The US Navy has completed a series of guided flight tests for Raytheon’s RAM Block 2A short-range, surface-to-air missile.

Testing occurred at the Naval Air Warfare Center in China Lake, California, and from the Navy’s self-defense test ship off the coast of Southern California.

Raytheon expects to deliver the RAM Block 2A missile to the Navy by the end of the year.

Developed in an international cooperative program between the United States and Germany, the RIM-116 RAM is designed as a high-firepower, low-cost, self-defense system against anti-ship cruise missiles and other asymmetric threats. For all versions of the missile, there is no shipboard support required (i.e., no illuminators) after missile launch.