p_o_d_2_2 Posted November 21, 2006 Posted November 21, 2006 i have a very basic understanding of air to air missiles, so the answer to this may be obvious to the rest of you, but how do the missiles in the F-22 or the F-35 "lock on" or "acquire," or what ever the verb is, their targets if they are in internal bays? doesn't the seeker head on the missile have to be able to "see" the target in order to tell the pilot its locked on?
GGTharos Posted November 21, 2006 Posted November 21, 2006 That depends ... AMRAAMs can lock on after launch, Sidewinders have to be deployed on their rail outside the bay so they can lock on before launch. Most radar guided missiles are capable (by necessity) of locking on after launch. [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] Reminder: SAM = Speed Bump :D I used to play flight sims like you, but then I took a slammer to the knee - Yoda
Dudikoff Posted November 22, 2006 Posted November 22, 2006 What air to air radar guided missiles lock on before the launch? Or did you mean something like Sparrow and the FLOOD mode and similar? i386DX40@42 MHz w/i387 CP, 4 MB RAM (8*512 kB), Trident 8900C 1 MB w/16-bit RAMDAC ISA, Quantum 340 MB UDMA33, SB 16, DOS 6.22 w/QEMM + Win3.11CE, Quickshot 1btn 2axis, Numpad as hat. 2 FPH on a good day, 1 FPH avg. DISCLAIMER: My posts are still absolutely useless. Just finding excuses not to learn the F-14 (HB's Swansong?). Annoyed by my posts? Please consider donating. Once the target sum is reached, I'll be off to somewhere nice I promise not to post from. I'd buy that for a dollar!
Pilotasso Posted November 22, 2006 Posted November 22, 2006 i have a very basic understanding of air to air missiles, so the answer to this may be obvious to the rest of you, but how do the missiles in the F-22 or the F-35 "lock on" or "acquire," or what ever the verb is, their targets if they are in internal bays? doesn't the seeker head on the missile have to be able to "see" the target in order to tell the pilot its locked on? The radar attack computer knows the position of the target on radar. The AMRAAM inside the bays will be droped with radio data link to that computer wich tells the missile where the target is roughly. The missile wont be seeing the target nor will be locked to it at this stage. It will be kept updated on what the target is doing in each radar sweep of the launcher fighter and it will tell the missile that information. At a given distance the missile is told to fire up its own radar, and according to the computers predictions the missile should be aiming at the target at that instance. If the prediction is right then the missile will have the target inside its viewcone and guide on its own from then on. On a side note, I believe that the AMRAAM's that missed in combat probably did so in the datalink phase of the engagement, where any loss of data or imprecise target postition or even yet, the target in memorized mode in the radar because its blinking on and off during radar evasion measures. This is the normal method for longer distances. AT shorter distances the missile can be droped facing its target nearby. The missile aquires immidiatly after drop and guides. this is called maddog and doesnt require lock. But it may miss more often if the pilot failed to aim the HUD aiming circle to include the target inside of it. Its usualy used when the target suddenly poped up in sights and there was no time to react in any other way. A third method is a mix of these 2. Too far away to use maddog but too close to setup a neat beyond visual attack. You can designate the target so that the radar focuses on it, and it alone (youll loose info on any others, this is called single target track, STT and will give a loud warning to the targets threat pannel) The missile is droped with the targets position, speed and trajectory on its memory on that instant. Right after this it will manuever with its radar on to aquire the target as soon as its inside the view angle. .
Recommended Posts