There is primary time-to-target data of ASRAAM. I tried to diligently recreate a missile based on public sources available on the ASRAAM such as its weight (88kg) and what the time-to-target intercept scenario stated. The conclusion I came to was confusing. I also had someone else, a dataminer, independently create a missile based on the data as well.
The conclusions we both independently came to were the same. What resulted was a missile similar to Magic 2 but lower in drag and higher in thrust with higher fuel mass and a higher ISP (similar to that of current fox 3s). It met the time-to-target data, but the range was not exceptional and not in the realm of MICA, particularly due to its lower inertia and lack of loft. The weight of ASRAAM is in the range of AIM-9M and Magic 2. Magic 2 is 89kg while ASRAAM is 88kg.
It is believable that the ASRAAM is quite fast and exceptional in that regard, but the range expectations just wasn’t there due to the lack of inertia on the missile.
From this brochure, I found out that they were plans for an Air variant
I don’t find the other source I had for easy integration with ASRAAM platforms.
As far as the program went, it seems that the air launched CAMM went nowhere and the CAMM project is developed along side the ASRAAM with shared innovations (from English Wikipedia)
Well, the CAMM and ASRAAM Blk.6 share the body, as you could seen in the diagram i posted earlier. Just the RF seeker failed to gain traction on air launched platforms, as that niche is already filled by for example Meteor.
One of the most important design requirements for ASRAAM was known as “f-pole”. Basically if you and a target aircraft are flying head on to each-other and the missile is fired at a given range, then the separation between your aircraft and the target’s aircraft at the moment the missile impacts is the f-pole range.
F-pole range is entirely a function of missile average velocity / time to target. ASRAAM is confirmed to meet the f-pole requirement, while IR MICA does not, ergo ASRAAM has higher velocity:
An official presentation from MBDA or Roxel (can’t remember which) states ASRAAM experiences over 1,000°C of aero-heating during flight. According to a research paper I found on aerodynamic heating of missiles that level of aero-heating is only possible at speeds around Mach 5. Also the average velocity of ASRAAM claimed in documents from the archives makes a peak velocity of Mach 5+ seem plausible.
Thanks for the source. At least it shows that the ASRAAM has a much faster acceleration. I don’t know what are the distances for that F-Pole, but it does not necessarily mean that the top speed is actually that much higher. If the missiles reaches Mach 4.5 faster than the MICA, it would still perform better in regards to that F-Pole, if the range isn’t that high. Again, it would require getting the distance values and compare to the burn time of the missile
It does however makes me wonder about the motor itself. I don’t clearly remember, but I believe it was mentioned that the ASRAAM was a long burning missile, which would be counterintuitive with the high acceleration. The missile is still rather light, so i don’t see how it would achieve both high acceleration and long burn time for it to reach BVR ranges.
It does look more to me that this missile is closer to a long range Magic 2 probably with interception ranges of up to around 30-40km range, but not the previously claimed 40-50km
Yes, but still not as much as IR MICA or IR MICA NG
All in all they all have their niches … Best choice will depend on the scenario …
But ASRAAM’s lack of thrust vectoring (compared to IRIS-T / AIM-9X / MICA) and lack of range (compared to MICA / MICA NG) makes it quite situational …
Not great for point black
Not great for long range
You have to fire it in the sweet spot
There’s also the fact that currently EF’s MAW doesn’t make any emissions
If they did, you would have to make a choice between having a MAW or staying off people’s RWR, making a long range IR missile even more potent …
In defense of the radar MAW, I don’t expect it to make significant emissions beyond it’s max detection range, so I don’t think it would be detectable beyond like, 20, 30km ?
You are forgetting that such systems are not only low power, but also incorporate LPI features. Ofc, at closer ranges it would be detectable, but dont expect it to be a second radar.
And if we wanted to go that way, i want my RWR to detect all radar altimeters etc…
iirc, the RAF basically realised that with how advanced IIR seekers are and how difficult they are to defeat, that if you had to aircraft with similar range weapons fire at each other, they would both die most of the time.
So instead the ASRAAM was created with a “shoot first, Kill first” philopshy. The entire design is based around the idea of killing your target before they can kill you. Which is why speed was the most important attribute for the ASRAAM. Range just came from having all that speed.
