[svandamme]

The Phoenix was meant to intercept hordes of Badgers, Cruise missiles and what not , coming at the carrier.

It was not designed to take out 1 single target at 200 miles out..
Either way it really did not have such range they only did120 miles/190km
ROE typically requires visual confirmation or at least being fired upon by the target.


The AIM 54 was heavy, could not be trapped on the carrier if the Tomcat had to many of them coming back. And it was expensive to maintain.

So situations where you can actually launch a missile at 200 miles out, so exceptionally rare that they don't warrant the extreme cost involved with such designs and if such range is needed it's probably going to be easier and more cost effective to build a boosted rocket that can fire from land or ship..
Running costs= Next to Nothing.


As for used in anger, the Iranians did make good use of them.. The Iraqi's feared the Tomcat to the point that they would turn and run as soon as they noticed the distinct AWG9 radar.
In US use a few were fired in anger but they missed or misfired.. By then they weren't new anymore

Amraam can get to 85% of the distance that Aim54 could, 160km
And it get's there only a few seconds slower

190km @ mach 5 = 111 secs
160km @ mach 5 = 117 secs

For all intent and purpose at those ranges and speeds what really matters is detection and response time/capabilities by the target.. Amraam can fly inertial guiding and then switch to active homing resulting in very short detectiontimes or switch to home on jamming if it detects it. So that should be interesting.