Yep, it’s confirmed.
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does aim120D have a boost and sustainer? from my testing boost + sustainer missiles work much better for long ranges
AIM-120D-3 (at least) has a new motor but the details of it are not yet public.
we dont know. but remember these missiles loft very high irl, like we at MOST fly at 10k meters in a arb lobby. irl jets fly at 15k meters and f22 raptor can go up to 20k meters.
it doesnt seem like aim120 F3R received a new motor from Raytheons statements, so it should retain the d-3 motor
i thought the AIM-120D got a new motor and the D-3 is mostly an electronics improvement
They are all receiving improvements to the motor.
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is F3R new production missiles, or is it an upgrade for existing and compatible AIM-120’s?
To my knowledge the F3R enhancement is only fielded on missiles that are also upgraded to AIM-120D-3 standard.
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@quartas121 AIM-120D-3 is usually referred to as F3R and vice versa, I believe they are for the most part one and the same. There may have been “D-3” missiles produced that did not yet have some of the final F3R changes but after lot 33 all D-3 are F3R. The language used has been intentionally misleading, and they outright avoid mentioning changes to the motor or other things on purpose for secrecy reasons.
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@quartas121 To go further, many of the features that are mentioned in the F3R upgrade were actually planned upgrades on older missiles to begin with, such as the processor itself. These changes later delayed the F3R initiative according to more recent budget papers.
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thanks for clearing it up, makes more sense now
To be clear, we also know that the AIM-120C-7 and early AIM-120D used the same motors (based on the same type of propellant used in AIM-9X block II).
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Except now there is proof that D-3 comes with F3R improvements, and a new larger motor section.
so C-7 and early D (im assuming you mean the AIM-120D and late D means D-3) would have a different (better?) motor than the C-5, and D-3 would have the best motor of them all?
is the 9X blk II propellant improved?
AIM-120C-5 motor is known, it is not known whether AIM-120C-7 or AIM-120D continued to use the same motor.
We know AIM-120C-7 and AIM-120D have the same motor, which is still using sidewinder based propellant. AIM-9X rocket motor is derived from the MK36 used on the earlier sidewinders, but propellant, grain pattern, etc have all improved drastically over time. AIM-9X block II motor has a slightly different designation than block 1, presumably some changes were made to the motor but we do not know what.
TL;DR
High performance (high specific impulse) propellants have been developed for our missiles for some time now, it is highly likely they have moved towards the production of these propellants. If we find information on the impulse or characteristics of one, we can better guess the performance of the other since they are using the same stuff.
And as I posted above, the the AIM-120D-3 uses a different (larger) motor than the previous models.
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would aim-260/d-3 use a dual pulse motor?
There is no info
according DLA.MIL the D may not have a different motor “041GUIDED MISSILE,INTERCEPT-AERIAL1410-WH90Radar Guided Missile AIM-120D is an upgraded Aim-120C Missile that includes GPS/IMU Enhanced Datalink and software upgraded capabilities.|A1410WH90”
also according to the same DLA.MIL file it shares the same motor by the designation WPU-16/B
“033PROPULSION SECTION,GUIDED MISSILE1337-VG29P/N 2241017-3; WPU-16/B; F/AIM-120D|A1337VG29”
maybe the D has more propellent or different grain config
We already know the AIM-120D shares the same motor as the AIM-120C-7, the AIM-120D-3(F3R) is the model that has the larger motor.
Also, these sites have regularly posted misinformation on the weight, range, parts of the missile so I wouldn’t be surprised if they continue to do so.