Background Information
Developed by the US Navy starting in the late 1940s, the Sidewinder introduced several new technologies that made it simpler and much more reliable than its Air Force counterpart, the AIM-4 Falcon. After terrible experiences with the Falcon in the Vietnam War, the Air Force replaced its Falcons with Sidewinders.

The primary advantage to the Sidewinder is its sophisticated, yet simple detection and guidance system. During WWII the Germans had experimented with infrared guidance systems in a large missile known as the Enzian, but were unable to get it to work reliably. The Enzian was guided by an IR detector mounted in a small, steerable telescope. A vane in front of the mirror shaded the detector, so the system could locate the target. By continually turning toward the telescope, the missile was guided toward the target using what is known as a pure pursuit.

The Sidewinder improved on this. The first was to replace the "steering" mirror with a mirror rotating around a shaft pointed out the front of the missile. The detector was mounted in front of the mirror. Instead of attempting to track the target in the mirror, the IR sensor would see the target as brief flashes as the mirror lined up with the target. By knowing where the flash was as the mirror spun, the direction (radially) to the target was also known. This system could also track the radial angle to the target by timing the flashes. If the target was further to the side, the flash seen in the detector would be shorter due to the mirror's higher rate of motion at the outside.

This signal makes the tracking system both simpler and better. Instead of simply pointing the missile at the target (which is inefficient), the Sidewinder "remembered" each flash's direction and time. By attempting to zero out the changes, instead of the difference between the detector and missile angles, the Sidewinder flies a course known as proportional pursuit, which is much more efficient and makes the missile "lead" the target.

However this system also requires the missile to have a fixed roll axis orientation. If the missile spins at all, the timing based on the speed of rotation of the mirror is no longer accurate. Correcting for this spin would normally require some sort of sensor to tell which way is "down" and then adding controls to correct it. Instead, small control surfaces were placed at the rear of the missile with spinning disks on their outer surface. Airflow over the disk spins them to a high speed. If the missile starts to roll, the gyroscopic force of the disk drives the control surface into the airflow, cancelling the motion. Thus the Sidewinder team replaced a potentially complex control system with some simple mechanical bits.

First Operation

Sidewider missile

A prototype Sidewinder, the XAAM-N-7 (later AIM-9A), was first fired successfully in September 1953. The initial production version, designated AAM-N-7 (later AIM-9B), entered operational use in 1956, and has been improved upon steadily since. The first combat use of the Sidewinder was in 1958 with the air force of the Republic of China on Taiwan. During that period of time, the ROC was engaged in air battles with the People's Republic of China over the Taiwan Strait. The United States provided a few dozen Sidewinders to ROC forces, which used them to great effect against PRC MiG-15s, adding a new element to an air war which had formerly been fought only with guns.

The Taiwan Strait battles inadvertently produced a new derivative of Sidewinder: shortly after that conflict the Soviet Union began the manufacture of the K-13/R-3S missile (NATO reporting name AA-2 'Atoll'), a reverse-engineered copy of the Sidewinder. It was reportedly made possible after a Taiwanese AIM-9B hit a Chinese MiG-15 without exploding, and served as a "university course" in missile design for Soviet engineers. The K-13 and its derivatives remained in production for nearly 30 years.

Although originally developed for the USN, the Sidewinder was subsequently adopted by the USAF as the GAR-8 (later AIM-9E). During the 1960s the USN and USAF pursued their own separate versions of the Sidewinder, but cost considerations later forced the development of common variants.

The Sidewinder subsequently evolved through a series of upgraded versions with newer, more sensitive seekers with various types of cooling and various propulsion, fuse, and warhead improvements.

Although each of those versions had various seeker, cooling, and fusing differences, all but one shared infrared homing. The exception was the US Navy AAM-N-7 Sidewinder IB (later AIM-9C), a Sidewinder with a semi-active radar homing seeker head developed for the F-8 Crusader. Only about 1,000 of these weapons were produced, many of which were later rebuilt as the AGM-122 Sidearm anti-radiation missile.

Sidewinders Variants

AIM-9L / AIM-9M / AIM-9M-7
The next major advance in IR Sidewinder development was the AIM-9L ("Lima") model, introduced in 1978. This was the first "all-aspect" Sidewinder with the ability to attack from all angles, including head-on. In its first combat uses by Israel over Lebanon and by Britain during the Falklands War, the "Lima" reportedly achieved a kill ratio of around 80%, a dramatic improvement over the 10-15% levels of earlier weapons. In both cases, the users' opponents had not developed any tactics for the evasion of a head-on missile shot of this kind, making them all the more vulnerable.

