tek@CS.UCLA.EDU (Ted Kim (ATW)) (07/13/89)
From: tek@CS.UCLA.EDU (Ted Kim (ATW)) >In article <8078@cbnews.ATT.COM> Greg A. Hooten writes: > >AMRAAM (Advanced medium range air to air missile) $900,000 a >copy for the first few, but promises to drop this to about $370,000. >Fire and forget, USNAWR says that Sparrows and Phoenix can replace, >but neither are fire and forget missiles. Leaves plane vulnerable. In article <8178@cbnews.ATT.COM> Nicholas C. Hester writes: > >If i remember correctly, the Phoenix is a fire and forget missile. The Phoenix (AIM-54) is not always fire and forget. The Phoenix is an active radar homing missile. But the active homing portion of its flight is only in the terminal phase (last ~15 miles or so). Now, the Phoenix is fairly fast, but it has a long range (~100 miles in the head-on part of the firing envelope). If the Phoenix is fired at long range, the target has time to maneuver away (assuming the target knows it's being shot at). To keep the Phoenix on target before it goes active homing, target updating information is fed to it from the launching Tomcat. To feed updates, you need a radar lock-on. To summarize, short shots are fire-and-forget, long shots are often not. The AMRAAM has a similar active homing range but a much shorter overall range. Thus, it is pretty much fire-and-forget. The reason that the active homing terminal phase is not longer has to do with the relative power and size of the active homing radar. If you required the Phoenix to be active homing all the way, the missile would be huge (it's already big). -ted Ted Kim ARPAnet: tek@penzance.cs.ucla.edu UCLA Computer Science Department UUCP: ...!ucbvax!cs.ucla.edu!tek 3804C Boelter Hall PHONE: (213) 206-8696 Los Angeles, CA 90024 ESPnet: tek@ouija.board
allynrud@pro-acsd.cts.com (Matthew Smeltzer) (06/25/91)
From: allynrud@pro-acsd.cts.com (Matthew Smeltzer) In-Reply-To: message from hc1@jaialai.cis.ufl.edu I was under the impression that the standard issue AGM-65 and later models would be of the type that would be a "fire and forget" missile and that it would lock onto its target, and then continue barring any unforseen mishap of the guidance system due to radio interference, or microwave bombardment, as per Defensive measures required to "save ones A**". I am not an expert, mind you, but a curious individual trying to understand that which I am not well versed in. Care to assist me?