The UK's Royal Air Force (RAF) has provided details of a recent live fire exercise. During the 10-day Missile Practice Camp, 53 ASRAAM air-to-air missiles were fired by F-35 fighters and Eurofighter Typhoon, marking a record for the RAF.
The training took place in September over seas at the Hebrides Air Weapon Ranges off the northwest coast of Scotland and involved two F-35 squadrons and six squadrons of Typhoon, from bases at Marham, Coningsby and Lossiemouth.
RAF Typhoon & Lightning jets have conducted their largest ever mass firing of Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missiles. Over the space of 10 days, pilots from 8 different squadrons successfully launched a total of 53 missiles at target drones. Full story: https://t.co/K3CUwD0Dig pic.twitter.com/az0aV8bzu4
- Royal Air Force (@RoyalAirForce) October 22, 2022
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The exercise was even called FOX2FRENZY, in reference to the brevity code used to indicate the firing of a heat-guided air-to-air missile.
“The ability to test the missiles end-to-end builds confidence in the weapon while also developing personnel across the RAF. From the movement and loading of real weapons on aircraft, to the transit of aircraft to the Air Weapons Pole, the integration of personnel and aircraft from across the country was essential for the success of the event. The training proved the impressive capability of the advanced short-range air-to-air missiles on both RAF combat air platforms, providing real-world training and in destroying Banshee target drones.”
The fighters fired only ASRAAM missiles (Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missile), a standard RAF short-range missile developed by MBDA. It's a modern weapon, designed to be highly maneuverable and capable of autonomously acquiring targets or being enslaved to the plane's helmet and IRST sensor.
ASRAAM is around 2,90 meters long, weighs 88 kg, can exceed Mach 3, shoot down targets from over 25 km and each missile costs over £200,000 (R$ 1,217 million). It is equivalent to Israel's Python V, US AIM-9 and European IRIS-T missiles.
“It exceeded all expectations for what would be my first live fire exercise on the Typhoon. Selecting the weapon and knowing that an active missile would derail was a unique moment; hearing the missile tone and pulling the trigger, followed by a big 'whoosh' sound and a slight wobble of the aircraft was fantastic”, says a Typhoon pilot from RAF Lossiemouth, home to 1(F), II(AC), 6 and IX(B) Squadrons
“Watching the missile disappear into the sky in front of me was a moment to , it really is impressive how fast short-range air-to-air missiles can go. The experience gave me a real appreciation of the missile's capability and how it can be employed in a real combat situation." concludes the fighter pilot.
