Editing AIM-120 AMRAAM (section)

===AIM-54 Phoenix LRM===
The US Navy later developed the [[AIM-54 Phoenix]] long-range missile (LRM) for the fleet air defense mission. It was a large {{convert|1000|lb|kg|-2|abbr=on}}, Mach 5 missile designed to counter [[cruise missile]]s and the bombers that launched them. Originally intended for the straight-wing [[Douglas F6D Missileer]] and then the navalized [[General Dynamics–Grumman F-111B]], it finally saw service with the [[Grumman F-14 Tomcat]], the only fighter capable of carrying such a heavy missile. The Phoenix was the first US [[fire-and-forget]], multiple-launch, radar-guided missile: one which used its own active guidance system to guide itself without help from the launch aircraft when it closed on its target. This, in theory, gave a Tomcat with a six-Phoenix load the unprecedented capability of tracking and destroying up to six targets beyond visual range, as far as {{convert|100|mi|km|-1}} away—the only US fighter with such capability.

A full load of six Phoenix missiles and its {{convert|2000|lb|kg|abbr=on}} dedicated launcher exceeded a typical Vietnam-era bomb load. Its service in the US Navy was primarily as a deterrent, as its use was hampered by restrictive [[rules of engagement]] in conflicts such as [[Gulf War|1991 Gulf War]], [[Operation Southern Watch|Southern Watch]] (enforcing no-fly zones), and [[Iraq War]]. The US Navy retired the Phoenix in 2004<ref>{{Citation | title = Navy Retires AIM-54 Phoenix Missile | url = http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=15422 | place = United States | publisher = Navy | access-date = November 26, 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110305105351/http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=15422 | archive-date = March 5, 2011 | url-status = dead }}</ref> in light of availability of the AIM-120 AMRAAM on the [[McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet]] and the pending retirement of the F-14 Tomcat from active service in late 2006.