In 2019, the US Air Force announced that it is developing the ultra-deadly AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile (JATM) that offers marked improvements from the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM). The US Air Force has been busy flying the QF-16 Full-Scale Aerial Target (FSAT) in support of the Lockheed Martin AIM-260 program.
The National Interest reported that it is now clear that test work is underway after years of working on this highly secretive missile, which is planned to be placed on US Air Force and Navy aircraft as early as 2022.
A photo was taken on June 13, 2016, showing missiles by US company Lockheed Martin displayed during the Eurosatory defense and security international exhibition in Villepinte, near Paris. / AFP / Jacques DEMARTHON (Photo credit should read JACQUES DEMARTHON/AFP via Getty Images)
AIM-260 Missile
According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), the US Air Force's AIM-260 missile is a superior technology that will replace Raytheon AIM-120, the Westen benchmark for active-radar-guided missile performance for 30 years.
It is the priority air-to-air missile (AAM) program of the US Air Force, prompted partly due to China's increasingly capable AAM inventory with their latest AAM to enter service, the PL-15, which has greater capabilities than the AIM-120 family.
The US Air Force is investing in super technology to prevail against its peer rivals while also allowing its close allies to field capabilities it does not also have. Although it undoubtedly offers marked improvements from AIM-120, there remain questions as to its maximum fly-out range and its performance at extended ranges.
As Thomas Newdick at the War Zone reported, it is a huge upgrade and will rival the Chinese and Russian efforts to obtain long-range air-to-air missiles. More so, it would be almost the same size as an AIM-120 and can be carried inside the internal weapons bays on fight aircraft designed to accommodate AMRAAM.
However, Newdick said that the dimensional requirements mean that a ramjet powerplant is impossible. Perhaps a dual-pulse type will be used to ensure energy across the flight envelope, just like China's PL-5.
The Air Force has released some information over the past two years about AIM-260 but has yet to release any this year. Nonetheless, it is clear that there were lots of activities of AIM-250 in the previous year.
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AIM-260 Missile Could Have Increased Fuel Load
The National Interest further reported that defense editor Steve Trimble of the Aviation Week Network suspected that the AIM-260 missile's propulsion unit could have combined capabilities of miniaturized components that will increase fuel load to make up for its deficiencies.
Trimble added that advanced highly loaded grain propellant, which is now under development for other AAM, could help improve performance without increasing the overall form factor.
Lastly, he hypothesizes that the missile could have various options for the warhead. One of his speculations includes a hit-to-kill type missile without any actual explosive charge, which was another concept the Air Force discussed in the past to create a more compact AAM design.
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