AMRAAM: Deploying & Developing America’s Medium-Range Air-Air Missile (updated)
Related Stories: Americas - USA, Asia - Central, Asia - Other, Boeing, Contracts - Awards, Contracts - Modifications, Design Innovations, Europe - France, Europe - Other, FOCUS Articles, Field Reports, Middle East - Israel, Middle East - Other, Missiles - Air-Air, Missiles - Surface-Air, New Systems Tech, Official Reports, Other Corporation, R&D - Contracted, Raytheon, Support & Maintenance, Warfare - Trends
(click for test missile zoom)
Raytheon’s AMRAAM has become the world market leader for medium range air to air missiles. It was designed with the lessons of Vietnam in mind, and of local air combat exercises like ACEVAL and Red Flag.
One of the key lessons learned from Vietnam was that a fighter would be likely to encounter multiple enemies, and would need to launch and guide several missiles at once in order to ensure its survival. This had not been possible with the AIM-7 Sparrow, a “semi-active radar homing” missile which required a constant radar lock on one target. In addition, enemy fighters were capable of launching missiles of their own. Pilots who weren’t free to maneuver after launch would often be forced to “break lock” or be killed – sometimes even by a short-range missile fired during the last phases of their enemy’s approach. Since fighters that could carry radar-guided missiles like the AIM-7 tended to be larger and more expensive, and the Soviets were known to have far more fighters overall, this was not a good trade.
Enter AMRAAM – the AIM-120 Advanced, Medium-Range Air to Air Missile. This DID FOCUS article covers successive generations of AMRAAM missiles, international contracts and key events from 2006 onward, and even some of its emerging competitors. New materials will be highlighted in green type. The most recent additions involve a Greek contract for industrial offsets…
- Some MRAAM History, and AMRAAM’s Design Approach (ie. Continue reading – updated)
- AMRAAM: Versions & Derivatives
- AMRAAM’s International Competitors
- AMRAAM: Contracts & Key Events, FY 2006-Present [updated]
- Additional Readings & Sources [updated]
One Source: Hundreds of programs; Thousands of links, photos, and analyses
DII brings a complete collection of articles with original reporting and research, and expert analyses of events to your desktop - no need for multiple modules, or complex subscriptions. All supporting documents, links, & appendices accompany each article.
Benefits
- Save time
- Eliminate your blind spots
- Get the big picture, quickly
- Keep up with the important facts
- Stay on top of your projects and your competitiors
Features
- Ability to conduct complex searches
- Coverage of procurement and doctrine issues
- Timeline of past and future program events
- Comprehensive links to other useful resources
