Japan approved for $3.6 billion AMRAAM purchase

Japan’s request for 1,200 AIM-120D-3 and AIM-120C-8 AMRAAM has been approved as a Foreign Military Sale (FMS) by the US State Department. Notification of the approval has been forward to the US Congress by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA).

The deal, if fully realised, will be worth up to US$3.6 billion and along with the actual missiles will include up to 20 AIM-120D-3 guidance sections and up to four AIM-120C-8 guidance sections.

The deal also includes AMRAAM propulsion sections, warheads, AIM-120 captive air training missiles, missile containers and control section spares.

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In addition, it includes common munitions built-in test reprogramming equipment and ADU-891 adaptor group test sets, munitions support and support equipment.

Similarly, approval was granted for the sale of up to 30 AIM-120C-8 AMRAAM and one AIM-120C-8 AMRAAM guidance section to Morrocco. The deal will be worth $88.4 million and the missiles will be used on the country’s newly acquired fleet of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 72 fighter aircraft.

The deals, both signed within the past fortnight, follow the Pentagon placing the largest-ever contract for the supply of the missile in September last year.

The $1.2 billion agreement covered the production of Lot 38, which will supply AMRAAMs to Bahrain, Bulgaria, Canada, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Norway, Switzerland, Ukraine, the UK, the US Navy and the US Air Force.

In 2024, the DSCA approved the provision of AMRAAMs to Israel, Norway, Romania and Singapore under the FMS programme.

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