The LAU-127, LAU-128, LAU-129 and LAU-139 are a part of Missile Rail launcher (MRL) family of aircraft missile launchers manufactured by Marvin Engineering Co., Inc., based in

Inglewood, California Inglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States, in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, the city had a population of 107,762. ...

. The Marvin LAU-127 enables the

McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is an all-weather supersonic, twinjet, twin-engine, carrier-based aircraft, carrier-capable, Multirole combat aircraft, multirole combat aircraft, designed as both a Fighter aircraft, fighter and attack airc ...

multirole combat aircraft A multirole combat aircraft (MRCA) is a combat aircraft intended to perform different roles in combat. These roles can include air to air combat, air support, aerial bombing, reconnaissance, electronic warfare, and suppression of air def ...

to carry and launch the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile, or AMRAAM, as well as the AIM-9L, M, and X variants of 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 ...

missile. The launcher also provides the mechanical and electrical interface between the missile systems and the F/A-18 aircraft, as well as enabling the two-way data communications between the weapon and the aircraft's cockpit controls and displays. The LAU-127 fires a missile from weapon stations under the wing of the aircraft, mounted to pylons, or on wingtip hard points. When configured on the wing tips, LAU-127 attaches directly to the aircraft wing, as seen on the empty leftmost wingtip station in the picture of the F/A-18E, to launch a variant of the AIM-9 missile. When configured under the wings to fire the AIM-120, LAU-127 attaches to a Raytheon LAU-115C/A guided missile rail launcher, which in turn is suspended from a Marvin BRU-32 bomb ejection rack that is attached to one of two SUU-79/SUU-80 pylon stations underneath each aircraft wings. The LAU-127 can be integrated with McDonnell Douglas F/A-18A/B/C/D variants of the Hornet, the

Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet The Boeing F/A-18E and F/A-18F Super Hornet are a series of American supersonic twinjet, twin-engine, Carrier-based aircraft, carrier-capable, Multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter aircraft derived from the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Ho ...

, and the

Boeing EA-18G Growler The Boeing EA-18G Growler is an American carrier-based electronic warfare aircraft, a specialized version of the two-seat Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet. The EA-18G replaced the Northrop Grumman EA-6B Prowlers in service with the United States N ...

. The launcher features a power supply and bottled nitrogen or a self-contained compressor, such as a HiPPAG, for missile seeker cooling. The weights vary slightly among the different variants (LAU-127A/A to LAU-127F/A), and the LAU-127C/A HiPPAG units equipped with Pure Air Generating System (PAGS) are also slightly longer than the versions equipped with nitrogen bottles (LAU-127A/A, B/A, and E/A). The units with nitrogen bottles contain a ADU-729/E Nitrogen Receiver Adapter to hold the bottles. The LAU-128 is a version that is integrated for all models of McDonnell Douglas

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 ...

. It requires an ADU-552 (Missile Launcher Adapter) to provide sufficient wing clearance. Variants include the LAU-128A/A, LAU-128B/A, and LAU-128D/A. It is capable of firing similarly-sized non U.S. munitions like Python/Derby and

IRIS-T The IRIS-T (infrared imaging system tail/thrust vector-controlled) is a family of short range infrared homing air-to-air missile, air-to-air and short to medium range surface-to-air missile, surface-to-air missiles. It is also called AIM-2000. ...

. The LAU-129 is integrated with General Dynamics

F-16 Fighting Falcon The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is an American single-engine supersonic Multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superio ...

. The U.S. variant is the LAU-129A/A; foreign military sales variants include LAU-129B/A, LAU-129C/A, LAU-129D/A, LAU-129E/A and LAU-129F/A. It is also capable of firing similarly-sized non U.S. munitions. The LAU-139 for the

Saab JAS 39 Gripen The Saab JAS 39 Gripen ( ; English: ''Griffin'') is a light single-engine supersonic multirole fighter aircraft manufactured by the Swedish aerospace and defence company Saab AB. The Gripen has a delta wing and canard configuration with rela ...

is also a variation of the LAU-127 Launcher. MRL is also used surface-based launchers such as

NASAMS NASAMS (National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, also known as Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System) is a short- to medium-range ground-based air defense system developed by Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace (KDA) and RTX Corpor ...

-3 common rail for canister launcher and open launcher variants, and the AMRDEC

Multi-Mission Launcher The Multi-Mission Launcher (MML) is an open-systems architecture multi-role missile launching system created by the United States Army's Aviation and Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center. Development The MML has its roots in t ...

References

{{reflist Aircraft weapons Military equipment of the United States

See also

References