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a3_documentation:cvwp:skyflash

Skyflash

The Skyflash, or Sky Flash in marketing material, was a medium-range semi-active radar homing air-to-air missile derived from the US AIM-7 Sparrow missile and carried by Royal Air Force McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantoms and Tornado F3s, Italian Aeronautica Militare and Royal Saudi Air Force Tornados and Swedish Flygvapnet Saab Viggens.

Skyflash replaced the original Raytheon conical scanning seeker with a Marconi inverse monopulse seeker that worked with the F-4's radar. Monopulse seekers are more accurate, less susceptible to jamming, and able to easily pick out targets at low altitudes. It offered significantly better performance than the original seeker, allowing British Aerospace to dispense with upgrades to the warhead that were carried out in the US to address poor accuracy.

Skyflash was tested in the US, but after trials against experimental monopulse seekers from Raytheon, the United States Navy elected to order a different monopulse-equipped version of the Sparrow, the AIM-7M. Both Skyflash and the AIM-7M were later replaced by the more capable AMRAAM.

SKYFLASH Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile

Classnames:

WPN Class rksla3_wpn_skyflash Mass
Mag Class name rksla3_mag_skyflash_conformalx1 Hardpoint RKSLA3_SKYFLASH_CONFORMAL 230
Ammo Class rksla3_ammo_skyflash_drop 230
submunitionAmmo NONE N/A
WPN Class rksla3_wpn_skyflash Mass
Mag Class name rksla3_mag_skyflash_lau127x1 Hardpoint RKSLA3_SKYFLASH_LAU127 269.5
rksla3_mag_skyflash_directx1 RKSLA3_SKYFLASH_DIRECT 230
Ammo Class rksla3_ammo_skyflash 230
submunitionAmmo NONE N/A
a3_documentation/cvwp/skyflash.txt · Last modified: by rock