Posted on 04/05/2005 10:07:26 PM PDT by Righty_McRight
TUCSON, Ariz., April 5, 2005 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Company celebrated the delivery of the 1,000th AIM-9X to the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force March 29. The event highlighted a production milestone to provide warfighters with unprecedented capability and air dominance in the battlespace.
"I am extremely proud of the AIM-9X team's accomplishments in the production and delivery of 1,000 AIM-9X next generation Sidewinder Missiles to the U.S. warfighter," said Capt. Scott Stewart, the Navy's program manager for Air-to-Air Missiles. "The ingenuity, dedication and expertise of this team has maintained and preserved the Sidewinder as the most formidable and lethal short range missile in the world today. Their passionate patriotism, total commitment to the warfighter, high standards of quality and staunch blue- collar work ethic are the hallmarks of a team that delivers on its promises."
"AIM-9X changes the rules of the dogfight through an advanced system design approach that matches software and computer processing capability," said Brock McCaman, Raytheon vice president of Air-to-Air. "The milestone we commemorate is part of the long tradition of innovation in the Sidewinder family of missiles and is the result of a partnership built on a shared mission of performance excellence."
The AIM-9X is a joint U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force program and is the newest member of the AIM-9 Sidewinder short-range missile family in use by more than 40 nations. It incorporates a fifth-generation staring focal plane array seeker for robust guidance performance and infrared countermeasures capability and jet vane control for extremely agile turning performance.
The AIM-9X's seeker has near instantaneous slew rates, and achieves extremely high off-boresight angles for threat acquisition and first shot opportunity in high clutter and infrared countermeasures environments and extreme agility for "first shot, first kill" dogfight air dominance. Pilots are no longer required to point the aircraft's nose at the target to employ this advanced weapon system.
Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN), with 2004 sales of $20.2 billion, is an industry leader in defense and government electronics, space, information technology, technical services, and business and special mission aircraft. With headquarters in Waltham, Mass., Raytheon employs 80,000 people worldwide.
Contact:
Karen Rice
520.794.9494
SOURCE Raytheon Company
Web site: http://www.raytheon.com
The AIM-9X program delivers evolutionary improvements to the AIM-9 series missile through revolutionary advancements. The result from leveraging an in-production seeker and a rich legacy of commitment to advanced technologies is a low-risk weapon that is affordable and lethal.
AIM-9X is a launch and leave, air combat missile that uses passive infrared (IR) energy for acquisition and tracking, which can be employed in near beyond visual range (NBVR) and within visual range (WVR) arenas. Complimented with the Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM), the warfighter has unparalleled offensive firepower compared to any other weapon system in the world.
It has extremely high off-boresight capability which gives a pilot first-shot, first-kill dominance. It provides greatly enhanced acquisition ranges in blue sky and clutter and IR countermeasures deliver the capacity to resist ever-changing threats. The AIM-9X has a highly agile airframe and its fifth-generation seeker and thrust vectoring control provide unprecedented performance.
AIM-9X, the next-generation Sidewinder missile, has truly changed the rules of air combat.
http://www.raytheon.com/products/static/node4725.html
The X is an amazing weapon. It truly lives up to the advertising. Combined with the Joint Helmet it is unmatched.
We may have to use it on China before the decade is out. So I really hope it is king of its niche.
What is perhaps most amazing is that this incredibly successful and effective weapon started out as the project of just one engineer at the China Lake weapons development center.
I thought the the problem with the Sidewinder was range, that the Soviet Air-to-Air missle would drop our planes before we were within range.
Just how good is this new Joint Helmet?
>> "Complimented with the Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM)"<<
If ya get a chance this is an awesome read ..... I remember a article in the WSJ about the test where competitors brought test gear , instruments, hundreds of support folks etc etc .... Bill McLean asked to borrow a step ladder and a screw driver to present his AIM-9 prototype for evaluation.
http://www.sci.fi/~fta/sidewinder_book.htm
Well if he was single what else was there to do? Back in the 70's they wouldn't hire single guys no matter how smart you were. I guess they had too many go insane for lack of females.
In layman's terms High Off Bore-sight means if the enemy is forward of your wing line all you have do is look at him and shoot. What used to be a neutral position in an engagement in now a shooting position.
Back in the 70's the need for high off bore-sight weapons was identified in the same white paper that recommended the formation of weapons schools and adversary units. The difference was that while we sat on our butts the Soviets built the AA-11 Archer with a helmet mounted sight.
The Joint Helmet incorporates much of the data normally projected in the HUD and projects it instead on the inside of the pilot's visor. This allows all the data to be available when the pilot is not looking forward. In addition to AIM-9X employment it can also be used to display radar contacts, ground targets, laser designations, etc. In the CAS environment target ID used to be one of the major challenges. Now if the target is designated by another aircraft or ground FAC the pilot can see the target designation in his visor without having to point the aircraft at the target.
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