One of the least known IR missiles is A-Darter . The South African-Brizilian made AAM.
We have a quick review in here
The Kentron A-Darter (V3E Agile Darter), a fifth-generation missile system, is currently in the development phase. It was in 2006 being jointly funded by South Africa and Brazil. In September 2006, BAE Systems announced Denel had selected its SiIMU®02 solid-state inertial measurement unit to provide mid-course guidance for the A-Darter.
The A-Darter, expected to become the V3E upon entry into SAAF service.
The missile incorporates a high-agility airframe, greatly improved manoeuvrability and an extended range. An imaging IR seeker ensures excellent countermeasure rejection and very accurate terminal guidance. Capabilities include lock-on after launch and memory tracking. Designation may be via the aircraft’s radar, a helmet sight or the missiles autonomous scan feature if radar silence is required. Long-range intercepts, beyond IR detection range, are possible using the lock-on after launch mode.
Use is made of thrust-vectoring tail controls. It has also been reported that targeting algorithms include advanced spatial filtering techniques (that ‘see’ the difference in size and shape between an aircraft and a decoy) and velocity profiling (to sense the difference in speed between the target and a decoy).
Denel Dynamics successfully completed the missile qualification and certification for it’s 5th generation A-Darter IIR Short Range Air-to-Air Missile (SRAAM) System, with the Type Certificate issued in September 2019 by Brazil and South Africa.
The Formal Qualification Review for the A-Darter missile has been successfully concluded by the A-Darter Development project team in August 2019. The certification authorities from Brazil and South Africa gave the final approval for the issuing of the Type Certificate in September 2019. The Institute for Industrial Development and Coordination (IFI) and Directorate System Integrity (DSI) are the responsible certification authorities in Brazil and South Africa respectively.
The A-Darter has already been fully integrated and cleared with no aircraft/missile launch restrictions on the JAS-39 Gripen C/D.
It also can launched from BAE Hawk 120 , A1M-AMX , F5BR
Guidance:
Two-colour imaging Infra-red with laser fuze.
