AMRAAM is ‘pennies on the dollar’ compared to meteor.
AMRAAM is ~$1.1 million Meteor is~$2.5 million.
If its cheap and good enough it will sell and it has a large margin to be cheaper than Meteor and MLU likely won’t change that unless partners order more than the ~300 each they did on the last one, and that’s assuming that it is integrated no sooner than Meteor which has been endlessly delayed on F-35.
I believe Poland is also interested in the EX.
i think 260 already integrated onto multiple aircraft
On the export market it will primarily be in use on F-35 though I imagine. That’s the best aircraft to make use of its capabilities.
It has IOC on F-18 afaik.
nope that would be F-22 due to current upgrade program + speed
on export would be F-35
Missile is projected by most sources to cost around $2 million once it is in full scale production.
I meant for export everyone is buying F-35 if they can and if they can’t, then they probably couldn’t buy AIM-260 if they wanted to.
yeah probably true
So still estimated to be cheaper than Meteor though nowhere near as cheap as AMRAAM, in which case I suppose it comes to the missile capabilities as well as the standard geo-political discussion than it does whenever a country evaluates a new pricey and long-term investment.
Twice the cost, twice the performance; AIM-120D is estimated at 180km or so (100nm). If the AIM-260 is double that, it is a 200 nautical mile range missile.
The AIM-174 is around $4.3 million USD by comparison and is a much larger missile. Range from surface launch is ~250 nautical miles… air to air launch is likely double that imo.
Source for cost
So what does the Meteor bring to the table besides the expanded NEZ compared to these missiles? I doubt the NEZ is larger than the AIM-174 but the missile itself is much smaller.
Like fighters, people will purchase what fits their requirements best I suppose.
Really didn’t expect I have to say this, but please do not make fun of other users and whatnot, and just stay on-topic, as consequences might come out of this. Thanks :)
i wonder if they will ever integrate the AIM-174 onto an F-15E or EX, would be amazing
Being availible 10 years earlier, fitting an AMRAAM mount without major weight discrepancies/restrictions (compared with AIM-174), smaller as you said, lighter than 174, potential for twin carriage.
AIM-260 is going to be available later, as you said a smaller NEZ, but also it could be for some countries more favourable to deal with Europe than the US.
But the main takeaway is that Meteor is 10 years older than these are now without any block improvements such as AMRAAM.
You could say the same thing about AIM-9X as we’ve discussed I think, other than cost, what does it bring over ASRAAM and IRIS-T (that we know about of course).
I imagine -120<Meteor<-260 which will be < or = Meteor MLU and wouldn’t really seriously consider AIM-174 for anyone but the USN. But who knows. Europe will hopefully prioritise European armaments for ‘strategic autonomy’ as the French like to call it.
i think AIM-260 will have better electronics than Meteor MLU unless meteor is getting an AESA seeker
Meteor MLU is pursuing an AESA seeker and supposedly an improved propulsion system. That seems to be the primary point of it.
There is a rumour with no proper basis but existing, that the JNAAM was cancelled (JNAAM was going to use an AAM-4B AESA seeker on Meteor body) as it was Veto’d by France who have the primary rights to the Meteor’s seeker (given its a larger MICA seeker), as the JNAAM would have threatened France’s interests in Meteor MLU which all but confirms an AESA seeker if true. As I said its a rumour I saw from one of the prominent Twitter defence analysts so could be a load of nonsense.
Ah ok. I think it will be interesting to see how the 2 compare in the future when more is known
Don’t think we will see a true comparison within our lifetimes, at least not whilst we are relatively sane (at least as sane as WT players get).
Well this is true, but if a war happens and 260 are used I think by the end the public learns more about the system no?
Through combat news, people get more information on the weapons used, what they can and cannot do
It doesn’t fly at 50 AoA. The real limit of a normal turn is 25-27. Although even this may be overstated, but I suspect there are development crutches here. As far as I remember, the flight model hasn’t changed since the end of Dev. No idea where you got 50 from. At 50 it already falls into a flip.
I just spent 15 minutes specifically trying to get it to 50 degrees. The most it can do is get to 40-45. And even then, it doesn’t fly effectively there, it goes into a huge air brake mode. It’s very difficult to call it a “turn”.
I won’t look for confirmation because it will take time and it’s not worth it, but as far as I remember you said that he “pushed” too much overload. How can he be underperforming in this?
This is correct. The Meteor has a derivative of MICA seeker and the Meteor MLU will have a derivative of MICA NG-EM seeker which is already confirmed to be AESA.
