Python6 missile

Israel currently lacks a new-age BVR project. perhaps the name is
misleading and like Erez says could be a new BVR missile with secondary high energy WVR abilities. the IIR mode should permit the radar seeker to be switched off once target is acquired or used intermittently which will make countermeasures more difficult.

The Python 4 and 5 are claimed to have some kind of an almost BVR ability. So I think a Python-6 would be more like a BVRed Python, together with being a close range missile.
Perhaps some kind of a super Derby.

Way too early, but I think Pyhton-6 like the -5 will be another modification of the existing proven airframe with a better seeker and brain again. It would be the simplest and cheapest path to follow. No real need to design a whole NEW weapon IMO.

Date Posted: 19-Mar-2004

JANE’S MISSILES AND ROCKETS – APRIL 01, 2004

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Python 6 proposed as follow-on air-to-air missile
David C Isby

Israel is considering follow-on air-to-air missile (AAM) designs for use against emerging threats, writes David C Isby. Python 6 has been proposed as the next member of the Rafael family of air-to-air missiles.

Created in response to an Israeli Defence Force requirement for a future AAM that could arm aircraft such as the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter or unmanned air vehicles (UAVs), Python 6 is believed to be a design based on a dual-mode active radar and passive infrared seeker.

Smaller and lighter than the current Python 5 infrared-guided dogfight missile, it would incorporate state-of-the-art technology, and be available for operational use around 2014. Like Python 5 and the radar-guided Derby, it would be suitable for the air-to-air and surface-to-air roles (see story Israel offers Spyder SAM system to India on page xx of this issue).

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Is there really a big need for another good dogfighting missile? I’d rather concentrate on much longer ranged BVR missile and ramjet tech.

I think it’s too soon to speculate anything about the Python 6.
Only now the 5 is enterting service and is said to be better than the AIM-9X. So I think that a 6 might appear only in about 10-15 years from now.