Procedimiento para la adquisición de datos y variables:

(all pilots USAF unless otherwise noted)

* Second kill, his first being a MiG-29 accredited to him which flew into the ground.

This table also excludes a Mirage Fl .EQ drawn into the ground by an EF-111A Raven, an 11-76 Candid shot down with an AIM-7M on 2 February, and seven helicopters downed: two by A-lOAs using the GAU-8/A Avenger gun, one by an F-14A using an AIM-9M, three by F-15Cs with AIM-7Ms, and another destroyed by a laser-guided bomb while hovering.

has had a long and difficult gestation, [but] emerging is a missile far more lethal than the one it replaces.

AMRAAM's most important improvement is the incorporation of an active radar seeker. Although done before with the AIM-54 Phoenix, putting this feature into a Sparrow-sized airframe is a significant achievement. It allows the launching aircraft to simultaneously engage several targets and manoeuvre

out of the fight before the missiles hit their targets. The Sparrow, by comparison, requires the launching aircraft to maintain radar contact with a single target until the missile hits it. The disadvantage of this was dramatically demonstrated during the famous AIMVAL/ACEVAL tests during the mid-1970s. In one engagement, which became known as The Towering Inferno, four F-15s engaged four F-5s with Missile (running total

Capt Charles J. Magill (USMC) Capt Rory R. Draeger

simulated AIM-7s. Before they were all 'shot down' by the Sparrows, the F-5s were able to launch simulated AIM-9 [short-ranged heat-seeking missiles, described later] which 'destroyed' all the F-15s.

AMRAAM would have allowed a single F-15 to target all four F-5s before withdrawing beyond the range of their AIM-9s.

'The other main area of emphasis with AMRAAM has been reliability and maintainability. Sparrow was infamous during the Vietnam War for its unreliability.

Getting this feature right has been one of the main reasons it has taken so long to get the AIM-120 into production. Virtually all other areas of performance have been improved over the AIM-7 as well, including reducing motor smoke, increasing speed and range, improving warhead fuzing and lethality, and better electronic counter-countermeasures [ECCM], Because it only weighs about 350 Ib, it can be rail-launched from stations previously associated only with AIM-9 Sidewinders. This was done during the Gulf War. Unfortunately, by the time the aircraft software was set up to allow carriage of AIM-7s, -9s and -120s, the Iraqi Air Force was hiding in their shelters or fleeing to Iran and there was no opportunity to actually use the new missile in combat.

The main reliability problem actually related to problems with stores vibration in the low wing-loaded Eagle. Low wing-loading is an asset in ACM as it gives the pilot greater control authority, but it is disadvantageous in that it tends to massively increase buffeting and resultant shake at low-level where the air is much denser. It is interesting to note that the first two kills chalked up with AMRAAM have both gone to the F-16. However, AMRAAM will eventually replace the Sparrow throughout the US fighter inventory, as well as those of many allied overseas air forces. In this manner, it is expanding medium-range AAM capability on board existing heavyweights such as the Tornado F.3, F-14 Tomcat and F-15A/C Eagle.

It is also offering such a capability to hitherto short-range-only types like the F-16 Fighting Falcon, and Blue Vixen-equipped Sea Harrier F/A.2 (one of the most recent customers).

In practice, with the target locked-on on radar, AMRAAM may be fired in a number of different modes, using the handed-off target data from the aircraft's missile control computer which gets it thinking where the target should be. At longer range for LRI use, the missile is continually updated with

AIM-120 AMRAAM - the killing machine. This is a fire-and-forget medium-range AAM, and an area in aerial combat in which the US and select overseas clients enjoy a clear lead. (Hughes)

fresh target position information while in flight (much like Phoenix), until its active radar takes over for the final stage of the intercept, freeing the launch fighter to break off. Alternatively, if the engagement proves overly difficult, the launch pilot can simply let it go without mid-course updates and trust its active seeker to work unaided. Finally, at much shorter ranges, lock-on of its active seeker can be accomplished prior to launch, for both a good pK and immediate evasive manoeuvres.

Previous page: The most successful air-to-air fighter o/Desert Storm was the F-15C Eagle, which accounted for 29 enemy aircraft, mostly with AIM-7M Sparrows. Those from the USAF's 33rd TFW, one of which is seen vaulting into the sky following its MSIP updates, accounted for no fewer than 16 of the kills. (McDonnell Douglas)

and Saudi Arabia, and is shortly to join ranks with that of Italy, where it will use the indigenous Selinia Aspide AAM. (BAe)

France's Armée de l'Air operates Mirage 2000Cs equipped with Matra Super 530D (Sparrow equivalent) and Magic (Sidewinder equivalent) missiles. However, weapons like the MICA (AMRAAM equivalent) will make it formidable, especially if exported to Third World air arms which are greedy for French know-how. (Dassault Aviation)

AIR SUPERIORITY 87 Sustained turns of up to 28 g have been

demonstrated, while in an exercise conducted during September 1993, USN/USMC F/A-18C Hornets fired 29 against target drones and achieved a 96 per cent success rate! Improved Operational Flight Programs for the fighters' computers are being constantly updated to maximize every minor improvement that comes with the latest production batch of AMRAAM.

There is nothing comparable to it in service today,

though trailing not far behind are the Russian RVV-AE R-77 (AA-12) 'Amraamski', and the French Matra MICA, which will provide dangerous competition within the next few years. For its own part, the US is adding stealth capability to the AMRAAM under Project Have Dash 2, as it evolves for covert air-to-air strikes, and eventual use aboard the F-22A Rapier.

