Ford Aerospace LCLM (Low Cost Lightweight Missile)

overscan (PaulMM)

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According to Fedosov's book "AIR DEFENSE AVIATION OF RUSSIA AND SCIENTIFIC TECHNICAL PROGRESS" the USAF had a program called LCLM (Low Cost Lightweight Missile) which involved Ford and Raytheon. Several experimental missiles were produced and tested in 1977. The missile weighed 36kg, with a diameter of 115mm and length of 2m.
 
overscan said:
The missile weighed 36kg, with a diameter of 115mm and length of 2m.

These figures would correspond to a missile that would be somewhat smaller than Sidewinder?

Agile appears to have been quite a bit larger than Sidewinder.
 
According to Bill Gunstron LCLM was a Ford proposal within the ASRAAM program

Source:


Bill Gunston, The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of the World's Rockets and Missiles
 
The Aeronutronic division of Ford Aerospace & Communications (Ford Road, Newport Beach, Calif 92663) has developed missile-guidance units for the USAF Low-Cost Lightweight Missile (LCLM) programme. Prototypes have been delivered to the Armament Development Test Centre at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, for captive flight-testing on F-14s and F-15s. The aircraft will take part in simulated dogfights at a specially instrumented range at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, to determine the characteristics required of the planned replacement for the Sidewinder air-to air missile. A Hughes seeker head is also being tested in this programme

http://www.flightglobal.com/PDFArchive/View/1976/1976%20-%200165.html
 
Sidewinder-replacement contract
Aeronutronic Ford has been awarded a $5 million contract by the USAF Armament Development and Test Centre, Eglin AFB, as part of the Low
Cost Lightweight Missile (LCLM) programme.
The company will build and test small numbers of subsystems so that the cost and performance of a dogfight missile to replace Sidewinder can be assessed.
A series of captive test flights in the Aimval programme will compare the performance of Aeronutronic's seeker and other contenders so that operational requirements for a common USAF/USN weapon can be defined. The equipment will be mounted on an F-I4 and F-15 which will engage in mock air combat over a specially instrumented range at Nellis AFB. Trials are due to be completed next year.

 
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ASRAAM A joint USAF/USN operational requirement for a successor to Sidewinder was established in January. The ASRAAM (Advanced Short-Range Air-to-Air Missile) programme is of lower priority than AMRAAM, because AIM-9L Sidewinder still has potential for further performance improvements;
the new weapon is expected to enter service in the mid to late 1980s. Basic information about the performance required for ASRAAM was provided by the Aceval/ Aimval programme, and parallel work includes the Pave Prism studies of possible seekers, both infra-red and active laser. Several companies are proposing lightweight short-range weapons to replace Sidewinder, including the Low-Cost Lightweight Missile (LCLM) offered by Ford Aerospace to arm
the F-16.

 
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