What's The Most Powerful Air-To-Air Missile Ever Deployed In Combat?

Towards the end of World War II, nations began developing more robust means of taking down enemy aircraft. Throughout most of the war, the only means of taking out an enemy plane was by shooting it out of the sky with high-powered machine guns. While we still put massive cannons on modern fighters and other military aircraft, in most cases, pilots rely on air-to-air missiles. The technology has been around longer than you might think, as the development of the AIM-4 Falcon air-to-air missile kicked off in the 1940s.

Missiles are designed to fly as quickly as possible toward a target so speed is paramount in their success. As technology continues to advance, nations work on creating even faster hypersonic missiles capable of reaching Mach 5 (3,836 mph) or greater. Air-to-air missiles don't travel that fast, but there is one piece of ordnance the Russian Federation uses that stands as the most powerful air-to-air missile ever deployed in combat: The Vympel R-37.

This is a powerful missile. It's not the kind of missile that can destroy aircraft carriers, but it's powerful, nonetheless. The R-37 can race through the skies at incredible speeds similar to some cruise missiles with some equally high top speeds. There are many air-to-air missiles that have been developed over the years, but they all pale in comparison to the R-37's speed, range, and warhead size, all of which make the missile the most powerful one to ever see combat, which it has in Ukraine.

The Vympel R-37 was initially designed in the 1980s for the Soviet Union. It's the Russian Federation that now uses the overpowered beast of a weapon designed to take out Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft such as the E-8 JSTARS. The R-37 is long-range missile with a a maximum range of 247 miles, keeping the firing aircraft well out of reach any aircraft defending the target.

The weapon was designed as an air-launched vehicle so it could be fired by some of Russia's most advanced fighter jets, including the MiG-31, which has proven itself deadly when paired with R-37 missiles. Their power is evident in the missile's range, and it's capable of achieving speeds as fast as Mach 5, bordering on hypersonic territory. On top of that, the R-37 is also capable of carrying a massive warhead weighing in at around 130 pounds, making it the most powerful AAM used in combat.

Comparatively, the United States' AIM-120 AMRAAM missile carries a warhead weighing only 40 pounds. The most powerful air-to-air missile produced that thankfully never saw combat is the U.S. AIM-26 Falcon. While it can be armed with a conventional warhead, the AIM-26 is the only American air-to-air missile that can carry a W54 nuclear warhead capable of detonating with the force of 250 tons of TNT. Russia operates two similar missiles, the R-33 and a nuclear-armed variant of the R-37, but their full capabilities are unknown in the West.