Revolutions in air combat tactics do not happen overnight: it is a very long and complicated process. A striking example is the use by the Americans during the Vietnam War of the new AIM-7 Sparrow medium-range air-to-air missiles with a semi-active radar homing head. The US military wanted to get final air supremacy with its help: it did not work. During the Vietnam War, only ten percent of the AIM-7 hit its target. De facto, until the 90s, the main weapon of the US Air Force remained the AIM-9 Sidewinder with an infrared homing head and a ridiculous range by modern standards - about 10-15 kilometers in good conditions when launched at a fighter-type target. It was Sidewinder that shot down the most Iraqi planes during the Gulf War in the early 90s: twelve Mirages, MiGs and Dryers.
But progress does not stand still, especially since the AIM-120 AMRAAM was almost never used in that war, although it had already been put into service. The potential of the product was clear to everyone: a rocket with an active radar homing head, which worked on the “fire and forget” principle in the final flight phase, without requiring radar “illumination” from the carrier throughout the entire flight period, promised a lot. In the event of war, the Soviet MiG-29 or Su-27, which did not have such a weapon, could face very great difficulties.
Fortunately, things did not come to a global war, which, however, did not prevent AMRAAM from showing itself in a number of other conflicts. On February 27, 2019, a Pakistani F-16 fighter shot down a MiG-21 with an AIM-120C missile, and on June 18, 2017, a missile of this type launched by an American F / A-18 aircraft shot down a Syrian Su-22. According to open sources, during the war in Yugoslavia, the AIM-120 was shot down by six MiG-29s, and the Iraqi MiG-25 shot down in 1992 is considered the very first victory of the AIM-120.
"Tommy" against everyone
Is it a lot or a little? Everything is relative: given the relatively low intensity of air battles and, consequently, the low number of missiles launched, we can talk about an almost fantastic efficiency by the standards of the Cold War. Sparrow of the 60s was a priori incapable of this. The United States did not want to stop there, and the newest version of the AIM-120 received a maximum launch range, which is estimated to be up to 200 kilometers. But these are just formalities. In fact, when launched at such a range, the missile will lose energy long before hitting the target, especially if the target maneuvers. Thus, the Americans still had a good rocket in their hands, but with an effective launch range of about 30-40 kilometers.
Oddly enough, the Europeans added fuel to the fire. Their new air-to-air missile MBDA Meteor formally has a not so great maximum launch range: from 100 to 150 kilometers. However, due to the ramjet engine, which allows maintaining the highest speed throughout the flight, the Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon and even the small Gripen received a potentially significant trump card. Especially against the same machines - that is, fighters of the 4 + (++) generation. Without MBDA Meteor.
Then the Americans had a new headache, now in the face of direct geopolitical opponents - Russia and China. The answer was Peregrine or Sapsan in Russian, which the American company Raytheon announced in September. According to the project, the length of the new Peregrine aircraft missile will be 1.8 meters, and the mass - about 22.7 kilograms. The developers do not disclose details about the missile's flight range and the mass of its warhead, but the concept of the product can be understood as follows: more missiles - more targets hit.
For understanding: the length of the relatively small Sidewinder is almost three meters, and the length of the AIM-120 is almost 3.7. This means that the new missile will be about half the size of the AMRAAM and, therefore, the fighter, in theory, will be able to carry twice as many missiles and destroy two more goals. At the same time, its range can be comparable to that of AMRAAM, and its maneuverability is comparable to that of the Sidewinder. “It will be beyond the medium range,” said Mark Noyes, a spokesman for Raytheon Advanced Missile Systems.
“Peregrine will allow US and Allied fighter pilots to carry more missiles in combat to maintain air supremacy. With its advanced sensing systems, navigation equipment and engine packaged in a much smaller airframe than current weapons in its class, the Peregrine represents a significant leap forward in the development of air-to-air missiles,”said Noyes.
Now this seems like a joke, but do not forget that AMRAAM is a rather old rocket, and technology has not stood still over the decades since its development. If we assume the possibility of implementing the concept of kinetic interception, which implies hitting the target with a direct hit, then the missile does not have to carry a warhead. This approach will undoubtedly give engineers more room to “get creative”.
According to Mark Noyes, the rocket will receive a multi-mode seeker, a high-efficiency engine, a lightweight airframe and a high-performance modular control system. The Drive in Is Raytheon's Pint-Sized Peregrine The Air-To-Air Missile The Pentagon Has Been Waiting For? writes about the possibility of using a radar homing head, infrared correction and guidance mode on the radiation source. That is, we can talk about a conditional analogue of the regime used on the forgotten R-27P / EP - a missile with a passive radar homing head.
Raytheon itself did not comment on these details. However, according to Flight Global, the Peregrine's superior maneuverability is based on technology for the AIM-9X short-range missile.
The important thing is that the development of Raytheon is not the first attempt by the Americans to create a small, versatile medium-range missile. Earlier, Lockheed Martin presented its Cuda product, or rather - just a concept. The rocket was supposed to operate on the principle of kinetic interception. In the internal compartments of the F-35, according to the presentation, you can place up to twelve of these missiles. However, we have not heard anything about Cuda for a long time. And not the fact that we will hear someday.
Well, the fate of Peregrine largely depends on whether the American authorities are ready to spend even more money on defense. After all, the adoption of a fundamentally new missile will require retraining of pilots, the introduction of new infrastructure and, of course, massive purchases of the missiles themselves. So far, the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps already have enough problems with new products: just look at the difficulties (completely predictable) with all three versions of the F-35. All this, of course, does not add to the chances of implementing a new project.
