F-22 enters AIM-9X Certification

originally posted by: _Del_

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: MystikMushroom

Not very. In the early days of the Sidewinder they'd lock onto the sun.

Don't forget trains, boats, and the occasional semi. Be careful out there...

During the Vietnam war a navy pilot fired one at a north vietnamese patrol boat.
and it went right down the stack.
There was a modified version during the Vietnam war that would home in on truck headlights that was used on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. But there were only 150 of these hand made at NOTS China Lake. they had a modified seeker head and a HEI frag warhead.
There was a story that one of these went after a NVA with a flash light leading a bunch of NVA troops walking down the trail.

The navy has done test on the AIM-9X for air to ground targets like tanks and high speed boats like the Iranians like to use.

a reply to: ANNED

The AIM-9X was modified in 2009 to go after boats and ground targets.

I have not worked on the base at china lake for a few years and have not been up on what they are doing lately.
And most of my friends that worked on these projects are now retired.

a reply to: ANNED

Interestingly it was the Air Force that requested the modification, not the Navy. It was a backdoor way to give something like the F-15C a very limited ground attack for emergency situations.

a reply to: ANNED

The patrol boat story is definitely true. The headlight version was FOCUS ( Fixed-aperture Optical Contrast Universal Spectra). Never heard the flash light story, but doesn't mean that it isn't true.

My dumb question for the day. If this is an all aspect missile and with sensors all over the Raptor and the 35, what need is there for a helmet cueing system?

a reply to: nwtrucker

How does a seeker see anything beyond 180 degrees?

a reply to: Zaphod58

Why not the extant sensor fusion already in the F-22. (360 degrees?) Either way it's being transmitted to the missile? Yes?

a reply to: nwtrucker

And HMCS will be part of the sensors that the F-22 uses.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I said it was a dumb question. A back-up, at the least, if E.W. somehow negates sensor fusion?

a reply to: nwtrucker

The IR seeker needs to know where to look. A radar guided missile has the aircraft radar to show it. The IR seeker needs something, so uses HMCS.

The Russians have had the R-73 Archer with HMS on the MiG-29 and Su-27 since the 80's. Similar to the AIM-9X. Infact those 2 jets are a big reason they made the F-22.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I hope they release a video of the second missile test, I`d love to see that. But the article didn't say it hit the BQM-74, it just said it was targeted. Probably hit it though, IIRC AIM-9s have usually been pretty reliable compared to the rest of the US`s AAMs.

Also a question from a later post but wouldn't the 20mm cannon be more effective against surface targets than the frag warheads of the AIM-9? I read stories about CAS missions from F-16 and F-18 pilots but I don't recall hearing much about strafing runs. Do tactics not allow it anymore?

a reply to: StratosFear

Gun runs also have a tendency to end with a smoking hole in the ground at the end of them. A lot easier to use a frag warhead.

a reply to: Zaphod58

IR only? Not both IR and radar. OK. Got it. thanx

a reply to: Zaphod58

Safer to fire a missile for sure but in the past when the situation was dire was the gun not used? Since Vietnam of course.

a reply to: StratosFear

They can use it of course, but why not use a missile if you have one. If they're that desperate though, anything with a frag warhead is a danger.