The US Air Force has finally begun to develop a new air-launched weapon to complement its venerable AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) -colloquially known as the 'Slammer'. Since the introduction of the AMRAAM to service in 1991 - just after the end of the Gulf War - Western allies have watched as first Russia, and then China, began working on increasingly long-range weapons, some with exotic propulsion systems. Europe, too, decided it needed a missile with longer reach when it fielded the MBDA Meteor -propelled by an innovative ramjet motor. While there have been incremental improvements to the AMRAAM - among them, modifications for internal carriage, increased range, improved resistance to jamming, and a two-way data link - it's now clear that air combat commanders want more.
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