AGM-45 Shrike Seeker

[TheGhostOfDefi]

Hello,

will the shrike seeker needed to be changed by ground crew for its Targets or will it be a universal for ingame purposes?

Just curious..

[Omega417]

I dont think we know at this time, but i would hope it would be the AGM-45A/B-10A with the MK-50 MOD 0 seeker head which was a Broad E to I with Angle Gating which should serve as a universal for the most part.

[upyr1]

2 hours ago, Omega417 said:

I dont think we know at this time, but i would hope it would be the AGM-45A/B-10A with the MK-50 MOD 0 seeker head which was a Broad E to I with Angle Gating which should serve as a universal for the most part.

If this is how to get a realitic universal seeker then, I'd expect heatblur to do just that. Though I would love to have mutiple seekers, so we can get the frustraing early days of SEAD. I think this would be a good wishlist item 

[Dragon1-1]

I think that maybe the fuze selection menu could be coopted for this. You'd have to choose the "fuze" (actually the seeker) that goes after a specific radar. Shrike was very much a weapon for use against known targets, although quite frankly, there weren't many targets in Vietnam, besides the Fan Song, worth using it on. 

[Omega417]

3 hours ago, upyr1 said:

If this is how to get a realitic universal seeker then, I'd expect heatblur to do just that. Though I would love to have mutiple seekers, so we can get the frustraing early days of SEAD. I think this would be a good wishlist item 

Id think the "universal" seekerhead would be the first thing we got, and as we progressed if there was interest we might see earlier seeker heads.

[1qsb28]

10 hours ago, Dragon1-1 said:

I think that maybe the fuze selection menu could be coopted for this. You'd have to choose the "fuze" (actually the seeker) that goes after a specific radar. Shrike was very much a weapon for use against known targets, although quite frankly, there weren't many targets in Vietnam, besides the Fan Song, worth using it on. 

The Barlocks were actually a high priority for the weasels.

Edited November 2, 2023 by 1qsb28

[Guest]

Hope we get the B version.

[Vampyre]

It would be nice if there were a way to select the type of seeker the Shrike had in a similar way to how we select fuses on the iron bombs in the rearm and refuel menu.

[Dragon1-1]

On 11/2/2023 at 4:59 AM, 1qsb28 said:

The Barlocks were actually a high priority for the weasels.

Yeah, but were the Shrikes used against them? Bar Lock, by itself, can't hit you with a missile. The Shrike actually sucked at permanently taking a radar out of action, but it did force it to stop radiating, trashing already launched SA-2s, and it could damage the dish itself enough for the site to be vulnerable to a subsequent CBU strike. I'd imagine a Bar Lock would be dealt with using a CBU strike, a far more damaging method than tossing a Shrike at it.

[TheGhostOfDefi]

55 minutes ago, Dragon1-1 said:

Yeah, but were the Shrikes used against them? Bar Lock, by itself, can't hit you with a missile. The Shrike actually sucked at permanently taking a radar out of action, but it did force it to stop radiating, trashing already launched SA-2s, and it could damage the dish itself enough for the site to be vulnerable to a subsequent CBU strike. I'd imagine a Bar Lock would be dealt with using a CBU strike, a far more damaging method than tossing a Shrike at it.

Maybe put to good use in contested areas. If the barlocks were famous targets they were probably well protected. But despite that, the CBU seems the more mature solution.

[1qsb28]

On 11/4/2023 at 12:11 PM, Dragon1-1 said:

Yeah, but were the Shrikes used against them? Bar Lock, by itself, can't hit you with a missile. The Shrike actually sucked at permanently taking a radar out of action, but it did force it to stop radiating, trashing already launched SA-2s, and it could damage the dish itself enough for the site to be vulnerable to a subsequent CBU strike. I'd imagine a Bar Lock would be dealt with using a CBU strike, a far more damaging method than tossing a Shrike at it.

Based on interviews with Vietnam Weasel crews, yes they fired ARMS at Bar Locks.  On the 10% True Podcast a Pilot and EWO agreed they were the top priority and if a standard ARM was carried it was always used on a Bar Lock first.  If multiple Shrikes were loaded, one had the seeker for the Bar Lock.  fantastic podcast for info on the Weasel mission.  

[Blaze1]

For those interested, here is a list of Shrike variants I posted on discord about a week ago:

AGM-45A-2, - G/H (formerly C)
AGM-45B-2, - G/H (formerly C)
AGM-45A-3, - E/F (formerly S)
AGM-45B-3, - E/F (formerly S)
AGM-45A-3A, - E/F (formerly S)
AGM-45B-3A, - E/F (formerly S)
AGM-45A-3B, - E/F (formerly S)
AGM-45B-3B, - E/F (formerly S)
AGM-45A-4, - G/H (formerly C)
AGM-45B-4, - G/H (formerly C)
AGM-45A-6, - H/I (formerly X)
AGM-45B-6, - H/I (formerly X)
AGM-45A-7, - C/D (formerly L)
AGM-45B-7, - C/D (formerly L)
AGM-45A-9, - H/I (formerly X)
AGM-45B-9, - H/I (formerly X)
AGM-45A-9A, - H/I (formerly X)
AGM-45B-9A, - H/I (formerly X)
AGM-45A-10, - E/F & G/H (formerly S/C)
AGM-45B-10, - E/F & G/H (formerly S/C)

NOTE:
1) The AGM-45A-2 and AGM-45B-2 are the only versions not to have the angle-gating capability. 
2) The AGM-45A-3A and AGM-45B-3A are narrow band versions.
3) The AGM-45A-7 and AGM-45B-7, were the first variants to introduce a cockpit selectable EAS bypass function.
4) The AGM-45A-9A and AGM-45B-9A are G-bias versions.