The AIM-7 Sparrow is a 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 various allied 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. The armed forces of Japan employ the Sparrow missile, though it is being phased out and replaced by the Mitsubishi AAM-4. NATO pilots use the brevity code Fox One in radio communication to signal launch of a Semi-Active Radar Homing Missile such as the Sparrow.

The Sparrow was used as the basis for a surface-to-air missile, the RIM-7 Sea Sparrow, which is used by the United States Navy for air defense of its ships.

Development

Sparrow I

from a late-1940s United States Navy program to develop a guided rocket weapon for air-to-air use. In 1947 the Navy contracted Sperry to build a beam riding version of a standard HVAR, the standard unguided aerial rocket, under Project Hotshot. The weapon was initially dubbed KAS-1, then AAM-2, and, from 1948 on, AAM-N-2. The airframe was developed by Douglas Aircraft Company. The diameter of the HVAR proved to be inadequate for the electronics, leading Douglas to expand the missile's airframe to diameter. The prototype weapon began unpowered flight-tests in 1947, and made its first aerial interception in 1952
After a protracted development cycle the initial AAM-N-2 Sparrow entered service in 1956, carried by the F3H-2M Demon and F7U Cutlass fighter aircraft. Compared to the modern versions, the Sparrow I was more streamlined and featured a bullet-shaped airframe with a long pointed nose.

Sparrow I was a limited and rather primitive weapon. The limitations of beam-riding guidance (which was slaved to an optical sight, requiring visual identification of the target) restricted the missile to visual-range attacks and made it essentially useless against a maneuvering target. Only about 2,000 rounds were produced to this standard.

Sparrow II

As early as 1950 Douglas examined equipping the Sparrow with an active radar seeker, initially known as XAAM-N-2a Sparrow II, the original retroactively becoming Sparrow I. In 1952 it was given the new code AAM-N-3. The active radar made the Sparrow II a "fire and forget" weapon, allowing several to be fired at separate targets at the same time.

By 1955 Douglas proposed going ahead with development, intending it to be the primary weapon for the F5D Skylancer interceptor. It was later selected, with some controversy, to be the primary weapon for the Canadian Avro Arrow supersonic interceptor, along with the new Astra fire-control system. For Canadian use and as a second source for US missiles, Canadair was selected to build the missiles in Quebec.

However, the small size of the missile forebody and the K-band AN/APQ-64 radar limited performance, and it was never able to work in testing. After considerable development and test firings in the U.S. and Canada, Douglas abandoned development in 1956. Canadair continued development until the Arrow was cancelled in 1958.

Sparrow X

A subvariant of the Sparrow I armed with the same nuclear warhead as the MD-2 Genie was proposed in 1958, but was cancelled shortly thereafter.

Sparrow III

Concurrently with the development of the Sparrow I, in 1951, Raytheon began work on the semi-active radar homing version of Sparrow family of missiles, the AAM-N-6 Sparrow III. The first of these weapons entered United States Navy service in 1958.

The AAM-N-6a was similar to the -6, but used a new Thiokol liquid-fuel rocket engine for improved performance. It also included changes to the guidance electronics to make it effective at higher closing speeds. The -6a was also selected to arm the Air Force's F-110A Spectre (F-4 Phantom) fighters in 1962, known to them as the AIM-101. It entered production in 1959, with 7500 being built.

Another upgrade reverted to a Rocketdyne solid-fuel motor for the AAM-N-6b, which started production in 1963. The new motor significantly increased maximum range to for head-on attacks.

During this year the Navy and Air Force agreed on standardized naming conventions for their missiles. The Sparrows became the AIM-7 series. The original Sparrow I and aborted Sparrow II became the AIM-7A and AIM-7B, despite both being out of service. The -6, -6a and -6B became the AIM-7C, AIM-7D and AIM-7E respectively.

25,000 AIM-7E's were produced, and saw extensive use during the Vietnam War, where its performance was generally considered disappointing. The mixed results were a combination of reliability problems (exacerbated by the tropical climate), limited pilot training in fighter-to-fighter combat, and restrictive rules of engagement that generally prohibited BVR (beyond visual range) engagements. The P_k (kill probability) of the AIM-7E was less than 10%; US fighter pilots shot down 55 aircraft using the Sparrow.

In 1969 an improved version, the E-2, was introduced with clipped wings and various changes to the fusing. Considered a "dogfight Sparrow", the AIM-7E-2 was intended to be used at shorter ranges where the missile was still travelling at high speeds, and in the head-on aspect, making it much more useful in the visual limitations imposed on the engagements. Even so, its kill rate was only 13% in actual combat in 1972, leading to a practice of ripple-firing all four at once in hopes of increasing kill probability. Its worst tendency was that of detonating prematurely, approximately a thousand feet in front of the launching aircraft, but it also had many motor failures, erratic flights, and fusing problems. An E-3 version included additional changes to the fusing, and an E-4 featured a modified seeker for use with the F-14 Tomcat.