The subsequent AIM-9M ("Mike") has the all-aspect capability of the L model while providing all-around higher performance. The M model has improved defense against infrared countermeasures, enhanced background discrimination capability, and a reduced-smoke rocket motor. These modifications increase its ability to locate and lock on a target and decrease the missile's chances for detection. Deliveries began in 1983. The AIM-9M-7 was a specific modification to AIM-9M in response to threats expected in the Persian Gulf war zone.

AIM-9X
Now entering service is the AIM-9X, a new variant with an imaging infrared focal plane array seeker with claimed 90° off-boresight capability, compatibility with helmet-mounted sights (the new U.S. JHMCS, Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing System), and a totally new thrust-vectoring system replacing the traditional control surfaces. It retains the same motor and warhead of the "Mike," but its lower drag gives it improved range and speed.

SIDEARM / AGM-122A
The Sidewinder was also adapted into a new missile, the AGM-122A Sidearm, which is an Anti-radiation missile utilizing an AIM-9C guidance section modified to detect and track a radiating ground-based air defense system radar. The target detecting device is modified for air-to-surface use, employing forward hemisphere acquisition capability. Sidearm stocks have apparently been expended, and the weapon is no longer in the active inventory.

Architecture
The Aim-9 is made up of a number of different components manufactured by different companies including AeroJet and Raytheon. The missile is divided into four main sections: guidance, target detector, warhead, and rocket motor.

The Guidance and Control Unit (GCU) contains most of the electronics and mechanics that enable the missile to function. At the very front is the IR seeker head utilizing the rotating spindle, mirror, and five CDS cells or “pan and scan” CCD (AIM-9X), electric motor, and armature all protruding into a glass dome. Directly behind this are the electronics that gather data, interpret signals, and generate the control signals that steer the missile. An umbilical that attaches to the launcher, witch is pulled from the missile at launch. A 5,000 PSIG argon bottle or Sterling self generating liquid nitrogen engine (AIM-9X) to cool the electronics. Two electric servos power the canards to steer the missile (Except AIM-9X). At the back is a gas grain generator or thermal battery (AIM-9X) to provide electrical power. The AIM-9 X features High-Off-Boresight capability, together with JHeMoCS (Joint Helmet Mounted Cuing System) this missile is capable of locking on to a target that it is behind it. The Aim-9X also features a Built-In-Test to aid in maintenance and reliability.

Next is a target detector with eight IR emitters/detectors that detonate the warhead in the event of a near miss. Versions older than the AIM-9L featured an influence fuse that relied on the targets magnetic field as input. Current trends in shielded wires and non-magnetic metals in aircraft construction rendered this obsolete.

Recent models of the AIM-9 are configured with an annular blast fragmentation warhead. The case is made of spirally wound spring steel filed with 12 pounds of tritonol. The fuse requires five seconds at 20 Gs acceleration to arm and features a safe/arm device.

The solid propellant rocket motor provides propulsion for the missile. A reduced smoke propellant makes it difficult for a target to see and avoid the missile. This section also features the launch lugs used to hold the missile to the rail of the missile launcher. The forward of the three lugs has two contact buttons that electrically pre-arm the warhead and activate the motor igniter. The fins provide stability from an aerodynamic point of view but it is the rolerons at the end of the fins providing gyroscopic precession that prevents the uncanny motion that gave the Sidewinder its name in the early days. The canards and fins of the AIM-9X are smaller to accommodate its use on the F-22 and this time it is the fins that do the steering while the wings up front provide stability. The AIM-9X also features Vectored Thrust to increase maneuverability and accuracy with four veins inside the exhaust that move as the fins move. The last upgrade to the missile motor on the AIM-9X is the addition of a wire harness that allows communication between the guidance section and the control section as well as a new 1760 bus to connect the guidance section with the launcher’s digital umbilical.

The Sidewinder is the most widely used air-to-air missile in the West, with more than 110,000 missiles produced for 27 nations excluding the United States. It has been built under license by other nations (including Sweden, which builds it under the local designation Rb24). The AIM-9 is one of the oldest, least expensive and most successful air-to-air missiles.

