Content area
Full text
The Operational Impact Of Latest-Generation Radar-Guided AAMs
Air-to-air missiles (AAMs) in their various classes have long been considered as the ideal weapon for fighter aircraft to engage enemy planes. However, it actually took a long time before AAMs established themselves as fully reliable weapons under the unpredictable and often widely different conditions of aerial combat.
In particular, serious problems were encountered in developing and perfectioning the more complex longer-range, radar-guided AAM types, which require a high level of integration with the launching platform and its radar. These problems have been largely solved during the last couple of decades, however, and as a result the expectations of AAM performance have become reality. The long sought, medium-range capable AAMs, now commonly classified as BVR (Beyond Visual Range) missiles are today confidently considered as the weapon of choice for all modern fighters, and indeed are actually impacting on both the conceptual design and modes of operation of their intended launching platforms. This perception is further compounded by recent air-to-air combat operations having witnessed an absolute preponderance when not exclusive use of latest-generation BVR AAMs (more precisely, the AIM-120 AMRAAM) rather than short-range dogfight types and guns.
BVRs Old and New
BVR air-to-air missiles have been in service for a long time now, actually since the late '50s. However, earlier BVR types had a rather limited combat value due to their guidance principle of semi-active radar homing (SARH), whereby the launching aircraft had to use its radar to continuously illuminate the single target being engaged and the missile picked the reflected radar signals off the target to guide itself to impact. This principle mandated significant constraints in the changes in flight direction that the launching aircraft could perform without breaking the target lock-on. Also, the use of the radar to further search for other enemy platforms and assess the tactical situation in the combat area was restricted as long as it was required to continuously illuminate the selected target, and the simultaneous engagement of multiple targets was impossible by definition.
As a consequence of these limitations and constraints, BVR missiles of that age were mainly intended to engage enemy bombers - which also allowed for rather relaxed requirements as regards the missiles' manoeuvrability, particularly in the final phase...