vikhr missile launch zone

[Sena]

I just had the idea to move sideways while keeping the nose on target using "auto turn to target" and the shkval. Now tis worked quite well, and I tried to get a vikhr shot off, but while doing that I noticed that the vikhr launch reticle was all the way to the left of my nose (I was moving sideways to the left).

So, the solution was to turn the nose of my helicopter to the right, something like 10 degrees past the target.

 

In short, because I was moving to the left, I had to point my nose to the right of the target.

 

Now this is odd to me, as I thought those vikhr tubes look in the same direction as the nose of your helicopter and considering the launch velocity of the missile, the sideways velocity of the helicopter should be negligable with respect to the missile flight path.

 

Is this a bug or am I missing something here?

[slug88]

considering the launch velocity of the missile, the sideways velocity of the helicopter should be negligable with respect to the missile flight path.

 

This is a mistaken assumption. Remember that in the very first moments of flight, it is critical that the missile is directly in front of the helicopter, so that the seeker on the missile's rear can pick up the guidance laser being emitted from the Ka-50. Therefore, even a few meters of lateral drift early on will cause the missile to lose guidance and go ballistic. Hence, the aim point is adjusted to give the missile the lateral boost that it needs in order to stay directly in front of the helicopter on its way to the target. All this, of course, is just how I understand it, and I might be completely wrong about it :).