Generally anything done increases cost - for sure, the AMRAAM came to the F-16 faster then expected because the F-15 had flutter problems with AMRAAM carriage and the F-16 had a problem with asymmetric loads carrying Sparrows, although the Taiwan Block 25 and Air Defense versions adapted the AIM-7. The real issue with AMRAAM was "fratricide" in that the missile once active was on its own and the AIM-7 you could at least shut off the CW. The pit-bull AMRAAM (active missile radar locked on fired without hand off) was always there, but the data link and other hardware adapting the full AMRAAM kit made little differences here and there. The first AMRAAM kills were F-16.

The multi-shot capability is what causes the real problems, if you just looked at a narrow search pattern where all the power out is dedicated to a small area then the early F-16 radars could find targets at the ranges consistent with using an AMRAAM at it full capability, but if you opened up the scan to include multiple targets the range of using the AMRAAM compressed greatly but all multi-shot missile have that problem.

Think of it this way, project a 60 degree cone in front of you as a searching radar, and realize that targets rightdown the boresight are in your view longer then those that pop up on the edges of the cone, they slip through and the effective field of regard for the missile requires that you narrow up your search pattern until you get to around 20 degrees on either side so the targets would be seen by the radar long enough to talk to the AMRAAM on a max range shot - hence track while scan modes generally have / use narrow scans unless you are in an F-14.

To open up your envelope you have to keep the target in the cone longer so you slow down, then when you are slower you need a bigger missile with a bigger motor to intercept and maneuver against a fighter that has a greater speed advantage. Eventually you become a C-130 at 80 knots firing a Patriot missile, and now you can see why F-14's targeting cruise missile using ship fired or submarine fired missiles that are updated by the F-14's is a much better idea then many F-18's with AMRAAM, but then again AMRAM's could be shared also.

The problem is bigger then you think and it is not only the radar and its trons - point is how do you work it. Taking off out of Kirovskye in the Crimea with a vanilla Su-27 and the radar in standby carrying two long-burn AA-10's on taxi you get a 220 km target (out on the range waiting for you) placed on your scope by the Russian ground based air defense system, by the time you are gear up the system is plotting missile solutions and you have not turned the radar on yet - the radar is asked to be turned on just to provide CW for the missile at around 80 km and the scan and target hand off is automatic. The MiG-31 networks a flock of fighters and multiple sensors within a flight package and adds the external inputs just for fun and confirmation. Each family of systems has there own way to do things, and not any one sensor or thing counts all the points.


"Harry Andreas" wrote in message ...
In article 8%0nh.2291$Fs2.1617@trnddc05, "Ski"
wrote:

It is possible to say to Lockheed for instance - how many F-16's would I
need to produce to get a $25 million aircraft off the production line and
there would be an answer - probably around 1000 at 50 / month, but it would
be possible. This is the benefit of having a "line" and "tooling" and
"venders" and "work force" etc... as the production lines dry up these small
essentials fade away and hurt. Many of the original F-16's were produced
with parts that are non-existent today, hence the great upgrade program for
the F-16A that brought C model avionics and more to the European A and B
models essentially died a natural death as the guts of the aircarft ran out
of spares. On the other had, the A/B market "used" has continued so
strongly (Portugal, Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, Indonesia, Thailand and C users
for training machines etc.) commercial suppliers have stepped up and filled
again the needs of the components - so you never know.

One of the major reasons for the A - C upgrade was AMRAAM.
The APG-66 radar was not AMRAAM capable, nor was the F-16's
weapons system. AAMAF it was reported at the time that the
AMRAAMs internal radar had a longer acquisition range than
the APG-66.

Large capability change drives airframe cost and complexity

--
Harry Andreas
Engineering raconteur