cem@cs.brown.edu (Charles E. Moylan) (01/22/91)
From: cem@cs.brown.edu (Charles E. Moylan) Does anyone know if the european ASRAAM (advanced short-range air-to-air missile) program is still in existence? I had heard that it was canceled in favor of upgrading the AIM-9 Sidewinder. Is this true? -- Charlie Moylan (cem@cs.brown.edu)
henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) (01/24/91)
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) >From: cem@cs.brown.edu (Charles E. Moylan) >Does anyone know if the european ASRAAM (advanced short-range air-to-air >missile) program is still in existence? I had heard that it was canceled >in favor of upgrading the AIM-9 Sidewinder. Is this true? Last I heard, the program was in fairly deep political trouble but had not actually died yet. The original notion was that Europe would develop ASRAAM while the US developed AMRAAM, and each would buy the other's product rather than duplicating the development effort. This always struck me as a stupid idea, actually, with Europe killing medium-range missile concepts which looked promising as alternatives to the dubious AMRAAM, in return for a nebulous hope that the US would buy ASRAAM someday. The icing on the cake was when the Europeans basically put ASRAAM on the back (very back) burner for half a decade or so, guaranteeing that it would not be ready when the US was looking for a Sidewinder replacement. Now the Europeans are starting to look seriously at alternatives to AMRAAM again, and the US is looking at Sidewinder enhancements to fill the place of the missing ASRAAM. All that the stupid agreement accomplished, in the end, was to forestall competition that might have greatly improved the quality of air-combat missiles. -- If the Space Shuttle was the answer, | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology what was the question? | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry
gwh%soda.Berkeley.EDU@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (George William Herbert) (01/24/91)
From: gwh%soda.Berkeley.EDU@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (George William Herbert) In article <1991Jan22.015553.20458@cbnews.att.com> cem@cs.brown.edu (Charles E. Moylan) writes: >Does anyone know if the european ASRAAM (advanced short-range air-to-air >missile) program is still in existence? I had heard that it was canceled >in favor of upgrading the AIM-9 Sidewinder. Is this true? The ASRAAM program failed to achive any of it's development/design milestones, and was cancelled. The USAF and USN were overjoyed to hear that it was possible to upgrade the Sidewinder to accomplish all the ASRAAM's goals and only spending a fraction of the costs estimated to finish the (lagging) ASRAAM. As a result, the venerable AIM-9 Sidewinder is going to continue to be updated and serve with frontline US forces until at least 2010 or 2020. A truly timeless design. == George William Herbert == * UNIX ate my last .sig, Waiting for Plan 9! * == JOAT for Hire: Anything, == ######### I do Naval Architecture, ########## ===+++ Anywhere, my price +++=== # Spacecraft Design, UNIX Systems Consulting # == gwh@soda.berkeley.edu == # RPG writing/development, and lots of other # == gwh@ocf.berkeley.edu == ## random stuff, of course. I'm a JOAT 8-) ##
bxr307@csc.anu.edu.au (01/24/91)
From: bxr307@csc.anu.edu.au In article <1991Jan22.015553.20458@cbnews.att.com>, cem@cs.brown.edu (Charles E. Moylan) writes: > > > From: cem@cs.brown.edu (Charles E. Moylan) > > Does anyone know if the european ASRAAM (advanced short-range air-to-air > missile) program is still in existence? I had heard that it was canceled > in favor of upgrading the AIM-9 Sidewinder. Is this true? The ASRAAM was developed under an agreement between the US and the European members of NATO. The USAF was to be responsible for the development of BVR missiles and the Europeans the development of the short range weapons. ASRAAM was intended to replace the AIM-9 Sidewinder and was meant to be easily fitted to the same launch rails without any adaptors. However the Europeans decided to produce the ASRAAM with a large adaptor rail which contained the electronics interface and cooling bottle for the systems IR homing system. The USAF complained when the weapon was presented to them and threatened to pull out of the agreement. The Europeans quickly went back to their drawing boards and redesigned the missile. They increased the diametre of the weapon to allow it to carry all electronics and cooling supplies internally. However the USAF has still be dragging its feet at agreeing to production of the weapon. In addition the German government (before reunification) decided that the system's costs were spiralling too quickly and announced its withdrawal from the program. This left Britain, Italy and Spain basically carrying the cost. As a consequence the system is, as far as I know, in limbo. The other countries have not yet decided to cancel it yet, however it is most probably on the cards. As a consequence a private venture was begun last year between Marconi Avionics of the UK and Matra of France to produce a possible replacement. Designated Mica-ASRAAM it makes use of developments gained from work done on ASRAAM. They have placed an unsolicited proposal to the UK MoD who is considering it in light of the problems faced by the ASRAAM program. Brian Ross
rqdms@lims01.lerc.nasa.gov (Dennis Stockert) (02/04/91)
From: rqdms@lims01.lerc.nasa.gov (Dennis Stockert) In article <1991Jan22.015553.20458@cbnews.att.com>, cem@cs.brown.edu (Charles E. Moylan) writes... > >Does anyone know if the european ASRAAM (advanced short-range air-to-air >missile) program is still in existence? I had heard that it was canceled >in favor of upgrading the AIM-9 Sidewinder. Is this true? The ASRAAM program (a companion/complementary program to the U.S. AMRAAM program, was terminated some time back (1-2 years) due to technical problems. *********************************************************************** * Dennis Stockert * Life is what happens to you while * * rqdms@lims01.lerc.nasa.gov * you're planning other things - Mom * *********************************************************************** * No one that knows me would mistake my opinions for those of * * any respectable organization * ***********************************************************************