AIM-260
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AIM-260
Air Force Magazine
Air Force Developing AMRAAM Replacement to Counter China
DAYTON, Ohio—The Air Force is developing a new air-to-air missile, dubbed the AIM-260, that offers longer range than Raytheon’s Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile and would be used to counter the Chinese PL-15 weapon.
Air Force Weapons Program Executive Officer Brig. Gen. Anthony Genatempo told reporters in a June 20 interview here the service is working with Lockheed Martin, the Army, and the Navy to field the Joint Advanced Tactical Missile in 2022. Work began about two years ago.
“It has a range greater than AMRAAM, different capabilities onboard to go after that specific [next generation air-dominance] threat set, but certainly longer legs,” he said. “As I bring up JATM production, AMRAAM production is kind of going to start tailing off.”
The weapon is initially planned to fly in the F-22’s main weapons bay and on the Navy’s F/A-18, with the F-35 to follow. Flight tests will begin in 2021 and initial operational capability is slated for 2022, Genatempo said.
“It is meant to be the next air-to-air air dominance weapon for our air-to-air fighters,” he said.
The Air Force will buy its last AMRAAMs in fiscal 2026 as JATM ramps up, answering combatant commanders’ needs, Genatempo said.
He told Air Force Magazine the service hasn’t settled on how many JATMs it might buy in the outyears or how the program will ramp up.
“The future of what JATM looks like, especially out in that outyear increment, is very, very up in the air right now,” Genatempo said. “As far as lot sizes go, it’s on the order of a couple hundred per lot and I don’t think we have a definite plan.”
He expects JATM could be in production as long as AMRAAM, which was first deployed in 1991.
Air Force Developing AMRAAM Replacement to Counter China
DAYTON, Ohio—The Air Force is developing a new air-to-air missile, dubbed the AIM-260, that offers longer range than Raytheon’s Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile and would be used to counter the Chinese PL-15 weapon.
Air Force Weapons Program Executive Officer Brig. Gen. Anthony Genatempo told reporters in a June 20 interview here the service is working with Lockheed Martin, the Army, and the Navy to field the Joint Advanced Tactical Missile in 2022. Work began about two years ago.
“It has a range greater than AMRAAM, different capabilities onboard to go after that specific [next generation air-dominance] threat set, but certainly longer legs,” he said. “As I bring up JATM production, AMRAAM production is kind of going to start tailing off.”
The weapon is initially planned to fly in the F-22’s main weapons bay and on the Navy’s F/A-18, with the F-35 to follow. Flight tests will begin in 2021 and initial operational capability is slated for 2022, Genatempo said.
“It is meant to be the next air-to-air air dominance weapon for our air-to-air fighters,” he said.
The Air Force will buy its last AMRAAMs in fiscal 2026 as JATM ramps up, answering combatant commanders’ needs, Genatempo said.
He told Air Force Magazine the service hasn’t settled on how many JATMs it might buy in the outyears or how the program will ramp up.
“The future of what JATM looks like, especially out in that outyear increment, is very, very up in the air right now,” Genatempo said. “As far as lot sizes go, it’s on the order of a couple hundred per lot and I don’t think we have a definite plan.”
He expects JATM could be in production as long as AMRAAM, which was first deployed in 1991.
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https://aviationweek.com/defense/loc...-china-s-pl-15
Raytheon’s three-decade grip on the U.S. military’s long-range air-to-air missile inventory will soon end. Lockheed Martin won a secret competition in 2017 to develop and field an even longer-range air intercept missile by 2022. U.S. fighter pilots will, at last, have access to a weapon with equivalent range to China’s PL-15, Europe’s MBDA Meteor and Russia’s Vympel R-37M.
The existence of the AIM-260 Joint Air Tactical Missile (JATM) was made public during a June 20 media roundtable in Dayton, Ohio, with Brig. Gen. Anthony Genatempo, the Air Force’s program executive officer for weapons. When asked for an update on the Air Force’s long-fixed portfolio of air-dominance weapons, including the short-range Raytheon AIM-9X Sidewinder and long-range AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (Amraam), Genatempo dropped any pretense of secrecy about the latter’s planned replacement. “What I have going on in air dominance is the AIM-260, or the JATM, which is to counter PL-15,” Genatempo said. “That’s an effort we have ongoing with Lockheed Martin that’s proceeding extremely fast.”
