The Mitsubishi AAM-5 (Type 04 air-to-air missile, ) is a short-range

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 ...

developed and produced by

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is a Japanese multinational engineering, electrical equipment and electronics corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. MHI is one of the core companies of the Mitsubishi Group and its automobile division is the predecessor of Mitsubishi Mo ...

for the

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 ...

. Development of the missile as a replacement for the

AAM-3 The Mitsubishi AAM-3 (Type 90 air-to-air missile, ) is a short-range air-to-air missile developed in Japan. It has been officially operated since 1991,J-Wing, ''Military aircraft of JASDF, F2'' and is expected to ultimately replace the US AIM-9 Si ...

(Type 90) missile commenced in 1991 and it has been operational since 2004.

Characteristics

Unlike the Type 90 guided missile, the AAM-5 does not have canard control surfaces, using

thrust vectoring Thrust vectoring, also known as thrust vector control (TVC), is the ability of an aircraft, rocket, or other vehicle to manipulate the direction of the thrust from its engine(s) or motor(s) to control the attitude or angular velocity of the v ...

for high agility. The missile body has narrow strakes extending over most of its length. The

NEC is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It prov ...

manufactured seeker has also been improved. Addition of a triaxial gimbal to the infrared seeker has increased the field of view and an infrared focal plane array multi-element seeker allows infrared imaging. In particular, the addition of an INS means mid-course updates and LOAL (

Lock-on after launch Lock-on after launch (LOAL) is an ability of missile systems to lock-on to a target after being launched from a carrier vehicle. The term is normally used in reference to airborne weapons, especially air-to-air missiles. LOAL is an important part ...

) is possible. Terminal homing is via infrared imaging (IIR). In terms of generation, it is placed in the same generation as missiles such as the AIM-9X and

IRIS-T The IRIS-T ("thermography, InfraRed Imaging System Tail/thrust vectoring, Thrust Vector-Controlled") is a medium range infrared homing missile available in both air-to-air missile, air-to-air and ground defence surface-to-air missile, surface- ...

Variants

*AAM-5 :Standard. *AAM-5B :Enhanced background discrimination capability and IRCCM. Seeker cooling time is extended by the adoption of a

Stirling engine A Stirling engine is a heat engine that is operated by the cyclic compression and expansion of air or other gas (the ''working fluid'') between different temperatures, resulting in a net conversion of heat energy to mechanical work. More specif ...

Operators

; *

** 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 ...

Gallery

File:AAM-5-001.jpg, Dummy File:JASDF AAM-5 Seeker 20131124.JPG, Seeker File:JASDF AAM-5 Center Wing 20131124.JPG,

Leading-edge extension A leading-edge extension (LEX) is a small extension to an aircraft wing surface, forward of the leading edge. The primary reason for adding an extension is to improve the airflow at high angles of attack and low airspeeds, to improve handling an ...

File:AAM-5-002.jpg, Thrust vectoring Nozzle

Specifications

* Length: 3,105 mm * Diameter: 130 mm * Wing span: 440 mm * Weight: 95 kg * Guidance: AAM-5A: Terminal

Infrared homing Infrared homing is a passive weapon guidance system which uses the infrared (IR) light emission from a target to track and follow it seamlessly. Missiles which use infrared seeking are often referred to as "heat-seekers" since infrared is radi ...

(IIR), INS+COLOS * Guidance: AAM-5B: Terminal IIR with IRCCM, INS+COLOS) * Warhead: blast fragmentation warhead * Detonation Mechanism:

laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fir ...

proximity fuze A proximity fuze (or fuse) is a Fuze (munitions), fuze that detonates an Explosive material, explosive device automatically when the distance to the target becomes smaller than a predetermined value. Proximity fuzes are designed for targets such ...

and impact * Range: 35 km * Speed: Mach 3+

Characteristics

Variants

Operators

Gallery

Specifications

See also