[QUOTE="Tullaryx"]Russia having the only true long-range air-to-air missile is not such a big deal. What's the point of having a missile with a range of 100 miles or more if the radar-guidance system to work in conjunction is average at best. With the F-22 Raptor's stealth capabilities the opposing flight of enemy fighters wouldn't know what hit them. As someone once said anyone can make a missile or bomb, but it's system guidance which keeps the US military ahead of everyone else.Nikko_25
Thats why make a missile that have semi active radar guidance which uses the f-22's radar and once the missile is in range, it could switch to radar active(Which it uses its own radar to follow the adversary) and the f22 could forget about the missile and leave. That's just one of the many basic mode that AIM-120 have. It's called launch and continous update mode. It make the missile extremely accurate because once the AMRAAM locks you on with your own radar, you are basically dead! However, the weakness is that the launch plane's radar waves can be detected (even though the radar waves on the AN/APG-77 AESA radar that equipped the F-22 is designed to be very hard to detect by enemy Radar Warning Recievers or RWR) . Once it does, the enemy can jinx, jam or try to get away and "spoof" the AMRAAM shot. So the most likely mode is the second mode.
The second mode is launch and update. The AMRAAM has a "kill box". as long as the the target is in that kill-box when the AMRAAM turns on its seeker head, once again, "Game Over" for the other guy! And since the AMRAAM doesn't really need all the pertinent data to launch, only the target's heading, range and height, it means the F-22 can launch once the missile is ready! it doesn't need to continuous "illuminate" a target. In fact, a Raptor doesn't even need to turn on its radar at all to launch an AMRAAM! That's because the Raptor's integrated Electronic Warfare system is so advanced, that its Radar Early Warning system /information retrival system can analyse the enemy's radar emissions, and as the F-22 gets closer to the enemy, based on it's power output, frequency, location of transmission etc, generate the enemy's plane's height, speed, range, type, and other data. Once in range, the F-22's pilot needs only to flip on the radar for 2 seconds at the most to confirm the firing solution, and the "POP", "Fox Two" launch down the chute. Then maybe about 25 miles away, open the radar for 2 more seconds to pass down the updated info down the data link. The other guy won't even know the F-22 is even in the same address, by the time he knows, the only thing he gonna hear is his radar warning recievers blaring out his death warrant as a AIM-120 has already locked on to him and commencing the "end game". By then, there is nothing good for him to do except grab the "loud handle" and "punch out" of his aircraft!
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