New AMRAAM Variant Destroys Target During Recent Test

A U.S. Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter aircraft fired the newest variant of Raytheon's Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile May 22 as part of developmental testing.

The AIM-120D AMRAAM passed well within lethal range of the QF-4 target drone. The missile destroyed the target and met all primary test objectives.

"This test is another important milestone on the road to putting the AIM-120D in the hands of the U.S. warfighter," said Col. Scott Rumph, commander of the U.S. Air Force's 328th Armament Systems Group.

"The AIM-120D will enable our men and women in uniform to maintain air superiority, regardless of the threat."

The AIM-120D builds on the combat-proven AMRAAM family of missiles. It offers improved capabilities compared with its predecessor, the AIM-120C7.

"AIM-120D's advanced features offer U.S. aviators a critical advantage in the beyond-visual-range fight," said Jim Knox, Raytheon Missile Systems' AMRAAM program director.

"There is no missile in development or in any air force's inventory that can even come close to matching what the AIM-120D can do."

The AMRAAM family of missiles has been in production for more than 20 years. It is operational with the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Army and 33 international customers. More than 16,000 AMRAAMs have been produced. The missile is responsible for nine successful combat intercepts.

Poof! Scientists closer to invisibility cloak

Scientists say they are a step closer to developing materials that could render people and objects invisible.

Researchers have demonstrated for the first time they were able to cloak three-dimensional objects using artificially engineered materials that redirect light around the objects. Previously, they only have been able to cloak very thin two-dimensional objects.

The findings, by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, led by Xiang Zhang, are to be released later this week in the journals Nature and Science.

The new work moves scientists a step closer to hiding people and objects from visible light, which could have broad applications, including military ones.

People can see objects because they scatter the light that strikes them, reflecting some of it back to the eye. Cloaking uses materials, known as metamaterials, to deflect radar, light or other waves around an object, like water flowing around a smooth rock in a stream.

Metamaterials are mixtures of metal and circuit board materials such as ceramic, Teflon or fiber composite. They are designed to bend visible light in a way that ordinary materials don't. Scientists are trying to use them to bend light around objects so they don't create reflections or shadows.

It differs from stealth technology, which does not make an aircraft invisible but reduces the cross-section available to radar, making it hard to track.

The research was funded in part by the U.S. Army Research Office and the National Science Foundation's Nano-Scale Science and Engineering Center.

I think they mean dual impulse, two different thrust levels. A high initial boost thrust and a lower sustain thrust.

I would imagine if there is a grain of truth to the 180km+ range that would be under the most ideal of conditions (fired from a Raptor flying at 60k+ feet at Mach 2+ against a closing target).

You seem like a reasonably intelligent fellow, sferrin, or at least somewhat informed, so I'm surprised that you don't understand that there is a vast difference between a missile's kinematic range and the range at which it can be fired from the target and expect to have a reasonably good chance of hitting it.

Also, a huge difference whether you are firing at a target you expect to maneuver versus a target that will continue flying straight, like many of the Soviet cruise missiles, which were the size of large fighter aircraft, the AIM-54 was expected to intercept. Which is the reason, by the way, that the AIM-54, in USN service, had a godawful Pk versus fighters in operational service, as in, several were fired and not a single missile hit one good goddamned thing, which I'm sure contributed to the F-14's seemingly premature retirement.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz You're not saying anything here that everybody doesn't already know. How many times does it need to be pointed out that the 180kms is flight range?

How is anything the target could do going to effect how far the missile can fly?

Flight range fired under what conditions and at what target??? There is no such thing as "flight range," period. Like a car's MPG is divided between city and highway driving, and immensely variable in between.

So you don't understand that there is a difference between an AMRAAM flying, say, 100 km and arriving at a point in space at, say, Mach 2.5 and it flying 150 km and arriving at that point in space at, say, 200 kts.??? Sure, if launched from high enough and fast enough I'm sure the AMRAAM can go 500 kms and hit the ground at terminal velocity.

Real effective as an intercept weapon at that point. No wonder checksixx often goes ballistic on your amazing incapacity to accept your intellectual limitations...

Nope. dual pulse. A particular burn profile is nothing special (everybody tailors their profile to suit) but a dual pulse motor isn't all that common. The 3rd stage on SM-3 and SRAM are the only two that come to mind.

From AvWeek:

"USAF officials report that performance on the two-way data link and an “enhanced” conformal data link on the front end of the weapon are “satisfactory” and will continue to be reviewed. The weapon also has the ability to maneuver actively at the end of its flight to compensate for evasive tactics used by the target. So there is a possibility that the final motor burn can be cued by the terminal seeker going active or even acquiring the target."