Are Sparrows borked?

[Orwell]

Sparrows come straight off the rail and never track or deviate from their straight flight path in spite of a lock. Is this a known issue?

[BreaKKer]

19 minutes ago, Orwell said:

Sparrows come straight off the rail and never track or deviate from their straight flight path in spite of a lock. Is this a known issue?

What sparrow variant, what radar mode are you in, are you in the latest open beta update, and can you show a clip of what’s happening?

[Orwell]

In PSTT, PDSTT or TWS auto. I'm not sure which variant of AIM7 though. 
I'll make a track file.

[AH_Solid_Snake]

TWS auto we can discount right away, an AIM7 will only track in an STT mode, I’ve just finished a flight and the MH was working fine.

 

Did you center the dot before taking the shot? Sometimes if your steering angle is off beyond the seeker limits it can look like the missile went stupid because it won’t see any of the reflections from the target when it comes off the pylon?

[Orwell]

OK I can't upload a file right now... 

But here's what's happening. 


Start mission in the air. Bogey 30miles. 

Master Arm On
Missile Prep On.
Select Sparrow


TWS, transition into PSTT by Jester command. 
I have CTRL+Enter controls indicator on, so I can confirm STT lock plus diamond in HUD.

Get steering cue on VDI but not on HUD. Put cue inside circle.

Fire missile. STRAIGHT off the rail with zero turning - not even the slightest turn. 

I feel like there is a simple stupid switch I am missing. But I can't figure it out. I've watched like 10 videos from various people launching sparrows and I can't see what I'm doing wrong. 
Phoenix tracks and kills everything... Why wouldn't Sparrow? 

[AH_Solid_Snake]

Is it one of the out-of-the-box missions or one of your own design? What AIM7 variant was it?

[Orwell]

7M - home brew mission. But even online I can't get them to work.

 

[DimSim]

The other day while playing with missiles I fired 3x sparrows at a large STT locked target 10nm -> 3nm away, all 3 just flew straight ahead.

Yesterday I played a mission and fired a single sparrow that guided and hit target correctly.

I chalked my earlier experience to noob pilot error but am not sure what I did wrong. I think if the missile prep has not completed the missile won't even fire. I did double check STT.

[Biggus]

Mine are mostly as expected.  There are some that fail immediately on launching, but it's not a majority of the shots I take with either the 7M or the 7MH.

[Orwell]

 

 

Tried MH. Work like a charm. WTH

[westr]

The MH I’ve always found is the most reliable. 

Edited February 1, 2021 by westr

[captain_dalan]

11 hours ago, Orwell said:

 

 

Tried MH. Work like a charm. WTH

So it's not missile prep time then.....

[Southernbear]

From what I know of DCS history, the AIM-7 is one of those weapons ED kind of left to the way side during the early days when the AIM-120 could barely get kills at 20nmi. They focused on the 120s as that was what most people used. Even in the F-14 the main missile in PVP (where this would've been the biggest issue) was the AIM-54. So the AIM-7 has kinda been forgotten about. The newer missiles that were added later have the better aerodynamic data, code and battery life though, (such as the AIM-7MH) and soon to be added AIM-7P but in terms of legacy sparrows of the AIM-7F/M they're more unreliable then they otherwise should be.

 

Last I checked the AIM-7M in an aircraft that doesn't have MFD that you can switch them into loft mode manually (Like the Hornet) the AIM-7M will only loft if you pitch your aircraft above 30 degrees where as the MH being the specialised Marine variant will loft according to distance from target.

 

Rule of thumb in the Tomcat is don't fire them until about 15nmi, also make sure your in P-STT because while it does have less range and slightly easier to loose lock I've found 8-9/10 when Jester switches from PD-STT to P-STT he looses lock and trashes your missile. Hopefully this helps and hopefully when ED gets to making the F-4 or any other aircraft that realise on the AIM-7 Sparrow as its main BVR missile they'll go back to the earlier missiles and fix them.

[IronMike]

From reading the steps, it sounds to me as missile prep time as well. Make sure you had enough time, iirc 1:30 min (or was it 30 seconds - best check in the manual), to warm up. It is possible you just gave the missile prep more time to be ready when trying the MH. I dont see any issues with the aim7 either, else.

 

Edited February 2, 2021 by IronMike

[Mikeck]

Happens to me a lot. I don’t fire until under 5NM and it’s still a 60-70% chance of missing.

[DimSim]

1 hour ago, Mikeck said:

Happens to me a lot. I don’t fire until under 5NM and it’s still a 60-70% chance of missing.

Tracked and missed, or never tracked and just flew in straight line?

Mine never tracked or turned, though I still presume due to missile prep.

[AH_Solid_Snake]

13 hours ago, IronMike said:

From reading the steps, it sounds to me as missile prep time as well. Make sure you had enough time, iirc 1:30 min (or was it 30 seconds - best check in the manual), to warm up. It is possible you just gave the missile prep more time to be ready when trying the MH. I dont see any issues with the aim7 either, else.

 

 

 

Would a MSL PREP problem allow the weapon to fire though? In my experience until I've waited for tuning to time out you dont get a hot trigger light?

[IronMike]

29 minutes ago, AH_Solid_Snake said:

 

Would a MSL PREP problem allow the weapon to fire though? In my experience until I've waited for tuning to time out you dont get a hot trigger light?

 

Hm, you are right. Never mind me then... Missile wouldnt fire.