The AIM-260 is scheduled to begin flight-testing in 2021 and achieve initial operational capability in 2022, Genatempo said. It will debut first inside the main weapons bay of the Lockheed F-22 and the Navy’s Boeing F/A-18E/F, then migrate later to the Lockheed F-35. It shares similar dimensions to the AIM-120 but provides “significantly greater” range, Genatempo said, declining to elaborate. Beyond those details, information about the joint Air Force-Navy AIM-260 program remains tightly controlled. Asked for comment after Genatempo’s remarks, Lockheed referred all questions back to the Air Force. It is unclear how the AIM-260 achieves significantly greater range within a similar form factor as the AIM-120, nor is it known how the weapon is guided. Genatempo offered only that it flies at different speeds than the AIM-120 and uses no air-breathing propulsion such as the Meteor’s ramjet system.
Douglas Barrie, a senior fellow for military aerospace at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, speculates that such a missile could achieve additional range by using a dual-pulse motor with a timing-selectable second pulse or perhaps an exotic gel propellant. But the missile’s designers face a difficult challenge. “Getting a kinematic performance similar to the PL-15 but not using a rocket/ramjet is going to be interesting,” he says. The accelerated schedule, with a five-year span from contract award to first flight, also suggests the Air Force is taking an aggressive approach. “It looks racy, from what’s in the public domain,” Barrie says. “But then again, who knows what’s been going on in the classified realm?”...........
the Air Force has launched a new program called Golden Horde, with the goal of networking existing munitions for swarm attacks.
The Golden Horde concept arose from lessons that came out of the 2017 attack on Syrian airfields and military targets by about 100 BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles and AGM-158B Joint Air-to-Surface Missiles. “The success of that mission was from a huge amount of mission planning, because each of those weapons was dropped at a certain time and had a preplanned flight,” Genatempo said. “There was no thinking or talking amongst themselves as to, ‘You know what? The first two of us that got here 4 min. earlier, we actually took out this target, so the two of you that were coming in behind us just to make sure, you can go to Target B.’ And within that 4-min. flight time, there would be time to adjust to go target B.”
The first Golden Horde demonstration flight is planned in 12 months.
Lockheed Developing AIM-260 To Counter China’s PL-15
Raytheon’s three-decade grip on the U.S. military’s long-range air-to-air missile inventory will soon end. Lockheed Martin won a secret competition in 2017 to develop and field an even longer-range air intercept missile by 2022. U.S. fighter pilots will, at last, have access to a weapon with equivalent range to China’s PL-15, Europe’s MBDA Meteor and Russia’s Vympel R-37M.
The existence of the AIM-260 Joint Air Tactical Missile (JATM) was made public during a June 20 media roundtable in Dayton, Ohio, with Brig. Gen. Anthony Genatempo, the Air Force’s program executive officer for weapons. When asked for an update on the Air Force’s long-fixed portfolio of air-dominance weapons, including the short-range Raytheon AIM-9X Sidewinder and long-range AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (Amraam), Genatempo dropped any pretense of secrecy about the latter’s planned replacement. “What I have going on in air dominance is the AIM-260, or the JATM, which is to counter PL-15,” Genatempo said. “That’s an effort we have ongoing with Lockheed Martin that’s proceeding extremely fast.”
The AIM-260 is scheduled to begin flight-testing in 2021 and achieve initial operational capability in 2022, Genatempo said. It will debut first inside the main weapons bay of the Lockheed F-22 and the Navy’s Boeing F/A-18E/F, then migrate later to the Lockheed F-35. It shares similar dimensions to the AIM-120 but provides “significantly greater” range, Genatempo said, declining to elaborate. Beyond those details, information about the joint Air Force-Navy AIM-260 program remains tightly controlled. Asked for comment after Genatempo’s remarks, Lockheed referred all questions back to the Air Force. It is unclear how the AIM-260 achieves significantly greater range within a similar form factor as the AIM-120, nor is it known how the weapon is guided. Genatempo offered only that it flies at different speeds than the AIM-120 and uses no air-breathing propulsion such as the Meteor’s ramjet system.