Improved versions of the AIM-7 were developed in the 1970s in an attempt to address the weapon's limitations. The AIM-7F, which entered service in 1976, had a dual-stage rocket motor for longer range, solid-state electronics for greatly improved reliability, and a larger warhead. Even this version had room for improvement, leading British Aerospace and the Italian firm Selenia to develop advanced versions of Sparrow with better performance and improved electronics as the Skyflash and Selenia Aspide, respectively.

The most common version of the Sparrow today, the AIM-7M, entered service in 1982 and featured a new inverse monopulse seeker (matching the capabilities of Skyflash), active radar fuse, digital controls, improved ECM resistance, and better low-altitude performance. It was used to good advantage in the 1991 Gulf War, where it scored many USAF air-to-air kills; however its kill probability, overall, is still less than 40%.

The AIM-7P is similar in most ways to the M versions, and was primarily an upgrade program for existing M-series missiles. The main changes were to the software, improving low-level performance. A follow-on Block II upgrade added a new rear receiver allowing the missile to receive mid-course correction from the launching aircraft. Plans initially called for all M versions to be upgraded, but currently P's are being issued as required to replace M's lost or removed from the inventory.

The final version of the missile was to have been the AIM-7R, which added an infrared seeker to an otherwise unchanged AIM-7P Block II. A general wind-down of the budget led to it being cancelled in 1997.

Sparrow is now being phased out with the availability of the active-radar AIM-120 AMRAAM, but is likely to remain in service for a number of years.

Image:F-4C 154 FIS AIM-7E AIM-9P 1980.JPEG|AIM-7Es being loaded on a Hawaii ANG F-4C in 1980
Image:F-4G 37FW AIM-7F AGM-65A AGM-88 1988.JPEG|AIM-7Fs on a 37th TFW F-4G in 1988
Image:AIM-7 wing install.jpg|Wings being installed on an AIM-7
Image:Loading AIM-7.jpg|An AIM-7M being loaded

Foreign versions

Italy

The Italian company Finmeccanica, Alenia Difesa licensed the AIM-7E Sparrow technology from US, and produced its own improved version called Aspide.

UK

British Aerospace (BAe) licensed the AIM-7E2 technology in the 1970s, producing the Skyflash missile. Skyflash used a Marconi XJ521 monopulse Semi-Active seeker together with improvements to the electronics. It was powered by the Aerojet Mk52 mod 2 rocket engine (later by the Rocketdyne Mk38 mod 4). Skyflash entered service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) on their Phantom FG.1/FGR.2 in 1976, and later on the Tornado F3. The Skyflash was also exported to Sweden for use on their Viggen fighters.

An upgraded version with active radar seeker, called Active Sky Flash was proposed by BAe and Thomson-CSF, but did not receive funding because the RAF opted for other missiles.

People's Republic Of China

The LY-60/FD-60/PL-10 is a family of PRC missiles developed by the Shanghai Academy of Science and Technology, largely based on the Italian Alenia Aspide missile - itself a version of the American AIM-7 Sparrow missile. There are four versions of the basic design, three of which are surface-to-air and one air-to-air.

Design

The Sparrow has four major sections: guidance section, warhead, control, and rocket motor (currently the Hercules MK-58 solid-propellant rocket motor). It has a cylindrical body with four wings at mid-body and four tail fins. Although the external dimensions of the Sparrow remained relatively unchanged from model to model, the internal components of newer missiles represent major improvements, with vastly increased capabilities. The warhead is of the continuous-rod type.

As with other semi-active radar guided missiles, the missile does not generate radar signals, but instead homes in on reflected continuous-wave signals from the launch platform's radar. The receiver also senses the guidance radar to enable comparisons that enhance the missile's resistance to passive jamming.

Principle of guidance (semi-active version)

The launching aircraft will illuminate the target with its radar. In radars of the 1950s these were single target tracking devices using a nutating horn as part of its antenna. This caused the beam to be swept in a small cone. Signal processing would be applied to determine the direction of maximum illumination and so develop a signal to steer the antenna toward the target. The missile detects the reflected signal from the target with a high gain antenna in a similar fashion and steers the entire missile toward closure with the target. The missile guidance also samples a portion of the illuminating signal via rearward pointing waveguides. The comparison of these two signals enabled logic circuits to determine the true target reflection signal, even if the target were to eject radar-reflecting chaff.

See also

• AIM-9 Sidewinder

• AIM-54 Phoenix

• Vympel R-27

• List of missiles

• Missile designation