Editing AIM-120 AMRAAM (section)

==Development==
[[File:AIM-120 first kill.jpg|thumb|right|First successful test at the White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico 1982]]

AMRAAM was developed as the result of an agreement (the [[Family of Weapons]] MOA, no longer in effect by 1990), among the United States and several other [[NATO]] nations to develop air-to-air missiles and to share production technology. Under this agreement, the U.S. was to develop the next generation medium range missile (AMRAAM) and Europe would develop the next generation short range missile (ASRAAM). Although Europe initially adopted the AMRAAM, an effort to develop the [[Meteor (missile)|MDBA Meteor]], a competitor to AMRAAM, was begun in UK. Eventually, the ASRAAM was developed solely by the British, but using another source for its infrared seeker. After protracted development, the deployment of AMRAAM (AIM-120A) began in September 1991 in US Air Force [[McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle]] fighter [[Squadron (aviation)|squadron]]s. The US Navy soon followed (in 1993) in its [[McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet]] squadrons.

The [[Russian Air Force]] counterpart of AMRAAM is the somewhat similar [[R-77]] (NATO codename AA-12 Adder), sometimes referred to in the West as the "AMRAAMski". Likewise, France began its own air-to-air missile development with the [[MICA (missile)|MICA]] concept that used a common airframe for separate radar-guided and infrared-guided versions.