, the Navy and Foreign Military Sales allies ^[1]. Neither the Pentagon nor RTX disclosed missile quantities, unit prices or how the value divides among U.S. and foreign customers ^{[1, 2, 3]}.

How does the AMRAAM deal relate to Raytheon’s 1,900-missile framework?

RTX says the contract “follows the landmark agreement” with the Pentagon announced earlier in 2026, which supports annual production of at least 1,900 AMRAAMs ^[2]. Air & Space Forces Magazine reports that Raytheon announced framework agreements in February to raise output of the AMRAAM along with the Tomahawk, SM-3 Block IB, SM-3 Block IIA and SM-6, and that the award did not make clear whether the $20.7 billion funds that framework or is a separate deal ^[3]. The same pattern played out in August with Tomahawk, when the Navy awarded RTX a seven-year contract under the same framework push (our brief on that award).

For scale, the Air Force’s fiscal 2026 spending plan included $680 million for 423 AMRAAMs, split between regular appropriations and reconciliation money, according to Air & Space Forces Magazine ^[3].

The FY2027 request lines are much smaller than that. In the procurement funding tables of both NDAA bills, AMRAAM appears at $167.4 million in Weapons Procurement, Navy, and $115.9 million in Missile Procurement, Air Force ^[5, 6]. The House-passed H.R. 8800 and the Senate Armed Services Committee’s S. 4784 each authorize exactly the requested amount on both lines ^[5, 6]. The tables cover base authorization only; they say nothing about reconciliation money or foreign buys flowing into the same contract.

The programs

The AIM-120 is a radar-guided, beyond-visual-range missile carried by Air Force and Navy fighters, and it also serves as the interceptor for the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) that Raytheon builds with Kongsberg ^[2, 3]. RTX says the missile, now in its fifth generation, operates on 14 platforms and is fielded by 44 countries ^[2]. Under Secretary of War for Acquisition and Sustainment Michael P. Duffey called it “a proven air-to-air capability” in the announcement ^[1].

The program office named in the release is Portfolio Acquisition Executive (PAE) Weapons, a Department of the Air Force organization that handles air-to-ground and air-to-air munitions for U.S. and allied users ^[1].

What it means for the AMRAAM supply chain

RTX says it nearly doubled AMRAAM production in 2025 compared with 2024, works with “hundreds of small and mid-sized suppliers,” and is “now exploring international co-production” ^[2]. Air & Space Forces Magazine reports that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries holds a license to produce the missile in Japan, and that as of April 2026 the company was still discussing the scope of Japan’s participation ^[3].

The award also sits inside a crowded air-to-air portfolio. The Air Force plans to fly the AMRAAM alongside the AIM-260 Joint Air Tactical Missile (JATM), still in development, and Lockheed Martin announced a separate multiyear agreement to expand JATM production in September, according to the same outlet ^[3]. Planned SIP IV and SIP V software upgrades would raise the AMRAAM’s computing power fourfold and expand its engagement envelope ^[3].

Competitors have an opening in the House bill. Section 244 of H.R. 8800 directs the Pentagon to develop and transition to production low-cost alternatives in nine weapon categories, including medium-range air-to-air missiles, defined as beyond-visual-range missiles with intercepts at 60 nautical miles or more and a top speed of at least Mach 3 ^[5]. It calls for transition planning to low-rate initial production no later than fiscal 2030 and points the work toward commercial solutions openings, other transaction authority and nontraditional contractors ^[5].

The politics

Congress supplied the legal basis in the FY2026 NDAA. Section 804 of Public Law 119-60, signed Dec. 18, 2025, authorizes multiyear contracts for AMRAAM systems beginning in fiscal 2026, alongside nine other munitions on the same list ^[4]. That section spells out terms of up to seven program years for Tomahawk, THAAD and PAC-3 MSE; the AMRAAM entry carries no such language ^[4].

Both FY2027 bills would build on the authority, and both would add conditions.

House. Section 1839 of H.R. 8800 restates AMRAAM in a new 13-item multiyear list that also includes the JATM, and allows terms of up to seven program years starting in fiscal 2027 ^[5]. Before signing such a contract, an agency head would have to certify to the defense committees, at least seven days ahead, that it will produce significant savings and that the future-years defense program will fund it “without cancellation” ^[5]. Section 1663 names AMRAAM among the munitions whose prime contractors must buy solid rocket motors from more than one supplier, requires an annual certification starting by Sept. 1, 2027, and caps spending by the Deputy Secretary’s office and the Economic Defense Unit at 50 percent of their FY2028 and later funds in any year the certification is missing ^[5]. For AMRAAM contracts signed on or after Oct. 1, 2027, at least two motor suppliers must be in place ^[5].

Senate. S. 4784 takes a different route. Section 813 defines “covered” contracts as those made under the FY2026 multiyear authority, AMRAAM included, and would bar spending on them unless the Pentagon certifies they contain no clause allowing it to “remove or install personnel” at a prime or subcontractor or to direct a contractor’s internal research or capital spending ^[6]. Contracts already awarded that fail the test would go back to bilateral negotiation to remove the clause “without consideration” ^[6]. The section would also bar changing the terms of such contracts entered into with FY2027 funds to relieve delinquency, overruns or schedule slips, except under the extraordinary contractual relief law ^[6]. The Senate’s own new multiyear list, in Section 801, covers munitions such as the Joint Strike Missile, the Mk 48 torpedo and JDAM but does not repeat AMRAAM ^[6]. Section 1228 would have the Pentagon and State Department seek a co-development and co-production program with Germany covering Patriot, AMRAAM and the AIM-9 Sidewinder by March 1, 2027 ^[6].

The Pentagon’s own statement asked for more of the same: “additional authority and funding that would enable sustained production and greater certainty for the industrial base” ^[1].

Next milestone

Fiscal 2027 began Oct. 1 under H.R. 6500, which carries FY2026 rates through Dec. 11, 2026 ^[7]. Section 102 of that law bars stopgap funds from paying for production-rate increases above levels sustained with FY2026 money and from starting multiyear buys that use advance procurement for economic order quantities unless funds are later appropriated for them ^[7]. Section 104 separately blocks new starts ^[7]. The House-Senate split on Section 813’s certification and Section 1663’s motor rule stays open until conferees settle H.R. 8800 and S. 4784, and the Pentagon has not said how many AMRAAMs the first year of the contract will buy.