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2016-02-01

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Rating the world’s most effective air-to-air missiles based on precision and engagement features

Air to air missiles play a crucial role in determining the outcome of any war. It is important to make the enemy airforce ineffective to be victorious. Nation Shield takes a look at the most effective air- to-air missiles in a two part series.

Recent air operations in a potentially dangerous environment with more advanced aircraft and ground air defence systems, , is revitalizing the interest towards air-to-air missiles as future threats emerge. However data sensor fusing, including the helmet mounted display systems, and the capability of these weapon systems to be part of the network is essential to the success of air superiority.

Meteor BVRAAM

Meteor is the next generation Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile (BVRAAM) system designed to revolutionise air-to-air combat in the 21st Century. The weapon brings together six nations with a common need to defeat the threats of today as well as the emerging threats of the future. Guided by an advanced active radar seeker, Meteor provides all weather capability to engage a wide variety of targets from agile fast jets to small UAVs and cruise missiles.

It is designed to meet the most stringent of requirements and is capable of operating in the most severe of clutter and countermeasure environments. The weapon is also equipped with data link communication. Aimed at meeting the needs of a network centric environment, Meteor can be operated using third party data, enabling the Meteor user - the pilot - to have the most flexible weapon system. Meteor’s stunning performance is achieved through its unique ramjet propulsion system - solid fuel, variable flow, ducted rocket.

This ‘ramjet’ motor provides the missile with thrust all the way to target intercept, providing the largest no-escape zone of any air-to-air missile system. To ensure total target destruction, the missile is equipped with both impact and proximity fuses and a fragmentation warhead that detonates on impact or at the optimum point of intercept to maximise lethality.

Meteor has been developed by a group of European partners led by MBDA to meet the needs of six European nations: the UK, Germany, Italy, France, Spain and Sweden. The weapon system will equip Eurofighter Typhoon, Rafale and Gripen. It is also compatible with other advanced fighter aircraft and will be integrated to the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter. The Meteor BVRAAM features a state-of-the-art active radar seeker, a two-way data link communication, and a solid-fuelled Ramjet motor to engage a wide range of targets with pin point accuracy. It also carries a blast fragmentation warhead with proximity and impact fuses for optimum lethality. The missile has high countermeasures resistance and offers the biggest ‘no escape zone.’

IRIS-T: Unmatched air-to-air combat effectiveness

IRIS-T (Infra-Red Imaging System – Tail/Thrust Vector Controlled), is the name of the latest generation, short range air-to-air-missile that replaced the AIM-9L Sidewinder in Germany and other nations.

The missile was developed by Greece, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden with Germany as lead nation and the German company Diehl Defence as prime contractor.

The first IRIS-T was handed over to the German Air Force in 2005 entering series production within the scheduled time and budget and gaining the reputation of an outstanding example for European armament cooperation.

The missile design, comprising a large warhead with high target destruction probability, allows successful engagement of a broad range of targets including future threats from the air. IRIS-T exceeds the performance characteristics of the AIM-9L Sidewinder in all areas by far. Since IRIS-T was delivered to air forces, it has become the yardstick for present and future short-range air-to-air guided missiles.

It is characterized by extreme maneuverability and agility at all altitudes due to the combination of thrust-vector and aerodynamic control. The innovative infrared seeker head generates high-quality images resembling those of a thermal imaging camera and is capable of distinguishing targets from adversaries` decoys. IRIS-T features an acquisition range that is significantly larger than that of comparable missiles as well as an extremely large look angle.

High target acquisition and tracking performance even against difficult backgrounds enable pilots to cue the missile to the target with a helmet sight as well. Its “fire & forget“ capability as well as the option of locking onto the target after firing (lock-on after launch) provide ideal conditions for short-range air combat. The ability of IRIS-T to counter both approaching surface-to-air and air-to-air guided missiles strongly improves pilots´ survivability.

Thanks to these features, pilots are even able to engage threats from behind the aircraft. IRIS-T thus offers a 360° defence capability.

Currently, IRIS-T is the standard armament of the fighter aircraft Eurofighter/Typhoon (Germany, Italy, Spain), Gripen (Sweden), F-16 (Greece, Norway), EF-18 (Spain) and Tornado (Germany). In August 2014, the 4,000th IRIS-T missile was handed over to Sweden. So far Germany, Greece, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Austria, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Thailand have procured IRIS-T including training missiles.

IRIS-T can successfully engage flying targets at a distance of up to 25 kilometers, reaches a speed of clearly more than 3 Mach, weighs nearly 90 kg at a length of 2.94 meters and a body diameter of 12.7 centimeters. The missile is fully compatible with existing Sidewinder interfaces and warrants a high rejection rate against infrared and laser countermeasures.

MICA

MICA is the multi-mission air-to-air missile system for the Rafale and the latest versions of Mirage 2000-5 combat aircraft. It has a high level of tactical flexibility in order to meet the most demanding operational requirements:

• Beyond Visual Range (BVR) multi-target/multi-shoot

• Enhanced Short Range (SR) performance

• Maximum flexibility for multi-role/swing-role aircraft

MICA has a totally dual role. It is able to cope with both BVR and SR combat situations and exhibits very high performance in both situations. The weapon covers Beyond Visual Range situations and in addition offers two guidance systems with its two interoperable seekers:

• RF MICA with radar seeker providing all weather shoot-up/shoot down capability

• IR MICA with dual waveband imaging infrared seeker surpassing latest generation AAM missiles.

• MICA outperforms other BVR missiles with its unique stealthy interception capability provided by its silent seeker.

PYTHON-5

Python-5 is a fifth generation air-to-air missile (AAM) manufactured by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. It is the newest member in the range of Python AAMs. The missile can engage enemy aircraft from very short ranges and near beyond visual range. Python-5one of the most sophisticated guided missiles in the world.

The development on the Python-5 began in the 1990s. The missile was unveiled for the first time during the Paris Air Show in June 2003. The missile demonstrated superior target detection and tracking capabilities during the developmental and operational test program, involving captive carry evaluation and homing trials.

See next month’s Nation Shield for the remainder of the top ten air-to-air missiles.

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