There was a lot of politics involved in that. IIRC the RAF basically didn’t want the Navy to have any of it’s own aircraft. They argued that Britain has enough friendly nations / random islands left over from the days of the empire that you could just station RAF aircraft near wherever the navy were operating, and they could do the air defence work. That approach was no doubt motivated by the thought of all the extra funding they would get if the Navy didn’t have to buy more aircraft carriers. As a result the Sea Harrier was basically agreed to on the basis that it would be a small light fighter so that the Navy had something to play with while they waited for the RAF to show up. The Falklands of course proved that plan wasn’t exactly sound.
If it wasnt for the Falklands, I reckon the Carriers could have been scrapped by the end of the 1980s (or at least a few of them)
So, I’ve tried to dig up some info on why they didn’t bother with Skyflashes on the Sea Harrier and the only thing I could come up with is that they have apparently been designing the Blue Vixen radar specifically to have AMRAAM compatibility. However, when looking through the development dates of the Blue Vixen, the FA.2 and the AIM-120A there are quite large discrepancies.
It seems they have done quite a good job at keeping information about these developments from the public.
However, going by the introduction dates of the FA.2 (April 1993) and the AIM-120A (September 1991) it does make sense that they at least didn’t field the FA.2 with any Skyflashes, since they probably had the AIM-120A or even B readily available at that time.
So what is the big difference between the A and B? I know that the C model had clipped wings to be carried by the Raptor but I don’t know what happened before that.
Edit: I did a smart thing and asked Google and I was told that the 120B has LOAL and data link compared to the A.
I don’t know jack about AMRAAMs, sorry mate
So the big difference is that the 120B gets a data link and lock on after launch capability.
Yeah something that won’t be modelled in game :))
The datalink works with the R-27R and will come with the AIM-7P. LOAL I think works on the Hellfire and it definitely works with GBU’s.
The Sea harrier FA.2 upgrade wasn’t considered until after the 1982 Falklands War. Meanwhile the MOU for AMRAAM was signed in 1980. So it makes sense that Blue Vixen was designed with AMRAAM in mind.
No, the datalink was a fundamental part of AMRAAM from the very beginning.
Newspapers from around the time Gripen was released seem to indicate that it had Skyflash compatibility. The PS/05 MK1 is derived from BV but whether that derivative included a CW illuminator and the harriers BV didn’t I don’t know.
If you think about it Gripen’s first test flight was around 10 years before AMRAAM, the weapons development must have included some sort of SARH missile particularly as the 37D got them as a Gripen stopgap. I can’t see why the Harrier wouldn’t have had them?
Well i don’t know where you got this from.
The main upgrade of the AIM-120B over the AIM-120A is that:
The AIM-120B distinguished itself with a novel WGU-41/B guidance system equipped with reprogrammable EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory) modules and an upgraded processor.
This updated guidance system offered improved capabilities in terms of energy management for long-range shots, ultimately resulting in a higher Probability of Kill (PK).
The AIM-120A already had datalink and LOAL capabilities.
The AIm-120A is a fox 3 missile meaning it has it’s own radar (so it got LOAL capabilities) and since the radar present on the missile is very small and has poor range, the missile is equiped with datalink so it can be guided by the airplane before its radar goes active.
A missile without LOAL and datalink would be the AIM-7M
A missile without LOAL would be the AIM-7P.
Edit:
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Indeed the AIM-120B cannot go into the F-22 weapons bay because its fins are too big. That’s why the developed the AIM-120C3 with shorter wing that was able to enter F-22 weapon bay.
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I just saw that it indicate that the AIM-120B has LOAL (which is true) but it’s not saying the AIM-120A doesn’t.
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Being carriable inside weapon bays is possible for all FOX3 missile since they’re all LOAL and being LOAL is litteraly the principle of FOX 3.
Small add for myself but here’s a thread about FOX3 missile if you want more information on it:
Has anyone asked smin about this or asked him if the next top tier plane is domestic
Yeah, he won’t say, strictly speaking, the ONLY thing we know is that Britain is getting something new and its “top tier” which we are only assuming means likely a 12.3 maybe a 12.7.
But it doesnt actually explicitly state a fighter, or even that it might be competitive, britain hasnt had that in years so no guarantees thats gunna change. Anything with Brimstones and Gen 3 Tpod could easily be “top tier”
He wouldn’t confirm if its a fighter, wouldn’t confirm if its a new airframe (I think Tornado GR.4 isn’t a new airframe but a modified GR.1?), but F-14K isn’t open for consideration, Gripen D is highly unlikely, EAP is off the table (for now).
He probably won’t tell us over the past week we have asked a lot and not gotten much back.
Basically he said the UK will get a new top tier aircraft, hell based on that it could be a wildcat with Jerry-rigged ASRAAM
Pretty sure smin hinted towards ASRAAMs not coming anytime soon during the rumor roundup for Kings of Battle
ASRAAM’s would be too good, even on a Wildcat helicopter lmao.