Hornets equipped with new missiles

The Age ^ | 20th August 2004

[naturalman1975]

The federal government has spent $488 million to equip Australia's F/A-18 Hornet pilots with the world's most advanced missiles.

The government declared the RAAF's latest acquisition - the state-of-the-art ASRAAM missile - fully operational, six years after a decision was made to replace older American-made Sidewinder missiles.

ASRAAM stands for advanced short-range air-to-air missile and it's regarded as the best in the world for shooting down hostile aircraft at dogfighting ranges out to about 15 kilometres.

In a ceremony at RAAF base Williamtown, the home of two of the RAAF's Hornet squadrons, Defence Minister Robert Hill said the ASRAAM was a short-range heat-seeking missile, capable of tracking and intercepting airborne targets.

"It has a significantly greater range than the Sidewinder missiles which it will replace," Senator Hill said.

"Combined with the Advanced Medium Range Air to Air Missile (AMRAAM) which has an all-weather, beyond visual range ability to hit low-altitude targets and supported by the APG-73 radar fitted under the Hornet Upgrade Program, the F/A-18s now have the world's most modern missile capability."

Unlike most missiles in Australian Defence Force service that originate in the United States, ASRAAM is made by European company MBDA which is majority owned by BAE Systems and EADS.

ASRAAM development started in the late 1980s when it was realised the Soviet-made AA-11 Archer missile was superior to the Sidewinder by practically every measure.

In RAAF service, ASRAAM will complement the longer range American-made AMRAAM (advanced medium-range air-to-air missile) which can hit targets out to more than 30 kilometres.

Senator Hill said the ASRAAM project had delivered benefits to Australian industry with software support and deeper maintenance facilities being established in Adelaide.

"Software is a major portion of the missile's capability. The software support facility, to be located at the Defence Science Technology Organisation at Edinburgh, will allow Australia to improve the ASRAAM software in response to the ADF's specific requirements," he said.

Britain's Minister for Defence Procurement Lord Bach congratulated MBDA and the RAAF after the roll-out ceremony marking the official ASRAAM entry to service.

"I am delighted to hear that the missile has entered into service with the RAAF," he said in a statement from London.

"ASRAAM is the most advanced air-to-air missile in the world and I am delighted that the RAAF have decided to use this to enhance the capability of their F/A-18 Hornet aircraft.

"This is an important milestone for ASRAAM and a major breakthrough as this is the first MBDA weapon system to be integrated onto a US combat aircraft."

[Owl558]

Tally-ho, dudes!

[RayChuang88]

Actually, another missile that is seriously being considered for fitment on the same launch rails used on AMRAAM is the BAE Systems Meteor missile, now in development for the Eurofighter Typhoon jet fighter.

Powered by a ramjet and likely to contain a vectorable exhaust nozzle, the Meteor missile may have a range probably exceeding 100 km (62.1 miles). As fitted to the F-15C, F-16C, and F-18, the Meteor could give these fighters ultra-long range intercept capability almost as good as the very large AIM-54 Phoenix missile used on the F-14.

[GeronL]

cool

[sukhoi-30mki]

I read on a website that the Germans (who were originally part of the ASRAAM development team) lost interest, when they realised that the AA-11 Archers ,equipped on their Mig-29s(from East Germany) were in fact more agile & obviously cost-effective.Germany is now developing a new IR missile the IRIS-T with Canada,Italy etc which is on par with the AIM-9X.

I would'nt risk calling the ASRAAM the best IR AAM in the world-that price would have to be shared by the AIM-9X,Israeli Python-5,newer gen versions of AA-11(in service with India & China) ,The IR version of the French MICA & the IRIS-T.

[spetznaz]

I read on a website that the Germans (who were originally part of the ASRAAM development team) lost interest, when they realised that the AA-11 Archers ,equipped on their Mig-29s(from East Germany) were in fact more agile & obviously cost-effective.Germany is now developing a new IR missile the IRIS-T with Canada,Italy etc which is on par with the AIM-9X. I would'nt risk calling the ASRAAM the best IR AAM in the world-that price would have to be shared by the AIM-9X,Israeli Python-5,newer gen versions of AA-11(in service with India & China) ,The IR version of the French MICA & the IRIS-T.

Please give me a link to that website. Thanks bro (it will help me make a point with a pal who thought i was mad when i told him the ASRAAM was one of the greatest missiles for short range A2A,but not necessarily the best).

[sukhoi-30mki]

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/aim-132.htm

"ASRAAM was initiated in the 1980's by Germany and the United Kingdom, but the two countries were unable to agree on the details of the joint-venture. Germany left the ASRAAM project in the early 1990s, and in the spring of 1995 initiated an improved version of the Sidewinder, the IRIS-T (Infra Red Imagery Sidewinder-Tail controlled) built by Bodensee Geraetetechnik GmBH (BGT). This decision was largely motivated by new insights into the performance of the Russian AA- 11 Archer missile carried by the MiG-29s which Germany inherited during reunification. The Luftwaffe concluded that the AA-11's performance had been seriously underestimated -- the AA-11 turned out to be superior to the Sidewinder AIM-9L in all respects: homing head field of view, acquisition range, maneuverability, ease of designation, and target lock-on. The Germans concluded that the ASRAAM demonstrated a serious lack of agility compared to the Russian Archer. "

http://www.global-defence.com/2002/missile-airborne.html

"In Europe, the two rival next-generation short-range missile programmes ­ the MBDA ASRAAM and BGT’s IRIS-T ­ both encountered a bit of a rough ride. The ASRAAM saga took an unwelcome turn when the UK authorities, in the form of Procurement Minister Baroness Symons, made an unprecedented public announcement that the ASRAAM didn’t work."


Both articles are rather dated-so you cannot know bout the improvements they have done on the ASRAAM(I suggest you try a google search on the AIM-132 & AA-11 Archer).Having said that,among all the IR AAMs around now,the ASRAAM seems to be the most limp with most of Europe crowding around the IRIS-T & the rest going after the AIM-9X, Python-5s etc.

[HenryLeeII]

Owl, B:

After several disappointing seasons, it looks as though the New Orleans (nee Charlotte) Hornets are getting really desperate to turn things around. But will the NBA allow one team to use missiles if all teams don't have access to them? I would hope the league office says that all teams must have them, or none. I'm sure that David Stern has probably already stated that, but I didn't have time to read beyond the headline, so it may be buried somewhere in the article.

[End Times Sentinel]

HL, your football acumen in second to none, but you're showing your relative ignorance when it comes to Basketball.  Missiles, rockets, cannons, bicycles, accordions, and radios pulled out of an oversized afro and of course buckets of confetti have at one time or another been widely used.

 

In fact, some of those tactics along with the famous "Pants the Ref" play are widely accredited with the 1970's dominance of the Harlem Globetrotters.

 

Owl_Eagle

" WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
DIVERSITY IS STRENGTH"

[HenryLeeII]

HL, your football acumen in second to none, but you're showing your relative ignorance when it comes to Basketball.

Owl, you're right, but you have to keep in mind that I only recently escaped the Metro D.C. area, where there is no professional basketball! Also, IIRC, the crew on "Fat Albert" had some tricks as well, didn't they?

[TheBigB]

They can't transform into superheroes, either!

[HenryLeeII]

Is Shaq considered a superhero, or is he a rappin' pimp daddy hoopster? I'm so confused! Where are Robert Parrish and Moses Malone when we need them?

[TheBigB]

Shaq did play STEEL on the big screen (albeit very briefly), so we could throw him in there, I guess!

[TheBigB]