The AIM-95 Agile
The AIM-95 Agile was an advanced short range air-to-air missile developed in the 1960s and 1970s for the US Navy. The conclusion was that the Navy needed a missile that had a longer range, a higher velocity, the ability to keep the target in its sights at angles far off-boresight, and an “all-aspect” capability. This prompted the Navy to initiate “Project Agile” in 1968. Development moved rapidly, and the design was finalized by 1969, with prototypes of several subcomponents already completed, and the AIM-95 designation was applied to it. The first live YAIM-95 Agile was launched in 1970 near China Lake, as part of a testing program imaginatively code-named “Quick Turn”.
Arguably the most significant feature of the AIM-95 Agile is its guidance system. It featured an infrared seeker head with an “all-aspect” capability. The azimuth of the Agile’s seeker has not been reported, but its gimble allows it to steer up to 50 degrees off-boresight of the missile — meaning, even if the targeted aircraft is able to maneuver 45 degrees off of the Agile’s axis of flight, it will still have the target in sight and attempt to intercept it. The cooling system was greatly improved over the Sidewinder as well, allowing the Agile’s seeker to remain cooled for a much longer period of time than late 1960s and early 1970s Sidewinder variants. It was also intended that the aircrew of an F-14 Tomcat would use an helmet-mounted sight to cue the Agile onto targets off-boresight.
Little has been published concerning the propulsion of the AIM-95 Agile, save that it employed a dual-thrust solid fuel rocket motor, with a thrust-vectoring nozzle. This motor must have had an extraordinary thrust/weight ratio, as the Agile is said to be significantly quicker, faster, and more maneuverable than the operational Sidewinder variants of the early 1970s. Specifically, this motor produced a shocking 133 kN of thrust; to put that into perspective, the AIM-9B Sidewinder’s Thiokol Mk.17 motor produced only 18 kN of thrust. Thus, while the AIM-95 had 100% more weight than the AIM-9B, it produced 750% more thrust.
The sum of all of these attributes was a missile that had staggering performance. During the aforementioned Quick Turn test in 1970 for, example, the missile demonstrated turning performance far superior to the Sidewinder, including 55g turns and an angle of attack of up to 118 degrees. The acceleration of the Agile also proved to be exceptional as well, reaching velocities in excess of Mach 2 within moments of its launch.
Specifications:
Mass: 130 Kg
Guidance: IR
Aspect: All-aspect
Lock Range: ?
Launch Range: ?
Max speed: Mach 2.5 +
Max overload: 55G
Explosive type: ?
Explosive mass: ?