Douglas Barrie, a senior fellow for military aerospace at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, speculates that such a missile could achieve additional range by using a dual-pulse motor with a timing-selectable second pulse or perhaps an exotic gel propellant. But the missile’s designers face a difficult challenge. “Getting a kinematic performance similar to the PL-15 but not using a rocket/ramjet is going to be interesting,” he says. The accelerated schedule, with a five-year span from contract award to first flight, also suggests the Air Force is taking an aggressive approach. “It looks racy, from what’s in the public domain,” Barrie says. “But then again, who knows what’s been going on in the classified realm?”...........
the Air Force has launched a new program called Golden Horde, with the goal of networking existing munitions for swarm attacks.
The Golden Horde concept arose from lessons that came out of the 2017 attack on Syrian airfields and military targets by about 100 BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles and AGM-158B Joint Air-to-Surface Missiles. “The success of that mission was from a huge amount of mission planning, because each of those weapons was dropped at a certain time and had a preplanned flight,” Genatempo said. “There was no thinking or talking amongst themselves as to, ‘You know what? The first two of us that got here 4 min. earlier, we actually took out this target, so the two of you that were coming in behind us just to make sure, you can go to Target B.’ And within that 4-min. flight time, there would be time to adjust to go target B.”
The first Golden Horde demonstration flight is planned in 12 months.
is there any reason the US would be looking to avoid using a Ramjet engine on its AIM-260?
if Meteor is up and running, and apparently works, why would the US be looking to making life harder/more expensive by avoiding a technology that does what they need and instead looking to create something new?
(i know they are never going to buy Meteor in a million years - NIH - but why go the long way round..).
if Meteor is up and running, and apparently works, why would the US be looking to making life harder/more expensive by avoiding a technology that does what they need and instead looking to create something new?
(i know they are never going to buy Meteor in a million years - NIH - but why go the long way round..).
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is there any reason the US would be looking to avoid using a Ramjet engine on its AIM-260?
if Meteor is up and running, and apparently works, why would the US be looking to making life harder/more expensive by avoiding a technology that does what they need and instead looking to create something new?
(i know they are never going to buy Meteor in a million years - NIH - but why go the long way round..).
if Meteor is up and running, and apparently works, why would the US be looking to making life harder/more expensive by avoiding a technology that does what they need and instead looking to create something new?
(i know they are never going to buy Meteor in a million years - NIH - but why go the long way round..).
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I think you might want to consider how likely it is that:
Meteor is ‘up and running’, actually meets their needs, that all partner nations would agree to release of all tech data, that there weren’t security concerns ref using non-US kit on Raptor and that integrating a new weapon from a new provider/ country would be anything other than hideously complex and expensive.
Having re-read the thread - I concur that it is noteworthy that a proven technology is apparently being avoided - on the premise that ramjet tech is actually proven and is delivering the planned benefits.
Meteor is ‘up and running’, actually meets their needs, that all partner nations would agree to release of all tech data, that there weren’t security concerns ref using non-US kit on Raptor and that integrating a new weapon from a new provider/ country would be anything other than hideously complex and expensive.
Having re-read the thread - I concur that it is noteworthy that a proven technology is apparently being avoided - on the premise that ramjet tech is actually proven and is delivering the planned benefits.
Because they can. The US is perfectly able to design and field tier one precision weapons, and would have no interest in getting out the ability to do so. It keeps the knowledge, jobs and procurement chain in house, for a program that could run decades. Once you step off the train it is very hard to get back on.
The US has shown it is quite adept at pushing others off the train and protesting when the hapless victims get-up, dust themselves off and build a new train. It has also had the effect of leaving the US armed forces with an asthmatic AIM-9X as a stupidly short-range missile and AIM-120 with its poor terminal kinematics at range. Still, the US industrial complex sold bucketloads of them so K Street was happy.
The lack of cooperation and underhanded tactics did leave the UK with Meteor and ASRAAM, so not all bad news, but it cost us a lot of time and money. Now the US backdoor-dealing with secret competitions and production awards is all internal to the US - K Street is as busy as ever knifing each other.
Some brief history:
https://publications.parliament.uk/p...544/544w09.htm
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Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
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While AMRAAM production ramps up in support of both USAF/USN orders and extremely robust FMS demand, John has spotted what appears to be a very significant increase in procurement dollars for the new AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile. 👀
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The most telling signal of the coming of AIM-260 is the drawdown of AMRAAM procurement: USN acquisition hits 0 in FY 2028, USAF follows in FY2029 (although the FY2028 almost symbolic purchase of a planned 9 missiles could well vanish too...)
