Do you have a link to their exact claim? It would be important to note, what type of threat, under what scenarios, how far and target RCS etc. Are we talking about a benign interception of a UAV that is not aware of a threat (or unable to do something about it) or a supersonic, 9G fighter with ECM?manjgu wrote:the Meteor manufacturers claim that it can be guided by AWACS or self fighters ( 3rd party).
As I had mentioned, with lower frequency sensors your kill box will be quite large hence you will need the seeker to compensate by being able to operate within that kill box (assuming that kinematically, you have no problems making the adjustments). This is a dynamic thing and not fixed as it depends upon a host of factors such as target performance (speed, altitude, heading etc) and target RCS. This is how the E2D/SM6 operates under NIFC-CA but this is with a missile seeker nearly twice as large and plenty of space and power for additional processing. Plus on the NIFCCA this capability is only claimed against cruise missiles and not maneuvering figther targets.
An L band or S band AWACS will not have the ability to discrimination from very long ranges like an FCR operating at X band can and for a 7 inch diameter weapon and its associated seeker you need to make sure the missile lands precisely at the right place at the right time so that your intercept is not wasted (on account of the inability of the seeker to find the target).