• MENU LISTING
  • MISSILES/ROCKETS
  • ANTI-AIR
• COUNTRY OF ORIGIN - USA
• DESIGNATOR - AIM-54
• NAME - PHOENIX

Description

The AIM-54 Phoenix is the US Navy's long-range fleet air defense missile against Soviet aircraft. The most sophisticated and longest-range air-to-air missile in service with any nation, the Phoenix is part of the Grumman F-14 Tomcat weapon system which also includes the Hughes AWG-9 or AWG-17 radar/fire control system.

STATUS

Initial operational capability AIM-54A in 1974; AIM-54C in December 1986. First flight tests 1965 (AIM-54A), 1980 (AIM-54C), 14 August 1990 (AIM-54C+). Manufactured by Hughes Aircraft Company, Tucson, Ariz and (second source for AIM-54C) Raytheon Corp, Lowell, Mass. First flight test of a Raytheon-built AIM-54C on 6 June 1989.

AIM-54A production was over 2,500, ending in 1980. AIM-54C in production beginning in fiscal year 1983, AIM-54C+ in production beginning in March 1986. Production funding was deleted from the FY1991 budget request.

• PLATFORMS
  • USA
  • Navy F-14A/D Tomcat
  • Iran - F-14A Tomcat

• Configuration resembles earlier Hughes Falcon (AIM-4)
• cylindrical body, pointed nose; extreme delta cruciform wings near tail with rectangular cruciform control surfaces just behind them.
• length 13 ft 0 in (3.96 m)
• diameter 15 in (380 mm)
• wing span 3 ft 0 in (0.91 m)

• Propulsion
  Aerojet Mk 60 or Rocketdyne Flexadyne Mk 47 long-burn-time solid-fuel rocket
• Performance
  • Speed
    Mach 5
  • Maximum range
    110 nm (127 mi; 204 km)
  • Warhead
    Expanding continuous-rod (AIM-54A)
    Controlled fragmentation (AIM-54C)
• Sensors/Fire Control
  digital electronics unit with software reprogrammability
  Northrop strap-down inertial reference system
  solid-state transmitter/receiver
  Motorola DSU-28 Target Detecting Device (TDD)
  semi-active radar homing (mid-course)
  pulse doppler radar terminal homing
  AWG-9 pulse-doppler radar in F-14 can track 24 targets, select 6 targets and guide 6 AIM-54s to interceptions

AAM-N-11

First designation for missile to replace AIM-47 variant of the Falcon family and the Bendix AAM-N-10 Eagle. Development began in 1960 to arm the General Dynamics F-111B, a Navy variant of the F-111 (which was not produced).

AIM-54A

First production model for F-14A. Analog electronics, klystron tube transmitter/receiver. Liquid-cooled hydraulic and thermal-conditioning systems. Design range of 60 nm (69 mi; 111 km) was easily surpassed in testing.

AIM-54B

Interim model. Simpler construction, non-liquid cooling. Not produced.

AIM-54C

Current production model. Analog electronics replaced by ReProgrammable Memory (RPM) digital processor, yielding faster target discrimination, longer range, increased altitude, improved beam attack capability, better ECM resistance, and greater reliability. Continuous-rod warhead replaced by controlled fragmentation warhead.

AIM-54C+

Improved variant developed by Hughes for F-14D. Contains internal heaters which eliminates need for temperature conditioning liquid, high-power Travelling Wave Tube (TWT) transmitter adapted from the AIM-120 AMRAAM, and low-sidelobe antenna. Latest version of RPM substitutes 6 ultra-high-speed computer chips for 45 of an earlier, less-capable chips. Full-scale development began in August 1987. First test flight of fully upgraded missile on 14 August 1990 scored a direct hit on a QF-4 drone.

Phoenix PDMS

1970s proposal for shipboard close-in Point Defense Missile System using the AIM-54 and AWG-9 radar system. Not developed.

ISSUES

The AIM-54 has had a history of delays and, more recently, quality control problems. Production schedules have not been met, especially since a Department of Defense (DoD) decision in 1984 to withhold payments, a decision which closed down the line for several months. At one point, 240 of 318 AIM-54Cs delivered to the Navy under FY1982/FY1983 contracts, were in storage because of a unreliable fuze. A redesign of the FSU-10/A fuze was tested on 11 Sep 1987 and failed to explode, prompting the cancellation of further flight tests and imposing further delays in deploying a fully capable AIM-54C. The stockpile of completed, but fuzeless, missiles grew to over 500 before a new version of the FSU-10 fuze was accepted in the summer of 1988 with deliveries commencing soon afterward.

An August 1988 DOD inspector general report revealed that the Navy paid Hughes Aircraft more than 3 times the estimated cost to produce the AIM-54C. The report also criticized the selection of Raytheon as a second source and the scheduling of full competition beginning in 1989. The auditors contended that the Raytheon missile has not been adequately tested, and because testing was not scheduled to be completed until early 1990, it would be unwise to award Raytheon a portion of the 1989 contract.

Despite these concerns, the Navy awarded Raytheon more than half of the missiles to be built (208 to 195) under the 1989 contracts. The FY1990 contract, the last planned, was awarded as a block to Hughes.

OPERATIONAL NOTES

The AIM-54A was provided to the Imperial Iranian Air Force prior to the fall of the Shah in 1979. It is not believed, however, that the Iranian Air Force used Phoenix missiles in combat.

Although Phoenixes were deployed on US Navy F-14s during Operation Desert Storm, none were fired at Iraqi aircraft.

Information from the US Navy Fact File