AIM-7 Sparrow

AIM-7 Sparrow
AIM-7 Sparrow at Hill Air Force Base Museum.
Type	Medium-range, semi-active radar homing air-to-air missile
Place of origin	United States
Service history
In service	1958–present
Used by	Australia, Canada, Egypt, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States
Wars	Vietnam War Gulf War
Production history
Manufacturer	Raytheon
Unit cost	$125,000
Produced	AIM-7D: 1959 AIM-7F: 1976 AIM-7M: 1982
No. built	>70,000[1]
Variants	Sparrow I: AIM-7A Sparrow II: AIM-7B Sparrow III: AIM-7C, AIM-7D, AIM-7E, AIM-7E2/Skyflash/Aspide, AIM-7F, AIM-7M, AIM-7P, RIM-7M, AGM-45[2]
Specifications
Mass	510 lb (230 kg)
Length	12 ft (3.7 m)
Diameter	8 in (200 mm)
Wingspan	2 ft 8 in (0.81 m) (AIM-7A/B)
Warhead	High explosive blast-fragmentation AIM-7F/M: 88 pounds (40 kg)
Engine	AIM-7A/B/C – Aerojet 1.8KS7800 solid rocket AIM-7D/E – Rocketdyne MK 38/MK 52 solid rocket AIM-7F/M/P – Hercules MK-58 solid-propellant rocket motor[3]
Operational range	AIM-7C: 26 kilometres (14 nmi) AIM-7D: 44 kilometres (24 nmi) AIM-7E/E2: 50 kilometres (27 nmi) AIM-7F/M/P: 70 kilometres (38 nmi)[4][3]
Maximum speed	AIM-7A/B: Mach 2.5 AIM-7C/E/F: Mach 4[5]
Guidance system	semi-active radar homing
Launch platform	Aircraft: McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon Grumman F-14 Tomcat F/A-18 Hornet JA-37 Viggen F-104S Starfighter Tornado F.3 ADV F/A-18E/F Super Hornet Mitsubishi F-2

The AIM-7 Sparrow (Air Intercept Missile^[6]) is an American medium-range semi-active radar homing air-to-air missile operated by the United States Air Force, United States Navy, United States Marine Corps, and various other air forces and navies. Sparrow and its derivatives were the West's principal beyond visual range (BVR) air-to-air missile from the late 1950s until the 1990s. It remains in service, although it is being phased out in aviation applications in favor of the more advanced AIM-120 AMRAAM.^[7]

The early Sparrow was intended primarily for use against larger targets, especially bombers, and had numerous operational limitations in other uses. Against smaller targets, the need to receive a strong reflected radar signal made it difficult to achieve lock-on at the missile's effective range. As the launching aircraft's own radar needed to be pointed at the target throughout the engagement, this meant that in fighter-vs-fighter combat the enemy fighter would often approach within the range of shorter-range infrared homing missiles while the launching aircraft had to continue flying towards its target. Additionally, early models were only effective against targets at roughly the same or higher altitudes, below which reflections from the ground became a problem.

A number of upgraded Sparrow designs were developed to address these issues. In the early 1970s, the RAF developed the Skyflash version with an inverse monopulse seeker^{[citation needed]} and improved motor, while the Italian Air Force introduced the similar Aspide. Both could be fired at targets below the launching fighter ("look-down, shoot-down"), were more resistant to countermeasures, and were much more accurate in the terminal phase. This basic concept then became part of the US Sparrows in the M model (for monopulse) and some of these were later updated as the P model, the last to be produced in the US. Aspides sold to China resulted in the locally produced PL-11. The Japan Self-Defense Forces also employ the Sparrow missile, though it is being phased out and replaced by the Mitsubishi AAM-4.

The Sparrow was also used as the basis for a surface-to-air missile, the RIM-7 Sea Sparrow, used by a number of navies for air defense. Fired at low altitude and flying directly at its target, though, the range of the missile in this role is greatly reduced because of the higher air density of the lower atmosphere. With the retirement of the Sparrow in the air-to-air role, a new version of the Sea Sparrow was produced to address this concern, producing the larger and more capable RIM-162 ESSM.