F16 kill missile

[Weasel/Ethan]

I had an A10 in the background with a JF-17 in front I couldn't get lock so I fired in mad dog mode. It picked up the A10 behind it sadly, he evaded but is there a way to kill the missiles flight. I even ejected hoping that would work but it didn't I mean kudos to the development of it but it was en route to nail that poor A10

[Lenny]

Ur comma is in the wrong place

[Mors]

One of the problems with the Active Radar Homing (ARH) missiles is that you can't command them after you lose a lock, or when the missile goes active. When the ARH goes active, it stops listening the guidance from supporting fighter, and it has picked up the target what ever it wanted in the target area (let's say, you have enemies at 30 km in dog fight under 1 km from each other, aligning themselves nicely in line from your perspective to be under 100-200 meters from each others, your radar in F-16 can't resolve them but they appear as one contact, unless you have radar capable for RAID mode, where the radar will concentrate to very tiny area (like group of planes) and scan it for longer period to find out how many returns there really is from. But the ARH missile doesn't have this capability, it is much less capable radar.


SARH (Semi-Active Radar Homing) missile allows you to do that cancelation in most cases*, as it is enough to just drop the lock, turn off the radar or not re-lock in few seconds time.
The SARH main difference to ARH is that you need to maintain the guidance for it to the impact. Where the ARH allows you to stop guiding missile on moment it goes active, and you are free to fly away.

*) The SARH has same capability as ARH, that is Home On Jamming (HOJ) feature, where a jamming target will send the radio emissions (that radar is) to either mask or imitate the targeting radar from finding a distance to it, by either altering the doppler return (speed, range) or just adding so much noise that real signal isn't detected.
And missiles can use this to fly on that origin if it is noise, as it is just strong signal coming back, why you don't want to use noise jammer (that jammers in DCS are mostly about) as you are now drawing the missile on you, even if SARH guiding fighter stops supporting missile.

The more advanced DRFM mode allows to modify the original radar signal and repeat it or send it delayed, generating lot of false returns or shift the real target position elsewhere, or it can even hide the real target by fooling the radar own software to ignore the real return and cancel it out.

The ARH missile is dangerous, as even when it lose support, it continues to fly to the last known target trajectory estimated intercept point, it will activate its seeker at programmed distance (done before launch, by pilot choosing target size, small-medium-large, where large makes radar to get activated earlier, small much closer range. As in small=cruise missile, medium=fighter, large=cargo/bomber) and if it finds anything in there, it will lock to it no matter what, be it a chaff, a friendly or enemy.

Where the SARH allows to just stop support, and missile will go ballistic, like an arrow shot by archer, it will hit where it will fly.
There is no special "Abort" or "Self-Destruct" mode or feature like is in the most Surface-Air-Missiles (SAM), where the operator can push a button to self-destruct missile, or just stop transmitting the guidance signal and with 2-6 second self-destruct timer triggers warhead to explode.

This same difference in the Air-Air-Missiles (AAM) is as well in many other, like example AGM-65 "Maverick" (Air-Ground-Missile 65). Where you can have a TV camera guided variant like A and B, the D what is Infra-Red (FLIR) TV-guided variant (and F and G using the same seeker that D has), and then H, J and K that have digitized TV (CCD) seeker.
The special version is the E and E2/L (2014) that has laser guided seeker. The laser guided variants has additional safety features, and limitations:

E variant will require to acquire a lock to laser spot before launch, it is programmed with the laser code (1111-1788, where 1111 is strongest and most resilient laser, 1788 is weakest and less resilient) on the ground, or by the pilot (if the plane system supports) for the same code that laser designator is using.
Once the seeker locks on proper laser spot, it will stay locked to it, unless the lock is broken by obscuring the Line Of Sight (LOS), gimbal limit is reached, or gimbal tracking speed is disturbed (IIRC it is 1.25 degree per second rate).
After launching the laser designator needs to maintain the clear and strong spot for the missile, and if it is disturbed, the missile will safety itself and perform a maximum G pull upwards to evade the target, and it will fly somewhere high and far from the target area at high trajectory. At any given moment after launch, the laser designator can cancel the firing by turning laser off.
But this is problematic with the E model, as it is not allowed to be launched for self-designated targets, as the likelyhood that missile does not survive from the launch is too high. As on the moment of launch the missile pulls the fighter that gimbal limit can break the track. The missile smoke and heat blume can fly between laser targeting pod and target, obscuring the laser spot and breaking the track, or the missile can even lose the tracking as airborn laser designator (or target) turns such way that laser energy weakens or gets blocked, as you need to have proper reflection quality on target and not have any laser spilling/flooding and it can't move too quickly (jump from target to target, but needs to move smoothly).

This caused lot of problems for self-designation launches why only buddy-designation is allowed with Hornets, Vipers etc, where the designating plane stays further back at good race track loiter and the launching aircraft fly closer to launch missile and bug away. But ground designators are the highly preferred methods, to keep steady and solid laser designation on target.

E2 (or L) variant was to fix all that, to make the self-designation possible and improve the launch capabilities. The seeker is higher resolution, that increased the range when track was possible (in E model it was around 3-5 NM), by multifold becoming limited by the missile rocket motor flight performance. And it got a re-lock capability, where the seeker will survive laser track obscuring for IIRC 2 seconds. So if something blocks the laser, like the missile smoke/heat, it will be very temporal period and E2 can reacquire the track.
But the designator has the capability cancel the hit by stopping firing laser and after 2 seconds the E2 will disarm itself and pull high G safety maneuver to evade the target.

The E is not self-designation permitted, where E2 is. And E should have lot of troubles at higher laser codes like 1688 to get valid track. Where E2 is superior to it.

All the other models, are without any means to cancel the impact after the launch. Once the TV/IR/CCD seeker has been launched, it will fly on the tracked object. Be it a actual target, a shadow, a dust cloud, a burning bush or thermal spot on the ground etc, the missile is unguided after launch and totally autonomous.

The same is with ARH AAM, you need to be very sure that what you are aiming at and when you are launching, that weapon wouldn't have change to decide itself where to go.
Sadly DCS doesn't simulate these things properly at all, and it makes everything little too easy and probable.

[Weasel/Ethan]

Publicado originalmente por Lenny:

Ur comma is in the wrong place

thanks,