Yes, AARGM is a completely new guidance section to the existing HARM airframe.

While the latest HARM had some ability to go after the last known location of an emitter, it did not have a MMW radar seeker or GPS.

Here is a very detailed 2009 presentation on the AARGM (AGM-88E).
http://www.dtic.mil/ndia/2009gunmissile/AARGM.pdf

Here is the USN (lead agency) production schedule (just entered LRIP1 with FRP in FY2012).
FY2010(29), Fy2011(34), FY2012(69), FY2013(128), FY2014(187), &FY2015(220)

http://www.dtic.mil/descriptivesum/Y2011/Navy/0205601N_PB_2011.pdf

The USAF is working on a program called “HARM Control Section Modification MN-_2984” that will add GPS and some other mods (no active seeker) to existing AGM-88C-1 missiles that are currently in stock.

The 30nm reference was for launching a SDB so that it terminates in a diving vertical profile.

The HARM cannot be carried internally so it will severely degrade the F-35’s RCS. This is one of the driving reasons for development on the JDRADM.

The HARM that the F-35 will carry (scheduled for Block 6) is the AARGM which has it’s own MMW radar seeker and a GPS INS that will guide it to the last know location even after the targeted radar has shut down.

Why wait till 6th gen. Crank out some ultra VLO UCAVs with EODAS, a good IRST, a decent AESA radar, AESA based jamming, and MADL and use them now. The automatically updating network protocols and directional datalinks (via F-35) are already with us so this will keep it stealthy.

Thanks for the info djcross.

I grabbed this off one of the vids….. In case you missed it, that is a SDB doing a 89-90 degree vertical impact.

One of the points of a VLO platform is the ability to get quite close (30nm and 50,000+ ft) to a SAM site before launching a PGM or JDRADM (IOC in 2018 timeframe) or HARM (F-35 scheduled for Blk 6). For the brief moment that the doors are open, the SAM site knows something is up. A few seconds later the doors are closed and the swarm of PGMs are on the way. The launching AC is now fully VLO again and can turn around and leave the area. The defending SAM/PDS system will have very little chance to engage the AC or PGMs (until they are close).

OK….. when an amraam is fired, and its internal radar comes on any aircraft witha RWR will know…..

The AMRAAM does not have to go active until it needs to. In the latest version (AIM-120D) it’s INS has been enhanced with GPS. What this allows is PRECISE target coordinates to be updated via any (not just the launching fighter) source in the battlefield. The 120D will not have to go active till just a few seconds before impact thereby depriving the target of it’s much needed time to deal with the threat.

Russian PDS systems cannot elevate their guns straight up nor can they tilt engagement radars straight up. The Pantsir S1 has a limitation of 82 degrees for the tracking radar and 85 degrees for the gun.

This is why a plunging attack has the best chance of success. In order to protect the S-XXX the PDS units have to be spread out, but doing that means that the guns will engage from the side instead of a merging engagement. This also means that the leading PDS units cannot defend (with guns) against a plunging attack that is aimed at the PDS itself. It will have to use missiles, of which it has a very limited supply, and will have to rely on target data from other units in the area. If network jamming is in affect the PDS CANNOT defend itself against a plunging attack from a PGM or HARM as not even it’s radar can see beyond 82 degrees.

http://www.ausairpower.net/APA-96K6-Pantsir-2K22-Tunguska.html