The AIM-97 Seekbat or XAIM-97A Seek Bat was a long-range

air-to-air missile An air-to-air missile (AAM) is a missile fired from an aircraft for the purpose of destroying another aircraft (including unmanned aircraft such as cruise missiles). AAMs are typically powered by one or more rocket motors, usually solid-fuel roc ...

developed by the United States. It was intended to counter the perceived capabilities of the

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 (; NATO reporting name: Foxbat) is a Supersonic aircraft, supersonic Interceptor aircraft, interceptor and reconnaissance aircraft that is among the Flight airspeed record, fastest military aircraft to enter service ...

and proposed to arm both the

F-15 Eagle The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle is an American twin-engine, all-weather fighter aircraft designed by McDonnell Douglas (now part of Boeing). Following reviews of proposals, the United States Air Force (USAF) selected McDonnell Douglas's des ...

and

F-4 Phantom The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is an American tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor and fighter-bomber that was developed by McDonnell Aircraft for the United States Navy.Swanborough and Bowers ...

, the missile ultimately never entered service.

Overview

In the early to mid-1970s the United States was highly concerned by the perceived capabilities of the MiG-25, an aircraft which was known to be capable of speeds in excess of Mach 3 and which carried long-range

air-to-air missiles An air-to-air missile (AAM) is a missile fired from an aircraft for the purpose of destroying another aircraft (including unmanned aircraft such as cruise missiles). AAMs are typically powered by one or more rocket motors, usually solid-fuel roc ...

. It was widely claimed that the Foxbat was a new generation "super-fighter", capable of comfortably outclassing any US or allied aircraft. The US initiated the F-15 Eagle program largely in response to this threat. To equip the F-15 the Air Force initiated development of the

AIM-82 The AIM-82 was a missile planned by the US Air Force but cancelled before any prototypes were built. It was designed as a much more maneuverable replacement for the AIM-9 Sidewinder to give it better performance against enemy fighter aircraft in c ...

short-range missile and the AIM-97 Seekbat. The former was a

dogfighting A dogfight, or dog fight, is an aerial battle between fighter aircraft that is conducted at close range. Modern terminology for air-to-air combat is air combat manoeuvring (ACM), which refers to tactical situations requiring the use of individu ...

missile intended as a replacement for the

AIM-9 Sidewinder The AIM-9 Sidewinder is a short-range air-to-air missile. Entering service with the United States Navy in 1956 and the Air Force in 1964, the AIM-9 is one of the oldest, cheapest, and most successful air-to-air missiles. Its latest variants rema ...

, the latter was to be a new high-altitude long-range missile designed specifically to shoot down the MiG-25 - hence the name "Seekbat", the "bat" referring to the MiG-25's "Foxbat"

NATO reporting name NATO uses a system of code names, called reporting names, to denote military aircraft and other equipment used by post-Soviet states, former Warsaw Pact countries, China, and other countries. The system assists military communications by providi ...

. The Seekbat was based on the

AGM-78 Standard ARM The AGM-78 Standard ARM or STARM was an anti-radiation missile developed by General Dynamics, United States. It was built on the airframe of the RIM-66 Standard surface-to-air missile, resulting in a very large weapon with considerable range, al ...

. It had a larger propulsion unit and used

semi-active radar homing Semi-active radar homing (SARH) is a common type of missile guidance system, perhaps the most common type for longer-range air-to-air and surface-to-air missile systems. The name refers to the fact that the missile itself is only a passive dete ...

with an infrared seeker for terminal guidance of the missile. The operational ceiling was . Test firings began in late 1972, but the Seekbat program did not make a great deal of progress and was cancelled in 1976. By this time new knowledge of the MiG-25s capabilities and role led to the cancellation of the program because the missile's cost did not justify its procurement.

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aim-97 Seekbat General Dynamics Proposed weapons of the United States Cold War air-to-air missiles of the United States Abandoned military rocket and missile projects of the United States

Overview

See also

References