The Mitsubishi AAM-4 (Type 99 air-to-air missile, ) is a medium-range

active radar homing Active radar homing (ARH) is a missile guidance method in which a missile contains a radar transceiver (in contrast to semi-active radar homing, which uses only a receiver) and the electronics necessary for it to find and track its target aut ...

air-to-air missile The newest and the oldest member of Rafael's Python family of AAM for comparisons, Python-5 (displayed lower-front) and Shafrir-1 (upper-back) An air-to-air missile (AAM) is a missile fired from an aircraft for the purpose of destroying a ...

. It is a modern

beyond-visual-range missile A beyond-visual-range missile (BVR) is an air-to-air missile (BVRAAM) that is capable of engaging at ranges of or beyond. This range has been achieved using dual pulse rocket motors or booster rocket motor and ramjet sustainer motor. In additi ...

developed in Japan and intended to replace the

semi-active radar homing Semi-active radar homing (SARH) is a common type of missile guidance system, perhaps the most common type for longer-range Air-to-air missile, air-to-air and surface-to-air missile systems. The name refers to the fact that the missile itself is ...

AIM-7 Sparrow The AIM-7 Sparrow (Air Intercept Missile) is an American, medium-range semi-active radar homing air-to-air missile operated by the United States Air Force, United States Navy, and United States Marine Corps, as well as other various air forces ...

missile in service. It has been operational since 1999. The main contractor is

Mitsubishi Electric , established on 15 January 1921, is a Japanese multinational electronics and electrical equipment manufacturing company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the core companies of Mitsubishi. The products from MELCO include elevators an ...

. The 2010 AAM-4B was the world's first air-to-air missile with an

AESA Aesa or Aisa ( grc, Αἶσα) was a town of ancient Macedonia. Aesa belonged to the Delian League since it appears on a tribute list to Athens in 434/3 BCE. The editors of the Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World identify Aesa wi ...

radar seeker. The AAM-4 is too large to fit in the internal weapons bay of the

F-35 Lightning II The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft that is intended to perform both air superiority and strike missions. It is also able to provide ele ...

. This has led to a program with

MBDA UK MBDA UK is the British division of the pan-European missile systems company MBDA (itself a joint venture of Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo). Formed in 2001, the company has produced a range of missile systems, including the CAMM missile fami ...

to adapt the latest AAM-4 seeker technology to MBDA's

Meteor A meteoroid () is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space. Meteoroids are defined as objects significantly smaller than asteroids, ranging in size from grains to objects up to a meter wide. Objects smaller than this are classified as micr ...

missile airframe to produce the

JNAAM The Meteor is a European Active radar homing, active radar guided Beyond Visual Range missile, beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM) developed and manufactured by MBDA. It offers a multi-shot capability (multiple launches against multip ...

Development

The improved AAM-4B was the world's first air-to-air missile with an

radar seeker. The AAM-4B entered production in 2010 for service on the F-15J and F-2, but it is too large to be carried in the weapons bay of the F-35 Lightning II. On 17 July 2014, Japan announced a collaboration with the United Kingdom to study the development of a new Joint New Air-to-Air Missile (

is prime contractor on the

missile which entered service on the

Saab JAS 39 Gripen The Saab JAS 39 Gripen (; English: ''griffin'') is a light single-engine multirole fighter aircraft manufactured by the Swedish aerospace and defense company Saab AB. The Gripen has a delta wing and canard configuration with relaxed stabilit ...

in 2016 and on the

Eurofighter Typhoon The Eurofighter Typhoon is a European multinational twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter. The Typhoon was designed originally as an air-superiority fighter and is manufactured by a consortium of Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo ...

and

Dassault Rafale The Dassault Rafale (, literally meaning "gust of wind", and "burst of fire" in a more military sense) is a French twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter aircraft designed and built by Dassault Aviation. Equipped with a wide ran ...

in 2018, and can fit in the internal weapons bay of the F-35. It has a unique variable-flow ramjet motor that according to MBDA gives the Meteor the largest no-escape zone of any air-to-air missile. The JNAAM will " ombine/nowiki> the UK's missile-related technologies and Japanese seeker technologies", possibly with some adjustments to help the missile fit better in the F-35 weapons bay.

Variants

*AAM-4 – Original version with range that entered service in 1999. *AAM-4B – Improved version introduced in 2010 with a

Ka band The Ka band (pronounced as either "kay-ay band" or "ka band") is a portion of the microwave part of the electromagnetic spectrum defined as frequencies in the range 26.5–40 gigahertz (GHz), i.e. wavelengths from slightly over one centim ...

millimetric frequency

seeker and range. The seeker also utilized to the

Type 12 Surface-to-Ship Missile The Type 12 Surface-to-Ship Missile (12式地対艦誘導弾) is a truck-mounted anti-ship missile developed by Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in 2012. It is an upgrade of the Type 88 Surface-to-Ship Missile. The Type 12 features INS with mi ...

. *XRIM-4 – Naval surface-launched variant, project was previously canceled but effectively resurrected in 2016. *Ducted rocket flying object – Throttleable Ducted Rocket (TDR) Test model.

Operators

; *

Japan Air Self-Defense Force The , , also informally referred to as the Japanese Air Force, is the air and space branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, responsible for the defense of Japanese airspace, other air and space operations, cyberwarfare and electronic warfa ...

** F-15J Eagle **

Mitsubishi F-2 The Mitsubishi F-2 is a multirole fighter derived from the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon, and manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Lockheed Martin for the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, with a 60/40 split in manufacturing betw ...

Specifications

* Length: 3,667 mm * Diameter: 203 mm * Wing span: 800 mm * Weight: * Guidance:

inertial guidance An inertial navigation system (INS) is a navigation device that uses motion sensors (accelerometers), rotation sensors ( gyroscopes) and a computer to continuously calculate by dead reckoning the position, the orientation, and the velocity (dire ...

mid-course update Command guidance is a type of missile guidance in which a ground station or aircraft relay signals to a guided missile via radio control or through a wire connecting the missile to the launcher and tell the missile where to steer to intercept its ...

+ terminal

* Range: 100 km (AAM-4), 120 km (AAM-4BJapan Upgrades Air-to-Air
/ref>) * Speed: Mach 4–5

References

External links