It has been said that the design goals for the original Sidewinder were to produce a reliable and effective missile with the "electronic complexity of a table model radio and the mechanical complexity of a washing machine" -- goals which were well accomplished in the early missiles.

AIM-9 Sidewinder is a post from: DefenceTalk | Defense & Military News - Forums - Pictures - Weapons

Political and historical background
AMRAAM was developed as the result of an agreement, no longer in effect, among the United States and several other NATO nations to develop air-to-air missiles and to share production technology. Under this agreement the U.S. was to develop the next generation medium range missile (AMRAAM) and Europe would develop the next generation short range missile (ASRAAM). The breakdown in this agreement lead to Europe developing the MBDA Meteor, a competitor to AMRAAM and the U.S. pursuing upgrades of the AIM-9 Sidewinder. After protracted development, deployment of AMRAAM (AIM-120A) began in September 1991.

The eastern counterpart of AMRAAM is the very similar Russian R-77 AA-12 Adder, commonly known in the west as "Amraamski."

Operational Features Overview
AMRAAM has an all-weather, beyond-visual-range capability. It improves the aerial combat capabilities of U.S. and allied aircraft to meet the future threat of enemy air-to-air weapons. AMRAAM serves as a follow-on to the AIM-7 Sparrow missile series. The new missile is faster, smaller, and lighter, and has improved capabilities against low-altitude targets. It also incorporates an active radar in conjunction with an inertial reference unit and micro-computer system, which makes the missile less dependent upon the fire-control system of the aircraft.

Once the missile closes in on the target, its active radar guides it to intercept. This feature, called "fire and forget," frees the pilot from the need to continuously illuminate the missile's target with a radar lock, enabling the pilot to aim and fire several missiles simultaneously at multiple targets and perform evasive maneuvers while the missiles guide themselves to the targets.

Guidance system overview

Interception course stage
AMRAAM uses two-stage guidance when fired at long range. The aircraft passes data to the missile just before launch, giving it information about the location of the target aircraft from the launch point and its direction and speed. The missile uses this information to fly on an interception course to the target using its built in inertial navigation system (INS). This information is generally obtained using the launching aircraft's radar, although it could come from an infra-red search and tracking system (IRST), from a data link from another fighter aircraft, or from an AWACS aircraft.

If the firing aircraft or surrogate continues to track the target, periodic updates are sent to the missile telling it of any changes in the target's direction and speed, allowing it to adjust its course so that it is able to close to self-homing distance while keeping the target aircraft in the basket in which it will be able to find it.

Not all AMRAAM users have elected to purchase the mid-course update option, which limits AMRAAM's effectiveness in some scenarios. The RAF initially opted not to use mid-course update for its Tornado F3 force, only to discover that without it, testing proved the AMRAAM was less effective in BVR engagements than the older SARH-homing BAE Skyflash weapon--the AIM-120's own radar is necessarily of limited range and power compared to that of the launch aircraft.

Terminal stage and impact
Once the missile closes to self-homing distance, it turns on its active radar seeker and searches for the target aircraft. If the target is in or near the expected location, the missile will find it and guide itself to the target from this point. If the missile is fired at short range (typically, visual range), it can use its active seeker just after launch, making the missile truly fire-and-forget. At the point where an AMRAAM switches to autonomous self-guidance, the NATO brevity word "pitbull" would be called out on the radio to inform other pilots, just as "Fox Three" would be called out upon launch.

Kill probability and tactics

General considerations
Once in its terminal mode, the missile's advanced electronic-counter-counter-measure (ECCM) support and good maneuverability mean that the chance of it hitting or exploding close to the target is high (on the order of 90%), as long as it has enough remaining energy to maneuver with the target if it is evasive. The kill probability (PK) is determined by several factors, including aspect (is it a head-on interception, side-on or tail-chase scenario), altitude, the speed of the missile and the target, how hard the target can turn, etc. Typically, if the missile has a sufficient amount of energy during the terminal phase, which comes from being launched close enough to the target from an aircraft flying high and fast enough, it will have an excellent chance of success. This chance drops as the missile is fired at longer ranges as it runs out of overtake speed at long ranges, and if the target can force the missile to turn it might bleed off enough speed that it can no longer chase the target.

