This one
So you think more old missile will be better? Also, maybe SM-2 limited due SARH/CW radar.
Also SM-2 use all-sustain motor, when SM-6 have DTRM…
From what I’ve seen, 500km is quoted for SM-6 when used as an SSM.
500km is over 250nmi
Maybe 500 km is really an outrageous number for an air-to-air launch. But it’s unlikely to be less than 150 miles. I can’t really prove it, though. The SM-6 booster is a monster. It creates 30% of the total deltaV, according to one university calculation. And I’m not sure the Super Hornet can provide that kind of launch conditions. Otherwise… F/A-18 always can give launch altitude.
I’ll assume the public data is underselling it. Assuming it only has 150 nautical miles range from air launch is a little absurd though.
There need not be a bridge between AIM-9X and AIM-260. For any reason. They are designed for different purposes, the “bridge” as you put it might be the peregrine or a new IR missile development should we need something like that.
The lowest quotable expectation was 130 nautical miles from air launch but we can assume this is not a max speed and alt launch against max speed and alt target.
It is almost 2x the mass of the Phoenix, which could travel 100nm. With 40+ years newer technology it surely can do more than only 1.5x the range.
I recalculated, booster is 0.4 of all deltaV. Soo… Booster in this thing is very-very powerful.
I stand by the fact that the missile weighs almost 2x the Phoenix, it should not be limited to only a 30-50% range increase. That is kind of absurd.
Who knows, AF and navy doesn’t like to provide info about missiles. They on their websites write 20nm or smth like that for amraams.
100%
Let’s talk with meme, for once:
Spoiler
in 1988 : “Sedjil” is based from MIM-23 Hawk
in 2021 : “AIM-174B” is based from RIM-174 (from which we troncated the Mk72 Booster/TVA for no apparent reason - maybe an AIM-174C-5 is on the way)
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look at AGM-78 standard arm and AIM-97 seekbat, USA did it first
mk72 was removed probably because its too big
why he talks like R-77M is completely new beats compared to D-3 or even “D-5” though
d-5 doesn’t exist afaik, r-77m will likely be better in terms of turning, but r-77m is on par with original 120d, not d-3. But r-77m should get a few advantages such as likely dual pulse and likely aesa seekerhead. mig-23m could yap on and on for days on why multiple pulses are super good in jets, but this is the basic idea, basically much better terminal velocity. r-77m is a bigger missile (around 40 cm longer) so it likely has much more propellant.
At close ranges the dual pulse can act like single long pulse essentially if needed
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Ahem.
There are some statements from rtx regarding what is likely that.
R-77m ranges are a complete unknown. It likely doesnt outrange aim120d-3 it was always stated to be an equal or possibly exceed aim120d by official channels. Rumors about dual pulse and aesa seeker are just that, the r77m entered testing years ago now well before any of these rumors.
Aim260 and amraam will coexist far into the future we know that much. The missile is already in service yet the usaf has started buying even more aim120s and is interested in future upgrades. Things like rtx peregrine missiles looks really cool but they dont seem to be panning out very well in terms of interest. Lockheed abandoned their own idea of a small do everything missile years ago now but imo these have the potential to replace both aim120 and aim9x
There has been ZERO info on r77m performance, the “comparable to aim120d” are just done by some netizens
Even tho there is barely any info, it will be safe to assume pl15, aim260 and r77m will sit in the same range category due them being similar in size and dual pulse
Comparing base aim120d to r77m sounds pretty stupid imo
We know it has a bigger motor but these are very recent rumors, missile testinf started quite a few years ago now well before these rumors. Id be very skeptical about an aesa seekerhead being in a modern russian missile(would be a pita to produce at scale) dual pulse could be but it might also not there is really no real evidence besides news article which point to no source.
Like vympel has not talked much about the perfomance of the r77m but what theyve said never included dual pulse and aesa. And it would be weird imo perfomance figures for r77m(really early so we dont really know) range from 180 to 190 kilometers(i thi l ive seen a few russian news sources say this) even if we take the 190kilometer number that would be only better than pakistan’s pl15e in terms of dual pulse missiles. And it would outrange the aim120d(not d-3 we dont know what d-3 entails very well) by 30 miles