When air combat has joined into a close-quarters

PARALLEL AIM-9 SIDEWINDER EVOLUTION: PRINCIPAL VARIANTS

* Known to the US Navy as the AAM-N-7A, and to the USAF as the GAR-8A

+ The AIM-9J evolved into numerous subvariants, including the J-l through 3-4, N through N-3 and subsequently the P through P-3 series, all fundamentally similar but employing improved fuzing and other minor refinements

Wo damn Ruskie with Archer is gonna get the better of me!' A Hornet demonstrates the full heat load of six 'winders. As well as wholesale service with the US Navy and Marines, the F/A-18 is also currently operational with Australia, Canada, Kuwait and Spain, with Finland, Malaysia and Switzerland soon to follow suit.

(McDonnell Douglas)

visual-ranged scrap, pilots will more likely than not eschew Sparrow III and AMRAAM (or their equivalents such as Skyflash) and HOTAS-switch over to heat-seeking missiles: Fox 2.

Fox 2 equates exclusively with heat-seeking infrared AAMs, which traditionally rely on cryogenic cooling much like IRST, using either nitrogen or argon gas, or a Peltier effect thermocouple system (electrical cooling that works by passing a current through the junction between two metals or semiconductors of different conductivities, causing a drop in temperature). However, as described earlier, IIR versions such as the Raytheon AIM-9R Pave Prism are entering the fray. This is capable of furnishing sketchy images of the quarry when locked-on out at maximum range of 12 miles, to assist with target vetting. These are good at tracking the afterburning and mil power range of throttle settings. In the absence of a radar-slaved TCS, such as equips recently retro-fitted Tomcats, this capability is a boon. ACM radar modes may be employed to assist with target lock-on, slewing the missiles' seekers into the right sector of sky to assist with their passive lock-on process. But heat-seeking weapons are simply physically pointed in the right direction during the great air-to-air slicing chase or dogfight, as each fighter tries to gain advantage and slip into firing position.

During these so-called 'knife fights' or 'fur balls',

heat is exclusively HOTAS-selected. When the weapon's growl (newer versions chirp) is raised in pitch over the headphones, it has locked onto its quarry and may be let loose with a tug at the firing button. It is an excellent point-and-shoot weapon effective out to a realistic range of some 3-6 miles.

Probably the best known is the Sidewinder, conceived as Local Project 612 by US Naval Ordnance Test Station engineer William B. MacLean in his spare time at China Lake, California. He received a plaque from President Eisenhower for his efforts. The original Sidewinder consisted of only nine moving parts, and seven radio tubes! Forty years and 30 versions later, it still remains by far the most successful and deadly AAM in the US inventory. It has grown considerably in capability throughout its career. The original operational model, the joint-service A1M-9B, was equipped with an uncooled lead sulphide seeker and required the pilot to manoeuvre right behind the enemy's hot jetpipe - his six o'clock - at ranges of under 2 miles. Range and sensitivity were gradually expanded with the US Navy nitrogen-cooled 'Delta', followed shortly afterwards by the 'Golf of 1967. This introduced Sidewinder expanded acquisition mode (SEAM), a feature which has stayed with the Navy derivatives ever since and uses fighter radar to expand look angle. In its current form, SEAM enables the Sidewinder to acquire targets within a 55°

AIR SUPERIORITY 89 Just in case you wanted a close-up view of the beefy Sidewinder (at right), here it is ... (Raytheon)

... and in case you did not know what it is capable of doing, an A1M-9P obliges by taking-out a Pave Deuce PQM-102 Delta Dagger drone! (Ford Aerospace)

forward cone, and to continue to track them thereafter at up to 40° off boresight.

Seeker sensitivity was also sharpened over the years, as even when using SEAM the missile was effective only in the rear quadrants of the target. The all-aspect 'Lima' model, produced from 1976, turned it into a super weapon for its era, expanding lock-on coverage to any relative shooting aspect - even head-on. The true efficacy of this came to the attention of aviation analysts following the Gulf of Sidra incident in August 1981. A pair of hungry Tomcats from VF-41 operating from the USS Nimitz splashed a pair of Libyan Su-22 Fitters attempting to enforce Col Qaddafi's infamous Line of Death. It achieved worldwide attention during the Falklands War a year later, as the mainstay armament of Royal Navy Sea Harrier FRS.ls, which wreaked havoc on Argentine intruders attempting to cross the Total Exclusion Zone. Twenty-seven 'winders were fired, of which 24 achieved hits, destroying 19 enemy aircraft.

It was at this stage that the USAF abandoned Peltier effect electrical cooling (introduced on the AIM-9E and retained through to their 'November'/'Papa' models). It opted instead for the gas-cooled US Navy AIM-9L/M versions, but with argon gas systems self-contained within the missiles

(as opposed to nitrogen bottles housed in the launch rails). Nine years on, during the Gulf War, the somewhat aged orphidian beast accounted for no fewer than nine kills, and it remains a mainstay weapon in the armoury of the West.

However, even with SEAM, Sidewinder's FoV remains small. All-aspect or not, it still has to be pointed virtually right at the enemy, who must come within that forward-looking 55° cone of death for Sidewinder to lock-on. The weapon simply has reached a stasis in its development beyond which improvements are difficult to attain - although substantially redesigned versions are being evolved.

Today, it appears that in the arena of close-quarters AAM missile combat, European and Israeli AAMs, and allied avionics developments, have overtaken the long-established lead held by the US.