The Fighter Pilot Podcast

Just as a viper relies on its venomous fangs and a hornet its stinger to deliver a lethal attack on adversaries, so too do modern combat fighter aircraft depend on guided missiles and cannon fire to engage aerial foes. But what guidance methods do missiles use? How difficult is it to effectively employ the gun on a non-cooperative target? And how far, exactly, can the AIM-120C AMRAAM be employed against a non-maneuvering fighter-size target when both the shooter and target are at Mach 1 and above 30,000 feet?…okay, we don’t answer that last one. In fact, for the die-hard technology and tactics buffs out there—fair warning: we avoid specific details because, more so than any other topic yet discussed on this show, information on air-to-air missiles is jealously guarded to maintain an advantage against potential foes.On this episode, our first U.S. Air Force guest, Major Trevor "Boat" Boswell, discusses the air-to-air weapons common to all U.S. ‘teen-series’ fighters: the AIM-7 Sparrow, AIM-9 Sidewinder