angles, as long ago as the 1970s, cued by the use of helmet mounted sights, this technology has only recently become really widely adopted. Apartheid South Africa’s isolation led to the development of a succession of advanced IR-homing air-to-air missiles, culminating in the A-Darter (V3E), which was given a formal Type Certificate by South Africa and Brazil in September 2019, and which has been cleared for use on the Saab JAS39 Gripen. The A-Darter has a thrust vectoring control (TVC) system, and a two colour thermal imaging seeker. The weapon has a range of 12 nautical miles (22km), and the absence of aluminium powder in the propellent inhibits production of a smoke trail. Rafael’s Python 5 marks the latest in a series of Israeli air-to-air missiles. The missile has 18 control surfaces, which are claimed to make the weapon at least as agile as rival missiles with thrust vectoring. The advanced seeker includes an electro-optical (EO) and image infrared (IR) homing seeker which scans the target area for hostile aircraft, then locks-on for terminal chase. Python 5 has a range of 10nm (20 km) and carries an 24 pound (11 kilogram) warhead. Arguably the most interesting WVR missiles on the market today resulted from
MBDA
Airborne weapons
MBDA MICA fired from a Rafale.
the same requirement! In the 1980s, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) nations signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA0 under which the United States (US) would develop the AMRAAM for beyond visual range (BVR) use, while European countries abandoned their medium range missile programmes. The quid pro quo was that an Anglo-German team would develop a short-range air-to-air missile to replace the AIM-9 Sidewinder. But in the end, the US and Germany would drop out of the
original ASRAAM programme to develop their own short-range missiles, while the UK programme gave rise to an entirely new design. The US developed the AIM-9X, marrying the rocket motor, fusing system, and warhead, from the AIM-9M to a new focal-plane array (FPA) seeker, a digital autopilot, fixed forward canards, with steerable tail surfaces and three-dimensional thrust vectoring. The Focal Plane Array had been designed by BAE Dynamics for ASRAAM,
Network and connect with key military, industry and government decision makers at the premier land forces exposition for Australia and the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. LAND FORCES will highlight defence capability and showcase platforms, equipment, support and technologies. l l l
Military, government and industry conferences and briefings International defence, government, industry and academic delegations Comprehensive industry exhibition
Don’t miss this opportunity to network and connect with key thought leaders through this established, worldclass exposition.
Platforms - Equipment - Support - Technologies www.landforces.com.au BRISBANE CONVENTION & EXHIBITION CENTRE, AUSTRALIA Proudly supported by the Queensland Government
For further information contact the LAND FORCES Sales Team: PO Box 4095 Geelong, Victoria 3220 Australia T: + 61 (0) 3 5282 0500 E: expo@amda.com.au Official Logistics Provider
armadainternational.com - april-may 2021
