Air superiority is the most important element in deciding the outcome of modern conventional
war.
It is the situation when a military force is able to conduct air operations without
prohibitive interference by the opposing force.
If a military doesn’t control the air tactical maneuvers on land & sea become extremely difficult.
So, it natural that major militaries in the world have a put a lot of effort in developing
a strong air force.
For success in air wars not only is the fighter jet important but the air to air missiles
arming the fighter jet is also equally important.
A good air to air missile is supposed to have a decent range, maneuverability, target locking
capability and platform support.
A fighter having a missile with better range will able to attack a rival without having
to get into its strike envelope.
The maneuverability of the missile is important since it will not be easily shrugged off even
if the targeted aircraft pulls off high G aerial maneuvers since the missile will be
able to keep up.
A missile with good target locking ability will not be easily fooled by countermeasures
like jamming through Electronic Warfare.
An air to air missile which is supported by many fighter jets adds flexibility to the Air Force.
AIM-120D AMRAAM or Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile will be the go to weapon for the United
States Air Force.
In this video Defense Updates analyses why America’s AIM-120D AMRAAM will be able to
knock down any Iranian jets?
Let's get started.
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Tensions between the US and Iran have risen sharply since Donald Trump withdrew from a
2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and several world powers.
Trump administration also reinstated sanctions on Tehran.
Last month, in response undisclosed Iranian treats, U.S moved USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft
carrier strike group to the region.
President Donald Trump had said on Friday that the U.S. is sending 1,500 more troops
to bolster the American forces in the region.
The US has also blamed Iran for last month’s attacks on oil tankers in a United Arab Emirates
port.
It has now come to light that the attacks were initiated by a foreign hand who used
divers on speed boats to plant mines in the vessels.
Iran has currently not been named by United Nations ambassadors from the Emirates, Saudi
Arabia and Norway who have been investigating the attacks.
Earlier, the Saudi ambassador to the UN, Abdallah Al-Mouallimi, said Saudi Arabia also thought
Iran was responsible for the sabotage.
In this state, a limited or full-scale conflict involving U.S & Iran cannot be ruled out and
in that case, an aerial combat will ensue.
The AIM-120 AMRAAM is a medium-range, air-to-air missile designed to meet the requirements
of the United States and several allied nations.
The AIM-120 missile is faster, smaller and lighter than its predecessor the AIM-7 Sparrow
medium-range missile.
It also has improved capabilities against low-altitude targets.
AMRAAM incorporates active radar seeker with mid-course inertial navigation.
This makes it less dependent on aircraft's fire control radar and hence multiple AMRAAM
can be fired by a single aircraft simultaneously against different targets.
To improve the kill probability against a high-value target an aircraft pilot may also
decide to fire multiple AMRAAMs against the same target in parallel.
It has a blast fragmentation warhead that gets triggered by a proximity fuse.
AIM-120 AMRAAM missile is combat proven and has been used in places like Iraq.
Currently, it is operational with 18 Air Forces in the world.
The AIM-120D is the latest development of the AMRAAM missile family designed and built
by Raytheon.
It includes several new enhancements for improved performance.
This includes a two-way data link, superior navigation through GPS-enhanced Inertial Measurement
Unit, much larger no escape zone and improved high-angle off-boresight capability apart
from an increase in range by 50%.
The software algorithm has seen a lot of work and has a much better capability especially
in dealing with new forms of electronic attack.
AIM-120D has much accurate guidance over its whole flight envelop which improves the kill
probability.
It also has improved kinematics and GPS Inertial Measurement Unit for better performance.
AIM-120D's range is thought to be more than 167 km or 105 miles.
America's Air Force consists of 4th generation fighter like F-15, F-16, F/A-18, and 5th generation
fighter F 22 Raptor & F 35 Lightning II.
All these jets are capable of launching the AIM-120D AMRAAM.
So, the U.S has a lot of option in its arsenal.
On paper, the Iranian Air force possesses more than 300 combat capable aircraft, but
all of them are either 3rd generation or 4th generation once.
There are around 190 fighter aircraft such as US-made Northrop F5s, F-4 Phantom II, Grumman
F-14 and Russian made Sukhoi Su-22, Sukhoi Su-24, and MiG-29
These will be equipped mainly 2 types of Air to Air missiles - Fakour-90 & Fatter.
The Fakour-90 is based on the American AIM-54 Phoenix.
It is solely deployed on Iran's F-14 Tomcats.
The missile was developed by the Iranian Army, the Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics,
and the Air Force though exact details are not available.
On April 2017, Fakour-90 long-range air to air missile was officially unveiled.
On 23 July 2018, the Iranian military announced it was now being mass produced.
Fakour-90 is thought to have a range of 150 km or around 90 miles and is radar guided.
It is to be noted that AIM-54 on which Fakour-90 is based on is actually a missile that was
designed in the 1960s.
So, it a fairly old tech by today's standards.
Also, AIM-54 has patchy history, to say the least.
On January 5, 1999, a pair of US F-14s fired two AIM-54 at Iraqi MiG-25s southeast of Baghdad.
Both AIM-54s' rocket motors failed and neither missile hit its target.
On September 9, 1999, another US F-14 launched an AIM-54 at an Iraqi MiG-23 that was heading
south into the no-fly zone from Al Taqaddum air base west of Baghdad.
The missile missed and ultimately landed in ground.
The AIM-54 was retired by America on September 30, 2004, whereas F-14 Tomcats were retired
on September 22, 2006.
So, both of the platforms are basically outdated and the U.S has moved to much more capable
successors.
Fatter is the other air-to-air missile deployed by Iran.
This is an IR-guided short-range one having a range of 40 km and is based on the U.S built
AIM-9 Sidewinder missile.
In 2008, the missile was test launched for the first time and in 2009 it was reported
that the mass production of the missile was started.
In air to air between U.S & Iran combat, it is most likely that the long-range missile
will take precedence over short-range missiles.
AIM-120 AMRAAM and Fakour-90 have a similar same range.
But these two missiles are radar guided and hence will be dependent on the radar of the
launching fighter.
In this situation, America is far well placed as the radars and guidance suit of its fighters
are better when compared to F-14 Tomcats.
Reliability of Fakour-90 is suspect as it is basically reversed engineered from an old
and to an extent unsuccessful missile.
AIM-120 AMRAAM is far more advanced and also will be hard to jam with electronic countermeasures,
unlike the Fakour-90.
When launched from F 22 & F 35, the Iranian may not even be able to fire back with Fakour-90,
as they don’t have the radar capable for detecting stealthy jets.
And jets other than F-14 Tomcats will be taken out from stand-off distances as they have
nothing to match the AIM-120 D.
Keeping this in view we can assume that American jets with AIM-120 AMRAAM will be able to knock
down Iranian jets without much difficulty in a one on one combat.
Also, we need to note that the U.S has far better availability of jets and missile when
compared to Iran.