IR missiles switching target on launch

[Lynnux]

Locked an enemy plane via boresight mode and assigned the IR missile to the radar target. The triangle appeared (= IR missile locked, flew a Mirage 2000). The plane was flying level from right to left. and turned into me. I launched the missile at 1.75 nm distance. The enemy plane didn't drop a flare.

The missile immediately went after a friendly KC-135 which was passing from left to right behind the enemy plane (exactly the opposite direction, a little bit higher on the HUD). The distance of the KC-135 was 8 nm at this moment.

The cockpit view shows the situation at the moment of the missile launch.

The satellite view shows the missile flight path.

Happened also with a PL-5EII in a pretty similar situation, the PL-5EII was also assigned and locked to an enemy radar target but switched to a friendly passing behind. Also here the enemy plane didn't drop a flare.

How can a missile which is assigned and locked to a target via radar simply switch to another target at launch (friendlies in both cases) ?

Edited August 7, 2022 by Lynnux
further clarification that IR missile was locked

[Lynnux]

Obviously the tanker is acting like a flare in this case but should the missile launch at all when a deviation to the radar target is detected ?

Or at least the symbology and target on the HUD should change ?

[Cmptohocah]

This is a thing and it's not a bug: IR missiles are "dump" and fly towards what ever they deem fit as a target.

[GGTharos]

The problem is the inconsistency between what the avionics behave like and what the missile behaves like when spawned.

[GGTharos]

On 8/6/2022 at 11:13 PM, Lynnux said:

Locked an enemy plane via boresight mode and assigned the IR missile to the radar target. The triangle appeared (= IR missile locked, flew a Mirage 2000). The plane was flying level from right to left. and turned into me. I launched the missile at 1.75 nm distance. The enemy plane didn't drop a flare.

The missile immediately went after a friendly KC-135 which was passing from left to right behind the enemy plane (exactly the opposite direction, a little bit higher on the HUD). The distance of the KC-135 was 8 nm at this moment.[/quote]

So this aircraft turned nose on, presenting the smallest heat signature it could, while the tanker flew behind it with at least two hot exhausts, plus itself, in view.  The distance does make a difference but it's also hugely aspect dependent.

On 8/6/2022 at 11:13 PM, Lynnux said:

How can a missile which is assigned and locked to a target via radar simply switch to another target at launch (friendlies in both cases) ?

What does the radar have to do with it?  Basically the radar points the seeker in a specific direction and hopefully the seeker of the missile will 'cage' onto whatever it sees there.  But the missile will be doing its own thing.   IRL you'd see HUD indications of the missile changing its mind, which doesn't happen in DCS:  In DCS, the spawned missile has nothing to do with that your aircraft pretends it's doing while 'on the rail', and that inconsistency is a problem.

But there's an important lesson here too, which also applies IRL:  Do not shoot if there is, or there will be a friendly entering the seeker FoV during the missile's time of flight.

[Northstar98]

On 8/7/2022 at 4:13 AM, Lynnux said:

The triangle appeared (= IR missile locked, flew a Mirage 2000).

All that triangle is telling you is that the radar and the missile are tracking the same target.

On 8/7/2022 at 4:13 AM, Lynnux said:

How can a missile which is assigned and locked to a target via radar simply switch to another target at launch (friendlies in both cases) ?

Because the missile has no idea what it's being launched at, besides things like counter-countermeasures (which may involve position filtering, measuring energy rise times, filtering out the frequencies associated with flares, predicting target motion or having very small FOVs etc).

In this case, as GGTharos explained, the KC-135 simply presented a more enticing target to the missile, it doesn't help that the 2 are practically coincident with each other too.

On 8/7/2022 at 4:41 AM, Lynnux said:

Obviously the tanker is acting like a flare in this case but should the missile launch at all when a deviation to the radar target is detected ?

Yes it should, I'm not aware of a system that doesn't let you launch if the missile and radar aren't tracking the same target.

On 8/7/2022 at 4:41 AM, Lynnux said:

Or at least the symbology and target on the HUD should change ?

The symbology should change - the missile reticule (which is a circle), should accurately show the LOS of the missile seeker.