High-speed jet aircraft flying at low altitudes presented a serious threat to naval forces in the late 1950s. It now resembles the AIM-7 only in general form it is larger, faster and includes a new seeker and a launch system suitable for vertical launch from modern warships.įifty years after its development, the Sea Sparrow remains an important part of a layered air defense system, providing a short/medium-range component especially useful against sea-skimming missiles. After that point the air-to-air role passed to the AIM-120 AMRAAM and the Sea Sparrow underwent a series of upgrades strictly for the naval role. Contemporary improvements being made to the Sparrow for the air-to-air role led to similar improvements in the Sea Sparrow through the 1970s and 80s. In this incarnation, it was a very simple system guided by a manually aimed radar illuminator.Īfter its introduction, the system underwent significant development into an automated system similar to other US Navy missiles like the RIM-2 Terrier. The system was developed in the early 1960s from the AIM-7 Sparrow air-to-air missile as a lightweight " point-defense" weapon that could be retrofitted to existing ships as quickly as possible, often in place of existing gun-based anti-aircraft weapons. ship-borne short-range anti-aircraft and anti-missile weapon system, primarily intended for defense against anti-ship missiles.
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