Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!apple!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!osu-cis!att!cbnews!henry@zoo.toronto.edu
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: AMRAAMs and all that
Message-ID: <3345@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 23 Jan 89 02:22:20 GMT
References: <3205@cbnews.ATT.COM>
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>As with almost all new hi-tech weapons, the AMRAAM will have bugs. How
>serious they are, how long it takes to correct them (if it's possible
>to correct them in the first place), we won't know until it is really
>used in combat. 

True.  However, what limited predictions we can make, based on its early
testing, its complexity, and the extent to which it pushes the state of
the art, are *not* encouraging.  And there is no dispute that it is far
more expensive than the weapons it supposedly will replace, and hence
will be available in far smaller numbers.

>It was my impression that the AMRAAM could have flown much earlier,
>except it was too big for anything except F-14s and F-15s. Making it
>smaller, caused it to escalate in price dramatically and pushed the
>whole program back some years.

Agreed, miniaturization was a big problem.  The F-14/F-15-sized AMRAAM
has existed for quite a while:  it's called Phoenix.  And, surprise
surprise, it's grossly expensive and has serious reliability problems.

>>... a beyond-visual-range AAM needs a range more
>>like 100 miles than 10...
>
>I hope you are wrong about the range. I have heard a higher range
>figure of about 40 miles...

At least one of the Sparrow variants has that sort of range, and there
have been proposals for Sparrows with ranges approaching 100 miles.
AMRAAM range is rather shorter, of the order of the "10 miles" that I
quoted, like the shorter-ranged Sparrow variants.  I am told that combat
simulations have suggested that AMRAAM will seldom be fired much outside
visual range.

The only major advantage AMRAAM offers over a further-developed Sidewinder
is that it's rather less sensitive to weather, since it's radar-guided.
However, it doesn't lock its radar onto the target until it has closed in
considerably.  I have thought for quite a while that AMRAAM would probably
be in service by now, and be considered very successful, if its terminal
homing system was a Sidewinder infrared seeker rather than active radar.
That would certainly make it lighter, more reliable, and much cheaper.

                                     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
                                 uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu