do you know anything about the cost per unit for a MICA NG EM?
i think the AIM-120D-3 may be the most cost effective ARH missile on the market but need to know prices of modern counterparts/competition, couldnt find anything from a google search on unit cost for MICA EM NG. but for regular mica EM, it was 1.2 million euro in 2000, which converts to $2.33 million in 2024 dollars
my current list is
#1 AIM-120D-3, $1-1.1 million, 160-180km range with great electronics #2 Meteor, about $3 million, 200+km range, great electronics, excellent performance throughout flight #3 PL-15, price unknown but probably decent, 200km range, great electronics (AESA seeker!) #4 onwards idk
with price of MICA vs its performance i think itll be towards bottom of list
The aircraft should not hover at 50 degrees and still have roll control and exhibit zero departure symptoms. Not possible. There is a reason extreme low speed flight demonstrations where planes hover over crowds are impressive and only done by one or two modern fighters. Hint hint, both are Russian, use TVC, and are much better suited for high alpha flight.
Tech mod stated it should handle ‘X’ G-forces in certain conditions, I tested that and when I replied I had shown that it was ripping in less G force than the tech moderator had announced it should thus it was underperforming. Then I watched as there was a 100 comment conversation on something totally pointless or boringly irrelevant like comparison to other nations CAS loadouts or something and no one cared.
Then I announce that it is overperforming in some way and suddenly I’m bombarded by insults again. Hilarious.
The US will always have the most cost effective missile on the market because the production capacity, number of missiles produced, technical performance is all first in its’ class.
I think you’d be surprised how efficiently they can make some quality products.
France in 2024 ordered 700 missiles for an average per missile cost of 1.4 million Euros each. ($1.45 million USD).
The 2+ million figure is quoted from India’s purchase which included spare motors, interchangeable seekers, etc to allow for longer sustainment and shelf life.
The price varies strongly across project partners of the Meteor missile, ordered numbers and date of purchase:
Germany: ~900.000 € (520 missiles)
Italy: ~975.000 € (400 missiles)
UK: ~1.000.000 £ (400 missiles)
So, for project partners with missile orders in the hundreds, the Meteor is cheaper than the AIM-120D.
For non-project partners (like Brazil) it’s much more expensive (~2.000.000 €) per missile (100 ordered).
There was another report on this that was later marked as fixed, but seems that the underlying issue is still there and this bug comes back up sometimes.
I’m not sure. I’m just going by the modern IR missiles thread. But I do know it has a very tight turning radius off the rails because it’s actually quite a slow missile of the rails and due to TVC, starts turning almost immediately.
So both might be true statements. But it’s not really a missile I’ve looked into that deeply
That would be difficult going off the size difference. AIM-9X is 127 mm diameter, while ASRAAM is 166 mm. That means per unit of length ASRAAM has 70% more volume than AIM-9X, so likely has a lot more propellant.
AIM-9L motor is the same as the AIM-9D motor, AIM-9M motor matches ISP but has reduced smoke properties and longer shelf life.
The AIM-9X motor is a new designation, block 1 is roughly identical to the Mk36 mod 11 whereas the block 2 uses an updated motor designation with seemingly no physical changes - likely using a newer propellant with higher energy density already.
The AIM-9X block 3 proposal was not just for a newer propellant but an entirely new motor section and would have re-vamped the missile entirely. It may as well have been a new missile.
Missiles in development;
Lockheed Martin’s JATM (AIM-260) - AMRAAM replacement in AMRAAM form factor.
Raytheon’s LREW (Long range engagement weapon) - Larger missile, very long range.
Boeing’s MAM (Modular advanced missile) - stackable propulsion units, potential replacement for AIM-9X
Raytheon’s Peregrine - AMRAAM performance, half the size.
Lockheed Martin’s CUDA - Small form factor missile, gas powered steering
The only thing anyone has shown me that has relevance to the Eurofighter are enhancements being made to ASRAAM and Meteor.
