Poland secures latest AMRAAM missiles amid strategic upgrade
The first version of the AIM-120 AMRAAM missile was introduced over 40 years ago. Since then, the AMRAAM has been—and despite efforts to develop successors, will remain for many years—one of the most important air-to-air weapons of the West, including for Polish aircraft. What is the key advantage of this missile, and where does its effectiveness stem from?
On 29 April 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 (€1.15) 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 arm Polish F-16s, as well as the F-35 aircraft ordered by Poland 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 counterpart 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, related to the operating mode known as "fire and forget."
The missile is 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 48-60 kilometres, which has increased with the development and introduction of newer versions into service. Currently, the missile in various versions is used by the air forces of over 30 countries.
How does the AIM-120 AMRAAM work?
Besides its warhead, the 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, a carrier of AMRAAMs—after detecting a target with its own radar—can fire the missile, which will independently use its inertial navigation system to head towards, for example, an enemy aircraft, at this stage not revealing 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, the AMRAAM can also use a passive guidance system. When the enemy aircraft jams the radar, the missile's radar can be turned off, and the AMRAAM begins to home in on the source of the jamming.
Thanks to these features, an aircraft carrying AMRAAM missiles can attack several subsequent targets in a short time, conducting beyond-visual-range engagements with multiple 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 utilising 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 over 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.
