Technology Explained

Quo Vadis, Rmraam?

Conceived as the ultimate standoff air-to-air missile the sophisticated and deadly Amraam has the distinction of being the subject of political bickering unseen since the sixties’ F-111 programme.

Amraam was developed to fulfill a crucial role in the air defence of the Free World and without viable alternatives the repeatedly threatened cancellation of the programme could have serious long-term implications.

Amraam is the successor to the Raytheon AIM-7 Sparrow missile family, one of the great disappointments of the Vietnam conflict. The semi-active radar-guided Sparrow was seen in the early sixties as the ideal all-aspect beyond-visual-range (BVR) all-weather air to air weapon. Sparrow brought with it the era of missile only armed fighters – the US Navy’s primary air defence fighter the F-4B had its weapon system built around Sparrow. In spite of all expectations, Sparrow performed poorly in combat. The poor reliability of the vacuum tube guidance system, the limited aerodynamic manoeuvrability, the large minimum lock-on range, the inability of the conically scanning seeker to handle ground clutter and evasive manoeuvring by targets, all contributed to a kill probability (P[k]) of less than 10% per launch.

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