Lower-capability targets
This leads to two main engagement scenarios. If the target(s) is/are not armed or not armed with any medium or long-range fire-and-forget weapons, the aircraft firing the AMRAAM need only to get close enough to the target, depending upon whether the target is heading towards or away from the firing aircraft, and launch the missile(s) to have a reasonable chance of hitting. Especially against low-maneuverability targets, in this situation the missiles are unlikely to miss. If the target aircraft are approaching the launching aircraft, especially if they are moving fast, the missile can be launched at long range since the range will be closing fast. In this situation, even if the target(s) turn around, it is unlikely they can speed up and fly away fast enough to avoid being overtaken and hit by the missile(s) (as long as the missiles are not released too early). It is also unlikely they can outmaneuver the missiles since the closure rate will be so great. In a tail-on engagement, the firing aircraft might have to close to between one-half and one-quarter maximum range (or maybe even more for a very fast target) in order to give the missile sufficient energy to overtake the targets.

If the targets are armed with missiles, the fire-and-forget nature of the AMRAAM is invaluable, it enables the launching aircraft to fire missiles at the target and then turn and run away. Even if the targets have longer-range semi-active radar homing (SARH) missiles, they will have to chase the launching aircraft in order for the missiles to track them, effectively flying right into the AMRAAM. If the target aircraft fire missiles and then turn and runs away, their own missiles will not be able to hit. Of course, if the target aircraft have long range missiles, even if they are not fire-and-forget, the fact that they force the launching aircraft to turn and run reduces the kill probability, since it is possible that without the mid-course updates the missiles will not find the target aircraft. However the chance of success is still good and compared to the relative impunity the launching aircraft enjoy, this gives the AMRAAM-equipped aircraft a decisive edge. If one or more missiles fail to hit, the AMRAAM-equipped aircraft can turn and re-engage, although they will be at a disadvantage compared to the chasing aircraft due to the speed they lose in the turn, and would have to be careful that they're not being tracked with SARH missiles.

Similarly armed targets
The other main engagement scenario is against other aircraft with fire-and-forget missiles like the Vympel R-77 (NATO AA-12 "Adder") - perhaps MiG-29s, Su-27s or similar. In this case engagement is very much down to teamwork and could be described as "a game of chicken." Both flights of aircraft can fire their missiles at each other beyond visual range (BVR), but then face the problem that if they continue to track the target aircraft in order to provide mid-course updates for the missile's flight, they are also flying into their opponents' missiles. This is why teamwork is so important and advanced missiles with guidance systems with hand-off capability can help overcome this problem. The other main tactic would be to sneak up behind the enemy aircraft and launch missiles without them noticing, giving the launching aircraft sufficient time to leave the danger zone of the enemy after launching. Even if the enemy detects the launch and turns around, the speed and possibly altitude it loses during the turn puts its missiles at an energy disadvantage which may be sufficient for the other aircraft to defeat it successfully. This typically requires excellent ground-control intercept (GCI) or airborne radar (AWACS) facilities in order to be successful.

Variants and upgrades

Air-to-air missile versions
There are currently three variants of AMRAAM, all in service with the USAF and USN. The AIM-120A is no longer in production and shares the enlarged wings and fins with the successor AIM-120B currently in production. The AIM-120C has smaller "clipped" aerosurfaces to enable internal carriage on the USAF F/A-22 Raptor. AIM-120B deliveries began in 1994, and AIM-120C deliveries began in 1996.

The AIM-120C has been steadily upgraded since it was introduced. The AIM-120C-6 contained an improved fuze (Target Detection Device) compared to its predecessor. The AIM-120C-7 development begain in 1998 and included improvements in homing and greater range (actual amount of improvement unspecified). It was successfully tested in 2003 and is currently being introduced into active service (early 2005). It helps the U.S. Navy replace the F-14 Tomcats which are being retired and replaced with F/A-18E/F Super Hornets—the loss of the F-14's long-range AIM-54 Phoenix missiles can be partially offset with a longer-range AMRAAM.

The AIM-120D is a planned upgraded version of the AMRAAM with improvements in almost all areas, including 50% greater range and better guidance over its entire flight envelope yielding an improved kill probabiliy (PK). There are also plans for Raytheon to develop a Ramjet-powered deriviative of the AMRAAM called the FMRAAM. It is not known whether the FMRAAM will be produced since the British Ministry of Defence has chosen the Meteor missile over the FMRAAM as its preference for a BVR missile for the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft.

