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The Active Skyflash retains the airframe of the basic Skyflash/Improved Skyflash, but is fitted with a Thomson-CSF active radar seeker. This allows fire-and-forget launches against multiple targets, which will not become aware of the inbound missile until it is either sighted or its active seeker commences terminal homing. The active seeker has an inherent capability to burn through hostile jamming as the power on target increases as the missile closes with the target. Skyflash Mk2s are seen here on their underbelly racks on this RAF Tornado ADV, which is also armed with four underwing Sidewinder close-in missiles.
Technology Explained- Advanced Skyflash & Amraam
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Active Radar Guided Missiles
Skyflash – The Changing Face of Beyond Visual Range Air Combat
The Air-to-Air Missile (AAM) is the principal weapon of the modern air superiority fighter and as such its performance and capabilities can be one of the determining factors in individual engagements and force effectiveness as a whole. Advances in modern defence penetration technology have further diminished the questionable effectiveness of surface based air defences, increasing the pressure on air defence aircraft to fill the ever increasing gap.
No more clearly was this evident than during the 1991 Gulf war, when the numerically immense and quite modern Integrated Air Defence System (IADS) of Iraq was rendered ineffective in a matter of hours, never to recover from the initial coup. Iraq’s interceptor force became the only air defence left to the nation, and due to sheer ineptitude on the part of its operators and command, made no useful contribution to the defence of Iraq’s airspace.
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