AIM-132 ASRAAM

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AIM-132 ASRAAM
AIM-132 ASRAAM
Basic data
Function	short-range air-to-air missile
Manufacturer	MBDA
Unit cost	> £200,000
Entered service	1998
General characteristics
Engine	solid rocket motor
Launch mass	88 kg
Length	2.90 m
Diameter	166 mm
Wingspan	450 mm
Speed	Mach 3.5
Range	300 m – 18 km
Flying altitude	N/A
Warhead	10 kg blast/fragmentation
Guidance	Imaging infra-red, 128×128 element focal plane array, with lock-on after launch (LOAL)
Fuzes	laser proximity and impact
Launch platform	Aircraft: Royal Air Force: Tornado, Harrier, Typhoon Royal Australian Air Force: F/A-18

The AIM-132 Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missile is a British infrared homing ("heat seeking") air-to-air missile.

1 History
2 Characteristics
3 ASRAAM P3I
4 Operators
5 See also
6 References

[edit] History

In the 1980s, NATO countries had a Family of Weapons Memorandum of Agreement that the United States would develop a medium-range air-to-air missile (the AIM-120 AMRAAM) to replace the AIM-7 Sparrow, and Britain and Germany would develop a short-range air-to-air missile (the ASRAAM) to replace the AIM-9 Sidewinder.

Germany left the ASRAAM project in the early 1990s after experiencing technical and funding issues, and in the spring of 1995 initiated a separate project, the IRIS-T. This decision was motivated by new insights into the performance of the Russian Vympel R-73 (AA-11 'Archer') missile carried by the MiG-29s which Germany inherited during reunification. Specifically, Germany wanted to redesign the ASRAAM to match or exceed the maneuverability of the Archer (which had been seriously underestimated by NATO), while Britain favored a high-speed, low-drag solution with relatively limited maneuverability but significantly extended range compared to the Sidewinder. As the two countries could not come to any agreement on this issue, Germany chose to terminate its involvement in the ASRAAM program and developed the completely new IRIS-T missile .

Due to the numerous developmental delays caused by the British-German bickering over ASRAAM design with no solution in sight and in light of threat of AA-11 Archer, the U.S. could not wait any longer and began development an improved version of the Sidewinder, the AIM-9X in 1990. The UK sought a new source for the ASRAAM seeker and selected a Hughes Focal Plane Array. Somewhat ironically, Hughes used the same technology in their winning submission for AIM-9X so the ASRAAM and the AIM-9X both use the same Hughes-developed imaging infrared seeker head. Raytheon also proposed a seeker for ASRAAM and submitted an AIM-9X proposal, but was not selected. However, Raytheon ultimately purchased Hughes and is now the producer of seekers for both ASRAAM and AIM-9X. After the ASRAAM program was revived, the US considered it as a candidate SRM, but did not agree with the British deemphasis on maneuverability after AA-11 Archer perfromance was better understood.

[edit] Characteristics

The main improvement, which was also made on the latest version of the AIM-9 Sidewinder, is a new focal plane array FPA (128x128 resolution imaging infrared) seeker developed by Hughes before they were acquired by Raytheon. This seeker has a long acquisition range, high countermeasures resistance, approx. 90 degrees off-boresight lock-on capability, and the possibility to designate specific parts of the targeted aircraft (like cockpit, engines, etc). The ASRAAM also has a LOAL (Lock-On After Launch) ability which is a distinct advantage when the missile is carried in an internal bay such as in the upcoming F-35 Lightning II.

[edit] ASRAAM P3I

In 1995, Hughes and British Aerospace collaborated on the "P3I ASRAAM" version of ASRAAM as a candidate for the AIM-9X program. The P3I would have been very much like the AIM-132, but with the addition of thrust vectoring to provide increased agility and to carry a larger warhead to meet the requirements expressed by the US Navy led AIM-9X program. The ultimate winner was the Hughes submission using the same seeker but utilizing the existing AIM-9M rocket motor, fuze and warhead, which was an US Air Force stipulation to ease the logistics burden and save by reutilizing the as much of the existing AIM-9 Sidwinder as possible as remaining assets in US inventory numbered well over 20,000.