Ground-launch systems
Raytheon successfully tested launching AMRAAM missiles from a five-missile carrier on an HMMWV (hum-vee). They receive their initial guidance information from a radar not mounted on the vehicle (probably the MPQ-64 Sentinel radar system or possibly a PATRIOT missile battery radar) and help to provide low-level, close-in defence while the PATRIOT system engages targets at higher altitudes and further ranges. The missile's range would be lower when launched from the ground, due to the lack of speed or altitude of the launch vehicle.

The Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS), developed by Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, consists of a number of vehicle-pulled launch batteries (containing six AMRAAMs each) along with separate radar trucks and control station vehicles.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

AIM-120 AMRAAM is a post from: DefenceTalk | Defense & Military News - Forums - Pictures - Weapons

Guidance

Guided missiles operate by detecting their target (usually by either radar or infra-red methods, although rarely others such as laser guidance or optical tracking), and then "homing" in on the target on a collision course. The target is usually destroyed or damaged by means of an explosive warhead, often throwing out fragments to increase the lethal radius, typically detonated by a proximity fuse (or impact fuse if it scores a direct hit). Some missiles rely partially or wholly on their kinetic energy to damage the target, but almost all contain some kind of warhead, even if it is small. Note that although the missile may use radar or infra-red guidance to home on the target, this does not necessarily mean that the same means is used by the launching aircraft to detect and track the target before launch. Infra-red guided missiles can be "slaved" to an attack radar in order to find the target and radar-guided missiles can be launched at targets detected visually or via an infra-red search and track (IRST) system, although they may require the attack radar to illuminate the target during part or all of the missile interception itself.

Radar guidance is normally used for medium or long range missiles, where the infra-red signature of the target would be too faint for a infra-red detector to track. There are two major types of radar-guided missile - active and semi-active. Active radar-guided missiles carry their own radar system to detect and track their target. However, the size of the radar antenna is limited by the small diameter of missiles, limiting its range which typically means such missiles have to use another method to get close to the target before turning their radar set on, often inertial guidance). Semi-active missiles are simpler and more common. They function by detecting the reflection from the target of the launch aircraft's own radar. This is also known as "beam-riding". However, this means the launch aircraft has to remain a "lock" on the target, limiting its ability to manuever, which may be necessary should the target counter-attack. It also makes jamming the missile lock easier because the launching aircraft is further from the target than the missile, so the radar signal has to travel further and is greatly attenuated over the distance. Radar guided missiles can be countered by rapid maneuvering (which may result in them "breaking lock", or may cause them to overshoot), deploying chaff or using electronic counter-measures.

Infrared guided missiles home in on the heat produced by an aircraft. Early infra-red detectors had poor sensitivity, so could only track the hot exhaust pipes of an aircraft. This meant an attacking aircraft had to manuever behind to a position behind its target before it could fire an infra-red guided missile. This also limited the range of the missile as the infra-red signature soon become too small to detect with increasing distance.

More modern infra-red guided missiles can detect the heat of an aircraft's skin, warmed by the friction of airflow, in addition to the fainter heat signature of the engine when the aircraft is seen side-on or head-on. This, combined with greater maneuverability, gives them an "all-aspect" capability, and an attacking aircraft no longer had to be behind its target to fire, although launching from such a position typically increases the probability of a hit (however, the launching aircraft usually has to be closer in a tail-chase engagement).

An aircraft can defend against infra-red missiles by dropping flares that are hotter than the aircraft, so the missile homes in on the brighter, hotter target. Towed decoys and infra-red jammers can also be used. However, the latest missiles such as the ASRAAM use an "imaging" infra-red seeker which "sees" the target (much like a digital video camera), and can distinguish between an aircraft and a point heat source such as a flare. They also feature a very wide detection angle, so the attacking aircraft does not have to be pointing straight at the target for the missile to lock on. Instead, the pilot can use a helmet mounted display and target another aircraft by looking at it, and then firing. This is called "off-boresight" launch. In order to manuever sufficiently from a poor launch angle at short ranges in order to hit its target, missiles are now employing gas-dynamic flight control methods such as vectored thrust, which allow the missile to start turning "off the rail", before its motor has accelerated it up to high enough speeds for its small aerodynamic surfaces to be useful.

