The US Army is working on an air-breathing surface-to-air missile (SAM) that could be fielded to supplement the Surface-Launched Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (SLAMRAAM).
Currently under development, SLAMRAAM uses the Raytheon AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) in the surface-to-air role against targets up to 18 km distant. The proposed Army Extended Range Attack Missile (AERAM) is intended to make maximum use of existing hardware and would provide coverage against subsonic threats such as cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) at ranges of more than 100 km.
Representatives of the US Army's Aviation & Missile Research Development and Engineering Center (AMRDEC) in Huntsville, Alabama, recently offered an update on AERAM, which is currently a Science & Technology programme.
"The programme came about in the late [2003] conflict when a 'Seersucker' missile was fired [by Iraq] and struck a crane outside the Kuwaiti mall," explained Walt Cruse, AERAM programme manager at AMRDEC. "I had been working on the concept of a UAV interceptor, so I decided that I would try to move it forward faster. We had a previously existing missile system with some launchers and our initial attempt was to put that together in the field.
"This stopgap SAM system was not needed, but the concept was studied as a potential cruise-missile and UAV interdiction system able to engage such targets - which are potentially able to carry WMD payloads - outside range of the FCS [Future Combat Systems] outer tier."
Wherever possible, AERAM would reuse existing hardware, Cruse explained. "Our thoughts on doing this were that, instead of trying to reinvent a lot of wheels, we tried to look for off-the-shelf components that were very mature, that we could cut into a system to get there better and cheaper."
Cruse emphasised that AERAM is intended to complement SLAMRAAM. It will use the SLAMRAAM launch platform and use the SLAMRAAM system to obtain access to the air-defence 'system of systems architecture'.
Link: http://www.janes.com/defence/news/jmr/jmr041222_1_n.shtml
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What do they mean by Air Breathing???
Currently under development, SLAMRAAM uses the Raytheon AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) in the surface-to-air role against targets up to 18 km distant. The proposed Army Extended Range Attack Missile (AERAM) is intended to make maximum use of existing hardware and would provide coverage against subsonic threats such as cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) at ranges of more than 100 km.
Representatives of the US Army's Aviation & Missile Research Development and Engineering Center (AMRDEC) in Huntsville, Alabama, recently offered an update on AERAM, which is currently a Science & Technology programme.
"The programme came about in the late [2003] conflict when a 'Seersucker' missile was fired [by Iraq] and struck a crane outside the Kuwaiti mall," explained Walt Cruse, AERAM programme manager at AMRDEC. "I had been working on the concept of a UAV interceptor, so I decided that I would try to move it forward faster. We had a previously existing missile system with some launchers and our initial attempt was to put that together in the field.
"This stopgap SAM system was not needed, but the concept was studied as a potential cruise-missile and UAV interdiction system able to engage such targets - which are potentially able to carry WMD payloads - outside range of the FCS [Future Combat Systems] outer tier."
Wherever possible, AERAM would reuse existing hardware, Cruse explained. "Our thoughts on doing this were that, instead of trying to reinvent a lot of wheels, we tried to look for off-the-shelf components that were very mature, that we could cut into a system to get there better and cheaper."
Cruse emphasised that AERAM is intended to complement SLAMRAAM. It will use the SLAMRAAM launch platform and use the SLAMRAAM system to obtain access to the air-defence 'system of systems architecture'.
Link: http://www.janes.com/defence/news/jmr/jmr041222_1_n.shtml
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What do they mean by Air Breathing???