Poland boosts aerial prowess with new AMRAAM missile deal
The first version of the AIM-120 AMRAAM missile debuted over 40 years ago. Since then, AMRAAM has been and, despite efforts to develop successors, will remain for many years one of the most important air-to-air weapons for Western nations, including Polish aircraft. What is the key advantage of this missile, and where does its effectiveness come from?
On April 29, 2025, the American Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced the State Department's approval of the sale to Poland of 400 AIM-120D-3 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles for an amount not exceeding $1.3 (CAD 1.8) billion.
This is another approval for Poland to purchase AMRAAM missiles, but this time the decision concerns their latest variant for the first time. Although its exact range has not been disclosed, for the AIM-120D (AIM-120D-3) version, it is estimated at 160-180 kilometres.
The new missiles will equip Polish F-16s, as well as the F-35 aircraft Poland has ordered once they are delivered.
AIM-120 AMRAAM – a medium-range air-to-air missile
The AIM-120 AMRAAM (Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile) was introduced into service in the early 1990s as a successor to the AIM-7 Sparrow missile. Initially, it was positioned as a medium-range missile designed to engage opponents beyond visual range.
The short-range missile was—and still is—the AIM-9 Sidewinder, developed since the 1950s and guided via an IR sensor towards heat sources. Compared to its predecessor, the AMRAAM offered significantly greater capabilities, including the operating mode known as "fire and forget."
The missile is approximately 3.7 metres long, weighs 152 kilograms, and reaches a speed of Mach 4. Its early version, the AIM-120A, offered a range of approximately 48-59 kilometres, which has increased with the development and introduction of newer versions into service. Currently, different versions of the missile are used by the air forces of over 30 countries.
How does the AIM-120 AMRAAM work?
Besides its warhead, AMRAAM has a guidance system with its own radar, allowing it to independently search for a target. It also has a data link, enabling communication with the aircraft that fired it.
As a result, an aircraft carrying AMRAAMs—after detecting a target with its own radar—can fire the missile, which will use its inertial navigation system to head towards, for example, an enemy aircraft. At this stage, it does not reveal its presence by using its radar.
Target position information can be relayed to the missile through the data link at this stage. The AMRAAM's radar will only activate near the target when precise targeting is necessary to ensure accurate guidance.
To find the target, AMRAAM can also use a passive guidance system—if the enemy aircraft jams the radar, the missile's radar can be turned off, and AMRAAM will begin to home in on the source of the jamming.
Thanks to these features, an aircraft carrying AMRAAM missiles can attack multiple targets in a short time, conducting beyond-visual-range engagements with several enemy aircraft.
Not everything depends on the missile
Technical data tables allow for easy comparison of various devices or weapons—including air-to-air missiles. However, conclusions drawn from them can be very misleading because the capabilities offered by exactly the same missiles can vary depending on the aircraft from which they are fired and the circumstances.
For example, a missile fired at a low altitude towards a higher-flying target will have to traverse the dense lower layers of the atmosphere, significantly reducing its range. The same missile fired at a high altitude will have a much greater range, which will further increase if launched by a fast-moving aircraft.
Therefore, the same missiles fired, for example, by a ground-based NASAMS air defence system and air superiority fighters can have a range of 29 or nearly 100 kilometres.
Hence, the same AMRAAM fired from an F-16, FA-50 (once integrated with this platform), or F-35 may have completely different ranges. Tests conducted by the U.S. Air Force a few years ago demonstrated that the platform best utilizing the AMRAAM missile's capabilities is the F-15, which can use it to destroy air targets from the greatest distance.
AIM-260 JATM – the successor to AMRAAM
The AIM-120 AMRAAM was developed as a more advanced successor to the AIM-7 Sparrow, but for many years, missiles of both types were—and to a limited extent still are—used in parallel. As the AIM-120 developed, it gained capabilities previously attributed to much larger and more expensive long-range missiles, such as the AIM-54 Phoenix, carried exclusively by F-14 Tomcat aircraft.
After the retirement of the latter in 2006, a capability gap emerged in American aviation (specifically naval aviation), which was eventually filled by the development of the AIM-120, which can now destroy targets at distances once attributed to long-range missiles.
Despite this, the United States has already developed a successor to the AIM-120 missile—the AIM-260 JATM (Joint Advanced Tactical Missile), which at speeds reaching Mach 5 is expected to ensure a range of at least 200 kilometres. The European competitor and—partially—equivalent to the AMRAAM is the MBDA Meteor missile, differing in, among other things, a ramjet engine. A missile with similar characteristics, the R-77, has also been developed in Russia.
