need track replay Why do my Mavericks keep missing?

[Madman1]

The AGM-65H is supposed to be a fire-and-forget missile, not a beam-rider right? Then why is it that often times when I launch and then turn away the thing misses the target? I get lock with the TGP, slew to Mav page, make sure the Mav has lock, fire, bank-turn away, the missile missed by a mile. I don't get it. Isn't this thing supposed to home in by itself?

Edited Sunday at 02:12 AM by Madman1
typo

[Czar66]

Correct. It is a fire and forget weapon. The H is a "digital TV" guided CCD.

This is a classic case for uploading a track for people to see what's going on.

[razo+r]

2 hours ago, Madman1 said:

The AGM-65H is supposed to be a fire-and-forget missile, not a beam-rider right? Then why is it that often times when I launch and then turn away the thing misses the target? I get lock with the TGP, slew to Mav page, make sure the Mav has lock, fire, bank-turn away, the missile missed my a mile. I don't get it. Isn't this thing supposed to home in by itself?

The Maverick isn't really maneuverable either, so make sure you fire at an acceptable distance within reasonable limits. 

And like Czar said, you should upload a short track for us to see what's happening.

[BIGNEWY]

Hi, 

please attach a track replay

[Madman1]

I figured it out myself. I was launching from about 6000 and then the Mavs were arcing up into clouds. Once in they clouds they would then loose lock when the lost sight of their targets. I was simply launching them from too high of an altitude, too close to clouds. Now I launch from about 3000-4000 and the Mavs don't miss anymore.

[Yurgon]

7 hours ago, Madman1 said:

I figured it out myself.

That's somewhat doubtful.

7 hours ago, Madman1 said:

I was launching from about 6000

Feet above Mean Sea Level? Feet Above Ground? Feet slant range? Yards slant range?

7 hours ago, Madman1 said:

and then the Mavs were arcing up into clouds.

As far as I can tell, Mavericks fly a mostly direct trajectory, and in the A-10C we have no way to force a high or low trajectory (unlike, say, Hellfires launched from an Apache or Kiowa Warrior).

7 hours ago, Madman1 said:

Once in they clouds they would then loose lock when the lost sight of their targets.

I'm not even sure if an obscured line of sight will lead to loss of target acquisition after a weapon has been launched. If we had a track of your failed attempts, we could try without clouds and confirm or reject your theory with some solid data.

What I can say is that the Maverick seeker on its gimbal can acquire and track targets that the missile can't actually reach (without losing track after launch). As a rule of thumb, there's this imaginary keyhole that pilots should always consider when launching Mavericks - make sure the seeker (pointing cross) is within this imaginary keyhole and the missile should be able to hit its target.

Of course it's possible your missile missed because of going into clouds, but it's more likely you were simply launching outside of the keyhole constraints. With a track, this could be cleared up.

[Ivandrov]

13 hours ago, Madman1 said:

I figured it out myself. I was launching from about 6000 and then the Mavs were arcing up into clouds. Once in they clouds they would then loose lock when the lost sight of their targets. I was simply launching them from too high of an altitude, too close to clouds. Now I launch from about 3000-4000 and the Mavs don't miss anymore.

I regularly launch from above 20,000. I don't think that was your issue.

More likely keyhole constraints as noted above.

Edited 5 hours ago by Ivandrov