Conference 7.286::space

87.0. "AMRAAM Missile Test-Fired" by PYRITE::WEAVER () Fri Sep 20 1985 09:52

Associated Press Thu 19-SEP-1985 11:29                         Missile Tested

     AMRAAM Missile Successfully Test-Fired, Air Force Says

   TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - Another test of the AMRAAM air-to-air
missile has been successfully completed, using a post-launch
guidance system for the first time, officials say.
   The controversial missile, developed by the Hughes Aircraft Co.,
was fired Tuesday from an Air Force F-16 jet at the White Sands
Missile Range in New Mexico, making a direct hit on a QF-100 drone
aircraft at 20,000 feet, Hughes announced.
   The missile was guided initially by the F-16's radar, but
received target information updates after launch through a radar
data-link communications system aboard the F-16, officials said.
   ``It was a complex test of the missile and its guidance system.
We're more than pleased with this test and the overall progress to
date,'' said Brig. Gen. Thomas R. Ferguson Jr., director of the
AMRAAM program office at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.
   Earlier this year, the House of Representatives nearly killed
the AMRAAM project - advanced medium-range air-to-air missile -
before a conference committee gave it the green light until next
March.
   There have been four AMRAAM launches in the full-scale
development program, three from F-16s and one from an F-15. All
have been successful.
   The missile, being developed for the Air Force and Navy, is
intended to replace the radar-guided AIM-7 Sparrow.