Raytheon AIM-9X Air-to-Air Missile

The AIM-9x is an infrared short range air-to-air missile primarily developed for the US Air Force and the US Navy. The AIM-9X is currently in service with over 40 countries across the world.

Design Features of AIM-9X Sidewinder

The AIM-9X incorporates an agile thrust vector controlled airframe. It uses a high-performance staring focal plane array sensor and integrates components such as rocket motor, warhead and fuse of AIM-9M. The digital design architecture of the missile can adapt enhancements for future requirements.

The missile has a length of 3m, diameter of 12.7cm, a fin span of 44.4cm and a wing span of 35.3cm. It weighs approximately 85kg. It can carry a 9.36kg annular blast fragmentation warhead to a range of more than ten miles.

The AIM-9X can be integrated with wide range of aircraft including F/A-18C/D, F-15C, F/A-18E/F, F-15E, F-16, and F-22 aircraft. The missile can be launched by the LAU-7 and LAU-12X series launchers.

AIM-9X Sidewinder Development

The AIM-9X was developed under a joint US Navy and UASF programme. The AIM-9X acquisition programme is focused on fulfilling the urgent requirements of aircraft and troops by providing a next-generation Sidewinder to replace the AIM-9M missile.

The first AIM-9X missile was successfully launched in March 1999. Between 1999-2000 13 separation and control test launches and 12 guided launches were made from the US Navy's F/A-18 and USAF F-15 aircraft.

The first low-rate initial production contract for AIM-9X was awarded in November 2000. Initial Operational Capability (IOC) was accomplished in November 2003 and full-rate production was approved in May 2004.

The AIM-9X Block II completed its first test firing in November 2008. Also known as AIM-9X-2, the missile is an upgraded variant with a lock-on-after-launch feature. The AIM-9X Block II is also equipped with redesigned fuse and a unidirectional forward-quarter data-link.

Guidance and Navigation

The missile has a length of 3m, a diameter of 12.7cm, a fin span of 44.4cm and a wing span of 35.3cm. The infrared (IR) homing guidance section performs the tracking and guidance functions. The AIM-9X is a system-guided missile employing a mid-wave IR FPA seeker. The seeker, equipped with High Off-Boresight (HOBS), can be used with a helmet-mounted sight for wider attack envelope. It uses passive infrared (IR) energy for target acquisition and tracking. After the launch, the seeker follows the heat signature from the engines of the hostile aircraft. The IR homing ensures the launch of the missile during day/night and in electronic countermeasure (ECM) environment. The missile can engage targets in the near beyond visual range (NBVR) and within visual range (WVR) areas.

Propulsion

The propulsion for the AIM-9X is provided by Mk 36 rocket motor integrating a thrust vector control package. The solid propulsion motor uses a reduced-smoke hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) propellant. The cylindrical grain form and integrated control actuation system enhance the range and manoeuvrability of the missile.

AIM-9X Orders and Deliveries

In March 2012, Raytheon received a $97m modification contract for the Lot 12 low rate initial production of 19 and 120 AIM-9X Block II missiles for South Korea and Saudi Arabia respectively.

As of September 2012, Kuwait, Malaysia, Oman and Poland also made requests for the acquisition of AIM-9X-2 Sidewinder Block II missiles.

In December 2004, Raytheon received a $158m contract from US Naval Air Systems Command for the production of 443 all-up-round AIM-9X missiles, 153 AIM-9X training missiles and associated equipment.

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K-77M, The New Russian Air- to-Air Long Range Missile

Designers at the Detal bureau, part of the state-owned Tactical Missile Munitions Corporation, added an active electronically-scanned array radar—a so-called “AESA”—to the nose of a long-range R-77 missile to produce the K-77M model. Thanks to its new guidance sensors, the K-77M is way more accurate than other missiles.

With enough funding, the K-77M could enter service as early as 2015, in time to be fitted to the first combat-ready versions of Russia’s new stealth fighter, the powerful T-50. The combination of T-50 and K-77M could match or even best America’s own F-22 stealth fighter, which is fast and hard to detect but lacks an advanced air-to-air missile.

And the T-50 with its new munition is sure to vastly outclass the U.S. F-35, a smaller, less capable stealth fighter meant to comprise the bulk of the American warplane fleet in coming decades.

Smarter Missile

Traditional air-to-air missiles include a small mechanical radar antenna in the nose. These mechanical radar missiles have a major weakness that occurs in the final seconds before the munition reaches its target.

“The angular motion—and specifically the angle rate of antenna movement as the missile closes on the target—can be so high that the seeker cannot keep up and the target slips out of the antenna beam, causing missile lock to be broken,” the scientist explains.

