AIM-7 Performance

I flew a good number of missions today trying out the AIM-7M on some unarmed Phantoms doing an orbit over the ocean. It didn't matter if I was high aspect, low aspect, maintained lock throughout the engagement, or what, none of my missiles would hit unless I fired within 2nm. Even at 3-4nm the missile would track fine until about halfway to the target, when it would suddenly veer 90° to the right and miss. This would repeat frequently. My radar held a solid lock all throughout. Is anyone else experiencing horrible Pk with the Sparrow?

I too am getting a hard time locking targets. The speed vector seems way off too.

I am steering away from sparrows right now. I can't be bothered with being killed head on because I can't lock anything within reasonable ranges.

I had 2 good kills with just 2 missiles yesterday, so I think this isn't a general issue. Did you set them to 7F on your stores page after selecting them? Haven't seen anyone do this in videos yet, so it might not be of an actual difference though.

If your target is circling he might be passing through the "DCS Notch" - Doppler Notch but worse.

Sparrows really don't like that.

Relative to me he was not notching. Radar lock was maintained throught, and I never dropped lock at any point during the Spartow’s flight. At around 10+nm the Phantoms will outrun the missile every time. I very rarely have trouble achieving or maintaining radar lock. Within 6nm they will do a maneuver that somehow makes the missile go kinetically stupid. If I can tonight, I will make some track files.

I am now getting many situations where both the speed vector on the hud and on the radar scope are pointing in the wrong way or even going nuts all over the place. I say it's broken.

I flew a good number of missions today trying out the AIM-7M on some unarmed Phantoms doing an orbit over the ocean. It didn't matter if I was high aspect, low aspect, maintained lock throughout the engagement, or what, none of my missiles would hit unless I fired within 2nm. Even at 3-4nm the missile would track fine until about halfway to the target, when it would suddenly veer 90° to the right and miss. This would repeat frequently. My radar held a solid lock all throughout. Is anyone else experiencing horrible Pk with the Sparrow?

Was the target dispensing chaff?

Happy reading: https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=210940

What altitude are you experiencing this maximum range of only 6-7 nm? The missiles only achieve maximum ranges at high altitude and high mach for both launching platform and target.

AIM 120 are really unrealisticly short ranged in DCS aswell. Hopefully this also gets changed when it arrives for the F18

Short version if you're not near your flight ceiling with the throttle fire walled, shooting at a target that is closing at you: Don't expect anything close to a 38 nm max range. Yes the missile will probably travel 38 nm if fired in the perfect setup, but how often does that happen?

There are three important ranges (excuse me for not using the textbook names and definitions for them, but the idea is the same):

1. Max flight range marked from the geographical point of launch to the point the missile can no longer fly under control and/or hits the ground.

2. Max launch range which is the distance between the missile and the target at the time of launch. In a head-on attack, the max launch range can be much farther than the max flight range, but it can also be lower than the max flight range due to limits the guidance system's maximum range.

3. Effective range is the distance where the missile will have sufficient energy to reach the target, which can be cut very short if the target is both fast and maneuverable while making evasive maneuvers. No-escape range would be a subset assuming that the target has reached a range where its maneuvers cannot escape the missile's envelope.

The altitude and aspect of the target vs the altitude and aspect/attitude of the launching aircraft causes great variation in all of those ranges. Some missiles can also be fired in a "loft"mode that maximizes range against distant, non-maneuvering targets.

I have seen ranges quoted for late AIM-7 variants as high as 62 nm, but without qualification on altitudes/aspects etc. I would assume this is at high altitude fired from an aircraft at high speed against a fast target also at high altitude using a loft profile. Historically, most shots have been fired under 10 nm, usually under 7-8 nm due to the geometry of the fight and/or identification/engagement restrictions. I don't believe I have ever read about a historical shot outside of 12-13 nm. So beware sales brochure data ;)