Just a question to generate some conversation.
Is the AIM-120 AMRAAM pretty much designed to replace the AIM-7 Sparrow? It seems like I recall reading somewhere that most pilots prefer the AIM-120 since it’s considerably more accurate than the Sparrow. What’s the story with this?
The AIM-120 is pefered because the pilot can lock it on his target , fire ,and forget it . The AIM-120 will find it’s way on it’s own,using it’s own radar, leaving him to attend to another target. The AIM-7 has to be tracked all the way to the target with the aircrafts radar.
If I remember correctly (and I probably don’t), the Sparrow uses the reflected radar energy from the targeted aircraft to track it’s target, hence the reason the firing aircraft has to paint the target constantly until a hit is scored (ie, it’s not fire-and-forget). The AMRAAM (Advanced Medium Range Air-Air Missile) has its own radar in the nose, so it can track all by its lonesome as soon as it gets a lock on the target. It’s a true fire-and-forget missile. I would rather have that missile than the Sparrow.
I think you got it right garydmason. The sparrow is also bigger and heavier…one more reason not to use it.
Hey Gary;
most military branches of the US are going with the AIM-120 over the AIM-7 & AIM-9’s in some cases, it has better range then the Sidewinder and more reliable then the AIM-7 and the kills are 9 out of 10 shots compaired to the others 6 to 7 out of 10 shots,
Mr. Bones,
The F-15C normally carries 4 x AIM-120s; 2 x on the wing pylons and 2 x on the back fuselage stations. They carry 2 x AIM-7Ms on the front fuselage stations and 2 x AIM-9Ms on the wing pylons. I see them loaded this way all the time. They have a nifty name for the configuration.
I have seen F-15Es carrying 2 x AIM-120Cs and 2 x AIM-9M on the wing pylons and 2 x AIM-7Ms on the bottom row on one side and 4 x GBU-12 on the other. This was a squadron standard conventional load for one of the Iraqi No-Fly Zone missions. I have also seen 2 x AIM-120 and 4 x AIM-9Ms during Kosovo…2 x AIM-120Cs on the CFT bottom rows, rear stations. They had 2 each AIM-9Ms on the wing shoulders and AGM-120s on each wing pylon. The Statue of Liberty Wing Quick Strike alert jets were so loaded.
The Tomcats never got the radar upgrade for the AIM-120 which is why they never carried them. Hornets are a different story…Navy knew they would be around for a while. They got the radar and fire control upgrades and carried them over Afghanistan (for a VERY short time) and Iraq.
All configuraqtions are, as always, threat dependant. The newer Sparrow version have some great capability and the marriage of AMRAAM and Sparrow makes a very lethal mix.
Just to add, the AMRAAM mounts to a Sidewinder rail adding a BVR missle to an aircraft that might not otherwise have been able to carry one, or by freeing up a pylon for some other ordnance.