IN FOCUS: USAF committed to replace AMRAAM and HARM with new missile

[Sridhar]

[h=1]IN FOCUS: USAF committed to replace AMRAAM and HARM with new missile[/h]
Twenty years after entering service, the Raytheon AIM-120 AMRAAM is still one of the most feared weapons in air warfare, yet it may also be among the most endangered.

China and Russia are developing new air-to-air missiles with possibly longer ranges, adding to the overall threat posed since 2010 by the appearance of the Sukhoi T-50 and Chengdu J-20 prototype stealth fighters.

Moreover, a new generation of surface-to-air missile systems are extending their reach, making a strike by fighters armed with anti-radiation missiles - the 27-year-old Raytheon AGM-88 HARM - an ever more perilous mission for the air crews.

IN FOCUS: USAF committed to replace AMRAAM and HARM with new missile

 

[W.G.Ewald]

The multi-role responsive ordnance kill mechanism (MR ROKM) is seeking to invent a directional warhead.

Instead of scattering shrapnel in all directions, this warhead would channel the damage in a single direction.

Seems like the idea would have arisen earlier than now. A partial ramjet-power missile is very innovative.