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Introduction |
The 1960s mark the start of the use or air-to-air missiles
and while history showed that their performances were disapointing (a gross understatement) they became the
standard air-to-air weapon. In the context of this game, performances and relialability will be higher than
they were in that time and two essential parameters are not consistent with the reality of the mid-sixties :
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Target acquisition |
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In these early days some missiles were declined in two different versions :
tipped with an infrared (IR) detector or with a radar receiver. In the
latter case, the radar guided missiles were beam riders (BR) with only the Sparrow
having a proximity active radar (AR) capacity |
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Several missiles only existed in one version (i.e. either
radar or infra-red) - this specificity is respected but :
some missiles may have an active homing (AR) rather than a beam reading (BR) seaker, making them
fantasy fire&forget (F&F) weapons
infrared guided missiles do not have a head-on capacity,
restricting them to real world "tail shooting" only
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Standard weapon |
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In the game, the American AIM-9 Sidewinder and the Soviet AA-2
Atoll are "standard" weapons available to most if not all types of aircrafts in IR mode and to specific aircrafts in BR mode.
While making the IR version an almost universal missile is departure from the reality, in practice wiring up an aircraft
to carry such missiles relying on the missile's seeker for detection and acquisition of targets rests within reasonable
feasibility, at least as far as the AIM-9B and AA-2B are concerned |
Air-to-Air Missiles Accuracy - Background Data and
Suggested Implication in AAC |
In
the time past, the probability of missile destroying its intended target was low. "Very low" would be a
more appropriate assessement. The table below, based on figures usually published, is a reminder of
this. Considering that pilots would often ripple fire more than one missile at a time to increase the kill
probability, the results may have to be corrected accordingly. As outlined in the table, the "kill
probability" or accuracy level in AAC might vary according different factors. At this stage, these are
suggested data to be refined.
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Missiles
Fired |
Targets
Destroyed |
Kill Ratio
(USAF) |
Kill Ratio
Player |
Kill Ratio
Wingmen |
Kill Ratio
Opposition |
Kill Ratio
Player |
Kill Ratio
Wingmen |
Kill Ratio
Opposition |
Level |
- |
- |
- |
Arcade |
Arcade |
Arcade |
Sim 1 |
Sim 2 |
Sim 3 |
Sim 1 |
Sim 2 |
Sim 3 |
Sim 1 |
Sim 2 |
Sim 3 |
AIM-4 Falcon |
51 |
7 |
9.80% |
75% |
65% |
10% |
55% |
35% |
15% |
55% |
35% |
15% |
10% |
10% |
10% |
AIM-9 Sidewinder ('65-'68) |
175 |
28 |
16.00% |
75% |
65% |
16% |
60% |
40% |
20% |
60% |
40% |
20% |
15% |
15% |
15% |
AIM-7 Sparrow |
612 |
56 |
9.15% |
75% |
65% |
10% |
55% |
35% |
15% |
55% |
35% |
15% |
10% |
10% |
10% |
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