Free Republic

Canada's wish to buy the latest version of the Advanced Medium Range Air-To-Air Missile (AMRAAM), the AIM-120D, has been granted by the US State Department. The only problem is that their current fleet of aging CF-18 Hornets would realize little from the missile's most preeminent feature, its greatly enhanced range. The cost of Canada's AIM-120D buy is no chump change. Set at $140M, it buys just 32 AIM-120Ds plus support equipment, captive training rounds, spares, training and so on. The DoD's press release reads: "The Government of Canada has requested a Letter of Offer and Acceptance for the procurement of...

Australia could become the first foreign nation to buy the radar-guided Raytheon AIM-120D air-to-air missile under a $1.1 billion foreign military sales package approved by the US government this week. AIM-120D is the latest variant of Raytheon’s popular AMRAAM series, developed for the US Air Force and Navy. The networked, beyond-visual-range missile introduces satellite-aided navigation, a two-way datalink and new guidance software that “improves kinematic performance and weapon effectiveness”. It has greater range than the legacy variants and is optimised for high-angle off-boresight shots. Canberra has requested 450 missiles – as well as instrumented test vehicles and spare guidance sections...

AIM-120San Diego, Calif. — The U.S. military needs a longer range AIM-120 to fully utilize the advances made by America’s fifth generation fleet — the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and the F-22 Raptor, said one of Lockheed Martin’s top test pilots. The AIM-120 is an advanced medium-range air-to-air missile and America’s premiere air-to-air weapon in the fleet. The latest model, the D-model, can fly Mach 4 with a range of about 180 kilometers or about 97 nautical miles. William Gigliotti, Lockheed Martin’s lead test pilot at the Fort Worth, Texas, said he wants to see that range extended to take...