In other words, if a pilot turns quickly in any direction right before a missile hits his plane, he stands a good chance of slipping outside the field of view of the missile’s radar, causing it to fly harmlessly away. The inability of most munitions to cope with violent maneuvers helps explain why radar-guided air-to-air missiles typically have very low hit rates.

But the K-77M could change all that. Gone is the mechanical array. In its place, Detal’s engineers have added what Russia Today describes as “a large number”—possibly hundreds—of individual digital array cells, each pointing its own radar beam essentially at the speed of light.

“Each cell receives only a part of the signal,” RT reports, “but once digitally processed, the information from all cells is summarized into a ‘full picture,’ enabling the K-77M missile to immediately respond to sharp turns of the target, making interception practically inevitable.”

That’s not hyperbole, according to the scientist. “Because an AESA or phased array is steered electronically, the antenna beam can be adjusted in direction several thousand times per second and is not limited in angle rate, thus allowing an AESA-equipped missile to maintain lock.”

Considering the huge advantage an active-array missile has over older munitions, it’s perhaps surprising that Russia is the only country developing one. Amid budget reductions, the U.S. and Europe have essentially stopped investing in new seekers for air-to-air missiles. Almost all of America’s aerospace capital is being poured into fixing problems with the F-35 as well as developing a new stealth bomber.

But Russia typically exports its missile technology to China—and the K-77M should be no exception. “We should not be surprised to see the AESA seeker sold to China for use in Chinese-built PL-12 [missile] in 2015 or 2016,” the scientist warns.

To survive a dogfight with a foe armed with K-77Ms, an American plane needs to be stealthier or employ better radar jamming, the scientist advises. Considering the F-35's many design compromises, U.S. stealth technology probably reached its pinnacle with the F-22, which ended its production run two years ago.

And as for jamming … the Pentagon for years has struggled to develop new electronic countermeasures, with the Air Force in particular having all but abandoned electronic warfare in favor of spending more money on stealth.

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Eurofighter Typhoon Storm Shadow Ground Test Completed

Engineers at Finmeccanica-Alenia Aermacchi in Turin-Caselle, Italy, and at BAE Systems in Warton, Lancashire, completed a series of ground-based tests of the Eurofighter Typhoon with MBDA’sStorm Shadow cruise missile, in preparation for flight trials to take place in the U.K. later this year.

Engineers fitted Italian Instrumented Production Aircraft 2 (IPA2) and UK production Typhoon aircraft BS111 with two MBDA Storm Shadow cruise missiles for ground-based Electro Magnetic Compatibility (EMC) tests. EMC testing ensures the integrity of the electrical systems onboard the aircraft and the missile. Following these tests, the missiles have been prepared for flight by positioning a series of laser tracking points which will allow engineers to accurately analyze the trajectory of the weapon when released from the aircraft.

Italian aerospace and defense company Finmeccanica-Alenia Aermacchi leads the program to integrate Storm Shadow onto Typhoon with the support of MBDA engineers. The company, supported by engineers from BAE Systems, will also lead the U.K.-based flight trials, which will build upon previous trials in Italy that saw the first successful release of a Storm Shadow from a Typhoon. The trials will involve the missile being released from Italian IPA2 aircraft to collect safe weapons separation trajectory data and to verify the correct release sequence of the missile.

MBDA’s Storm Shadow combat-proven cruise missile, already in service with the Italian Air Force and Royal Air Force Tornados, is a conventionally armed, stealthy, long-range, stand-off precision weapon. It will add new capability to strike in all-weather conditions, well-defended infrastructure targets, such as port facilities, control centres, bunkers, missile sites, airfields and bridges that would otherwise require several aircraft and missions.

Eurofighter Typhoon is an advanced, new generation swing-role combat aircraft currently available on the world market. Seven nations (Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Austria, Saudi Arabia, and Oman) have already ordered the Eurofighter Typhoon. Eurofighter Typhoon is currently the largest military procurement program in Europe.

“Its high technology strengthens the position of European aerospace industry in the international market,” officials say. “The program secures more than 100,000 jobs in 400 companies.”

Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH manages the program on behalf of the Eurofighter Partner Companies: Finmeccanica - Alenia Aermacchi, BAE Systems, and Airbus Defence and Space in Germany and Spain.

Since delivery of the first Eurofighter Typhoon to the Royal Air Force in the United Kingdom at the end of 2003, a total of 436 aircraft have been delivered to six nations and close to 300,000 flying hours have been achieved. 

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