Design

Air-to-air missiles are typically long, thin cyliners in order to reduce their cross section and thus drag at the very high speeds they typically travel at. At the front is the seeker, either a radar system, radar homer, or infra-red detector. Behind that lies the avionics which control the missile. Typically after that, in the centre of the missile, is the warhead, usually several kilogrammes of high explosive surrounded by metal that fragments on detonation (or in some cases, pre-fragmented metal). The rear part of the missile contains the propulsion system, usually a rocket of some type. Dual-thrust solid-fuel rockets are common, but some longer-range missiles use use liquid-fuel motors that can "throttle" to extend their range and preserve fuel for energy-intensive final manuevering. Some solid fuelled missiles mimic this technique with a second rocket motor which burns during the terminal homing phase. There are missiles in development, such as the MBDA Meteor, that "breathe" air (using a ramjet, similar to a jet engine) in order to extend their range. Modern missiles use "low-smoke" motors - early missiles produced thick smoke trails, which were easily seen be the crew of the target aircraft alerting them to the attack and helping them determine how to evade it.

List of air-to-air missiles

For each missile, short notes are given, including an indication of its range and guidance mechanism.

France:

Matra Magic R.550 - IR guided missile, similar to the American Sidewinder.

Matra Magic II - IR guided missile.

Magic Super 530F/Super 530D - French couterpart of the AIM-7 Sparrow.

MBDA Mica - French counterpart of the AMRAAM missile.

Germany:

X-4 missile - WW2 design, MCLOS, never saw service

International:

Alenia Aspide - Italian manufactured version of the AIM-7 Sparrow.

MBDA Meteor - medium range, active radar; design to replace AMRAAM

IRIS-T - short range IR; replacement for Sidewinder

Israel:

Rafael Shafrir -

Rafael Shafrir 2 -

Rafael Python 3 -

Rafael Python 4 - medium range IR

Rafael Python 5 - medium range IR; improves on Python 4

Rafael Derby -

People's Republic of China

PL-1 - Chinese version of the Soviet AA-1

PL-2 - PRC version of the AA-2

PL-3 - updated PRC version of the AA-2

PL-5 - updated PRC version of the AA-2

PL-7 - PRC version of the French Magic

PL-8 - PRC version of the Israeli Python 3

PL-9 - short range IR guided missile

PL-10 - semi-active radar guided medium range PRC version of the Italian Aspide

PL-11 / AMR-1 - similar to the Russian AA-10 with active homing guidance system.

TY-90 - first air-to-air missile solely designed for helicopters.

Russia/USSR:

K-5 missile (AA-1 Alkali) - beam-riding

K-13 missile (AA-2 Atoll) - short-range IR or SARH

K-8 missile (AA-3 Anab) - IR or SARH

K-9 missile (AA-4 Awl) - IR or SARH

R-4 missile (AA-5 Ash) - IR or SARH

R-40 missile (AA-6 Acrid) - long-range IR or SARH

R-23 missile (AA-7 Apex) - medium-range SARAH or IR

R-60 missile (AA-8 Aphid) - short-range IR

R-33 missile (AA-9 Amos) - long range active radar

R-27 missile (AA-10 Alamo) - medium-range SARH or IR

R-73 missile (AA-11 Archer) - short-range IR

R-77 missile (AA-12 Adder) - medium-range active radar

UK:

AIM-132 ASRAAM - short range IR

Skyflash - medium-range radar-guided carried by RAF interceptors.

USA:

AIM-4 Falcon - operational guided

AIM-7 Sparrow - medium range semi-active radar

AIM-9 Sidewinder - short range IR

AIM-54 Phoenix - long range, semi-active and active radar

AIM-120 AMRAAM - medium range, active radar; replaces Sparrow

AIR-2 Genie - air-to-air rocket with 1.5-2 kiloton nuclear warhead - was in service 1957 - 1985.

Introduction to Air-to-Air Missiles (AAM) is a post from: DefenceTalk | Defense & Military News - Forums - Pictures - Weapons

The Python-4 missile was developed by Israel at a time when the hostile Arab nations surrounding Israel were obtaining advanced aircrafts like the MiG-29 equipped with the enviable R-73 Archer and Helmet mounted cueing systems. Since WVR form of air combat was vital to Israel's defense, it was decided to develop a successor to the combat-tested Python-3 missile.

The enemy weapon was the R-73 Archer with 45 degrees off-boresight capability, which increased to 60 degree once uncaged. The missile featured Thrust-Vectoring motors, which would enable it to out-turn almost any fighter at that time. A new technology named ‘Transverse Control Engine' would prevent any misses during the terminal stages of flight.

PYTHON-4 AAM is a post from: DefenceTalk | Defense & Military News - Forums - Pictures - Weapons