Combat Record
The combat record of U.S. SARH missiles was unimpressive during the Vietnam War. USAF and US Navy fighters armed with AIM-7 Sparrow attained a success rate of barely 10%, which tended to amplify the effect of deleting the gun on most F-4 Phantoms, which carried 4 Sparrows. Some of the failures were attributable to mechanical failure of 1960s-era electronics, which could be disturbed by pulling a cart over uneven pavement, or pilot error; the intrinsic accuracy of these weapons was low relative to Sidewinder and guns.
Since Desert Storm, most F-15 Eagle combat victories have been scored with the Sparrow at beyond visual range. Similar performance has been achieved with sea launched standard missile.
Modern SARH delivery systems and rounds have combined reliability on the order of 90%, such as the following.
- RIM-66 Standard
- RIM-161 Standard Missile 3
- RIM-174 Standard ERAM
- AIM-7 Sparrow
- RIM-7 Sea Sparrow
Read more about this topic: Semi-active Radar Homing
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