The R-Darter is a
beyond visual range (BVR) 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 ...
guided by an
active radar homing
Active radar homing (ARH) is a missile guidance method in which a missile contains a radar transceiver (in contrast to semi-active radar homing, which uses only a passive radar, receiver) and the electronics necessary for it to find and track it ...
seeker. It was designed and manufactured by the South African firm
Kentron, now known as
Denel Dynamics.
The South African air-to-air missile program benefited from cooperation with Israel during the 1980s and the R-Darter is very similar to the
Python ''Derby''.
Service
The missile armed the
South African Air Force
The South African Air Force (SAAF) is the air warfare branch of South African National Defence Force, with its headquarters in Pretoria. The South African Air Force was established on 1 February 1920. The Air Force saw service in World War II a ...
's
Cheetah C fighter aircraft and was withdrawn from service when those were retired in 2008. The SAAF has not yet publicly announced which BVR missile will be procured to equip the 26 Saab
JAS 39 Gripens which have replaced the Cheetahs.
The
Brazilian Air Force
The Brazilian Air Force (, FAB) is the air branch of the Brazilian Armed Forces and one of the three national uniformed services. The FAB was formed when the Brazilian Brazilian Army Aviation (1919–1941), Army and Brazilian Naval Aviation, Nav ...
is said to be evaluating the R-Darter for use with their
F-5 fighters since Denel will be selling the missiles used for the test at a low price, as they are nearing the end of their shelf-life.
It was reported in 2010 that the R-Darter is being operated by the
Pakistan Air Force
The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) (; ) is the aerial warfare branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces, tasked primarily with the aerial defence of Pakistan, with a secondary role of providing air support to the Pakistan Army and Pakistan Navy when re ...
.
See also
*
AIM-120 AMRAAM
The AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) ( ) is an American Beyond-visual-range missile, beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile capable of all-weather day-and-night operations. It uses active transmit-receive radar guidance ...
, a similar type of missile (beyond visual range)
*
A-Darter
The V3E A-Darter (Agile Darter) is a modern short-range infrared homing ("heat seeking") air-to-air missile, featuring countermeasures resistance with a 180-degree look angle and 120-degrees per second track rate, developed by South Africa's Den ...
, Denel's short range
infrared homing
Infrared homing is a Missile guidance#Passive homing, passive weapon guidance system which uses the infrared (IR) light emission from a target to track and follow it seamlessly. Missiles which use infrared seeking are often referred to as "he ...
missile.
References
{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017
Post–Cold War weapons of South Africa
Cold War military equipment of South Africa
Air-to-air missiles of South Africa
Beyond-visual-range air-to-air missiles
Denel
Israel–South Africa relations
Military equipment introduced in the 1990s