History, Politics And Current Affairs

Couple of interesting pre-approved AMRAAM sales were recently announced - Sweden (250) and Germany (969).

Given the talk about expanding European arms production/procurement, this is a little surprising. Both countries use the Meteor AAM, and I'd have thought they'd be buying more of those.

Does anyone know if there is a problem with Meteor production?

James1978 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 20, 2023 5:21 am Couple of interesting pre-approved AMRAAM sales were recently announced - Sweden (250) and Germany (969).

Given the talk about expanding European arms production/procurement, this is a little surprising. Both countries use the Meteor AAM, and I'd have thought they'd be buying more of those.

Does anyone know if there is a problem with Meteor production?

Sweden has used the earlier C-version since before, and the fighters usually fly with a mixed loadout of both Meteor and AMRAAM. From what I understand there’s some benefits to using both of them in concert so that might be part of the explanation.

Production capacity might be another reason, though I suspect that Sweden is working on placing a Meteor order as well.

Aren't we also scheduled to start rolling out AIM-260s in the next few years?

Micael wrote: ↑Thu Jul 20, 2023 10:06 am Sweden has used the earlier C-version since before, and the fighters usually fly with a mixed loadout of both Meteor and AMRAAM. From what I understand there’s some benefits to using both of them in concert so that might be part of the explanation.

I will admit that I thought that the Meteor was flat-out a superior missile so this comment surprised me and caused me to do a little research to find out why you would want to carry both missiles.

Meteor has a ramjet propulsion system – solid fuel, variable flow, ducted rocket. This means it is under thrust for the first ~120 kilometers out of its ~200km range which makes it ideal for long-range attacks as it retains its ability to maneuver without losing too much speed.

AMRAAM has a rocket motor that burns out in only ~10 seconds but this means it achieves a higher top speed and it reaches that top speed much faster than Meteor does.

The short version would be that for a target at less than ~40km, the AMRAAM is more likely to get a hit, and beyond that range, you are better off using a Meteor.

This explains a few things:

Swedish Gvmt plans to sell back #AMRAAM (AIM-120B) to the United States. Afterwards these missiles would be donated to #Ukraine. Sweden intends to refill stock with the more advanced AMRAAM AIM-120C-8.