Yeah, but considering it’s made for fast, head on engagements, it’s range is fine.
As always when talking about missile, range VARIES A LOT between:
- high and low altitude
Low altitude has denser air which means more drag for the missile. And since the missile only has a short propulsion time, its drag impact heavelly its range - the speed at witch the missile is launched
The missile has more or less a fixed DELTAV (ie the motor is going to provide around 900m/s speed for the missile). So if its launched at higher speed, the missile is going to have better overall speed and will achieve better range - the engagment geometry
If the target is at 15km going toward you , the missile only has to go 10km while the target is closing in and has done 5km.
If the target is at 10km and fleeing, the missile has to do 15km+ to intercept the target - baterry time
Some missiles are limited by their battery time. Instead when the missile is launched , the battery is activated (between 60 to 120s for smaller missiles). Even if the missile still has some kinematics, if the battery is out then the missile is going to be just as usefull as a rocket.
Anyways, the effectiveness really depends on the condition of the engagement.
So saying the IRIS-T is effective between 10-15km and ASRAAM between 30-40km is not very scientific.
And if we take the max range number as guesstimate for kinetics then if your effective range for the IRIS-T is 10-15km the one for the ASRAAM would probably be 20-30km.
AIM-9X actually uses essentially the same motor as AIM-9M, but with a thrust vectoring unit bolted to the back of it.
It is smokeless for the majority of the flight, thiugh interestingly it produces a short puff of smoke at ignition (I’m not sure if this is exclusive to it or if it’s normal for all smokeless missiles). In general it produces no visible trail except for higher altitudes where it’s normal for all missiles because of condensation
Iirc, only the first 9X used a derivative of late 9M motor.
Later block came with a new motor: the MTI/ Hercules MK.139 and not the MTI/ Hercules MK.36.
While its still a derivative, its an evolved motor with probably better ISP while keeping the very low smoke characteristic.
Yeah, obviously it’s an over simplification. But put simply. A Typhoon with IRIS-T will probably want to close the gap and engage in shorter range dogfights. Meanwhile a Typhoon with ASRAAM will probably want to keep more of a distance, circling the fight and firing off ASRAAM at more medium ranges.
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Thats the same range ballpark as the other missiles
And like the others its very manouverable. Its not in any unique class as its ballpark the same as the others.
What its not same ballpark in being seeker tech, but as a missile its an upgraded R-73. Same range ballpark with benefits like lofting to increase range. Just like the Aim-9x/Irist-T and others with their lofting capability.
When i say its in its all ballpark it really was about the seeker, so i agree with you on this point. Having an non IIR seeker missile nowaydays seems really special.
To be clear, the AIM-9X Blck 1 doesn’t have automatic loft (only the Blck 2 has it). And the IRIS-T doesn’t loft at all. (I mean you can always loft it manualy so just pull your nose up so the missile is already going up)