AIM-120 AMRAAM

The West’s primary beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile — an active-radar fire-and-forget weapon that replaced the semi-active Sparrow, arming 14 fighter types across 42 nations and doubling as the interceptor for the ground-based NASAMS.

Overview

The AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM), colloquially “Slammer,” is a beyond-visual-range (BVR) air-to-air missile produced by Raytheon (RTX). It entered service in 1991 as the successor to the AIM-7 Sparrow and became NATO’s standard BVR weapon. The missile combines inertial navigation, a two-way datalink, and an active radar terminal seeker to give pilots a fire-and-forget capability. It has been adapted for surface launch as the interceptor in the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS), giving it a dual air-defense role. More than 25,000 rounds have been produced, and the missile remains in full-rate production with the AIM-120D-3 as the latest variant.

Development

Development began in the late 1970s under the Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile program, a joint US Air Force–Navy effort to field an active-radar missile that would overcome the limitations of the Sparrow’s continuous-wave semi-active guidance. Raytheon received the full-scale development contract in 1981, and the first test firings followed in 1984. The AMRAAM achieved initial operational capability in September 1991 with the US Air Force, as detailed by the US Air Force fact sheet. Early production variants (A and B) were rapidly superseded by the AIM-120C with clipped wings for internal carriage on the F-22, and later by the extended-range AIM-120D.

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