Can someone explain the AIM-7 Sparrow for me please?

[Umbreawesome]

I know how to use the radar and all that but getting the sparrow to lock is seemingly almost impossible for me in a normal battle scenario. I can get them to lock consistently at about any range when I take them out to test but then in battle they seem to almost never want to lock anything. To the point where I'm just contemplating not even putting them on my plane and just staying on the deck while weaving around the environment to close to heat seeking/ gun range the entire game.

There may be something I'm doing wrong but I think I'm doing it right... or as right as I know how. Currently when I see enemy contrails or just see a speck of an enemy in the distance I'm hitting ALT+ W to switch the radar mode to get the contact then I'm activating the missile seeker and waiting for lock and launching it. This works fine in testing but in game it never seems to actually lock. It just eternally seeks then I either turn hard to avoid incoming or get smacked by someone elses sparrow.

[Maki]

Is the target notching your radar? Also make sure your radar is in STT as TWS will not work with a Sparrow. With a target locked in STT they will get a warning from their RWR that they're being locked and will maneuver to break the lock. Either wait for them to be very close or use TWS (if your radar has that mode) as an aid to where your target is then swap to STT to launch the Sparrow. Give them the least amount of time to react. Evading a Sparrow from afar is very, very easy. Simply notch it (put your plane 90 degrees from the enemy radar) and pop some chaff.

[Umbreawesome]

Originally posted by Maki Nishikino:

Is the target notching your radar? Also make sure your radar is in STT as TWS will not work with a Sparrow. With a target locked in STT they will get a warning from their RWR that they're being locked and will maneuver to break the lock. Either wait for them to be very close or use TWS (if your radar has that mode) as an aid to where your target is then swap to STT to launch the Sparrow. Give them the least amount of time to react. Evading a Sparrow from afar is very, very easy. Simply notch it (put your plane 90 degrees from the enemy radar) and pop some chaff.

Thanks for the reply. I'll try this and if I can't get the hang of it I'll just stick to lower jets I guess.

[Jaes]

This is a very nuanced topic and there's a lot of factors to cover. While the first response has some guidelines to follow, there's more things to consider.

The AIM-7 Sparrow is a Continuous Wave Semi-Active Radar Homing missile (SARH), also known as a Fox 1. There's a few things you always need to keep in mind when you're engaging targets.

Best Target: A target flying towards your radar

Worst Target: A target flying away or perpendicular from your radar

Sparrows track targets based on speed relative to your aircraft. If you and your target are flying in the same direction and your radar is "Chasing" the target, you will have a much harder time achieving a lock that will allow the Sparrow to track, especially if you're flying at relatively the same speed.

A target moving towards you presents the best sight picture for the Sparrow to track and is significantly easier to hit. This also makes it harder for Chaff to fool a Sparrow as a target deploying Chaff, but still moving towards your radar, is much easier to track and hit than the Chaff itself. The "Continuous Wave" portion of the Sparrow allows your radar to get locked on the Chaff, but continue to track the hostile aircraft because of this so long as the target remains within your radar's scan radius.

What a Notch maneuver does is it makes the target effective have an airspeed of "Zero" and will successfully defeat Pulse Doppler based locks as Pulse Doppler works by filtering out objects based on how fast they're moving from one space to another. A Notch convinces the radar that the target is a static object and it gets filtered out.

This won't defeat a SRC based lock, but it will degrade the Sparrow's tracking and allow it to be more vulnerable to Chaff. A Notch paired with Chaff is the single best way to defeat a lock from a Sparrow. This is also very effective against Active Radar Homing missiles such as AIM-54s, AIM-120s, R-77s, etc.

There's also a defense maneuver referred to as "Going Cold" where the defender turns away complete and flies on the same heading as you. This puts your radar and Sparrow in a bad position for a high kill probability, but it takes away any opportunity for them to regain the initiative and forces them purely defensive, giving you the opportunity to close in with IR missiles and/or guns, and perhaps even a follow on Sparrow if you're close enough.

Again, to summarize:

Best Target: A target flying towards your radar

Worst Target: A target flying away or perpendicular from your radar

You will have to change how you conduct your engagements based on what radar you have available to you, but if you keep them in mind, you will find yourself racking up kills from the AIM-7D to the AIM-7M.

[rich_e777]

Dont you just hate the chatgpt responses?

They didnt call the AIM-7 the Great White Hope for nothing in the real world...

Ive not had much luck with the Sparrow either and typically use them for AI bombers and attackers. ACM mode seems to work the best for me with the AIM-7s, gotten a "BVR" kill with one.

[Jaes]

Originally posted by rich_e777:

Dont you just hate the chatgpt responses?

They didnt call the AIM-7 the Great White Hope for nothing in the real world...

Ive not had much luck with the Sparrow either and typically use them for AI bombers and attackers. ACM mode seems to work the best for me with the AIM-7s, gotten a "BVR" kill with one.

Is "skill issue" the appropriate response then? Because that's a skill issue.