Poland enhances air power with $1.3 billion AMRAAM deal

On April 29, 2025, the American Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced that the State Department had approved the sale to Poland of 400 AIM-120D-3 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles for an amount not exceeding $1.3 billion.

This approval marks another opportunity for Poland to purchase AMRAAM missiles, and this time it concerns their latest variant. Although the exact range hasn't been disclosed, the AIM-120D (AIM-120D-3) version is estimated to have a range of 100-110 miles.

The new missiles will be used by Polish F-16s and the F-35 aircraft that Poland has ordered once they are delivered.

The AIM-120 AMRAAM (Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile) was introduced into service in the early 1990s as a successor to the AIM-7 Sparrow missile. It was originally positioned as a medium-range missile designed to engage opponents beyond visual range.

The AIM-9 Sidewinder remains the short-range missile solution, developed since the 1950s and guided to heat sources using an IR sensor. Compared to its predecessor, the AMRAAM offers significantly enhanced capabilities, particularly the operating mode known as "fire and forget."

The missile is 12 feet long, weighs 335 pounds, and can reach a speed of Mach 4. Its early version, the AIM-120A, had a range of about 30-37 miles, but this range has increased as newer versions have been developed and introduced into service. Currently, the missile is used in various versions by the air forces of over 30 countries.

Besides its warhead, AMRAAM has a guidance system with its own radar, allowing it to independently locate a target. It also includes a data link that enables communication with the aircraft that launched it.

This means that after a carrier detects a target with its radar, it can fire the missile, which then uses its inertial navigation system to proceed towards the target—such as an enemy aircraft—without initially revealing its presence using its radar.

Target position information can be updated to the missile through the data link. The AMRAAM's radar activates near the target for precise targeting and accurate guidance.

AMRAAM can also use a passive guidance system. If the enemy aircraft jams the radar, the missile's radar can be turned off, and AMRAAM begins homing in on the source of the jamming.

Thanks to these features, an aircraft equipped with AMRAAM missiles can attack several targets in succession in a short time, engaging multiple enemy aircraft beyond visual range.

Technical data tables make it easy to compare various devices or weapons—including air-to-air missiles. However, conclusions drawn from them can be misleading because the capabilities offered by the same missiles can vary depending on the aircraft from which they are fired and the conditions.

For instance, a missile fired from low altitude toward a higher-flying target must travel through the dense lower atmosphere, significantly reducing its range. The same missile fired at a high altitude will achieve a much greater range, which increases further if launched by a fast-moving aircraft.

Therefore, missiles fired from a ground-based NASAMS air defense system and air superiority fighters might have ranges of 18 miles or nearly 62 miles.

As such, the same AMRAAM fired from an F-16, FA-50 (once integrated with this platform), or F-35 could have different ranges. Tests conducted by the U.S. Air Force a few years ago showed that the F-15 is the platform that best utilizes the AMRAAM missile's capabilities, allowing it to destroy air targets from the greatest distance.

The AIM-120 AMRAAM was developed as a more advanced successor to the AIM-7 Sparrow, but for many years, both missile types were—and to some extent still are—used in parallel. As the AIM-120 evolved, it gained capabilities that were previously attributed to much larger and more expensive long-range missiles, such as the AIM-54 Phoenix, which was exclusively carried by F-14 Tomcat aircraft.

After the retirement of the Tomcat in 2006, a capability gap emerged in American aviation, specifically naval aviation, which was filled over time by the development of the AIM-120. This missile can now hit targets over distances once attributed only to long-range missiles.

Despite these advancements, the United States has already developed a successor to the AIM-120 missile—the AIM-260 JATM (Joint Advanced Tactical Missile), which, with speeds reaching Mach 5, is expected to have a range of at least 124 miles. The European competitor and partly an equivalent to the AMRAAM is the MBDA Meteor missile, which differs, among other things, in its use of a ramjet engine. Russia has also developed a missile with similar characteristics, the R-77.