The AIM-7P was an upgrade to the American Sparrow missile. Built in 1987, it featured many of the same components as the AIM-7M. But it had one major (Game relevant) difference, a datalink! This would allow the sparrow to act similarly to the R27ER in-game, being able to reacquire targets instead of self-destructing a few seconds after losing them.
This would make top-tier US Aircraft more competitive at BVR, (Allegedly NATO’s strong suit) by fixing the loss of tracking and downright goofy behavior the AIM-7F/M often suffer from, along with increasing their usable range substantially. In the interim between now and the BVRAAM update, giving US top-tier craft a competent long-ranged missile should help give some amount of competition to the R-27ER
Questions, Comments, Documents? Ask and tell below!
7R got cancelled, and US doesn’t need an advantage over the ER, just a buff, as they carry 6x AIM-7s on F-14 or 2x on the ADF but that thing sucks so whatever. 7P would give US an actually competent missile at range unlike the current suicidal sparrows or anemic phoenix. Especially since you would be able to reselect a target after launch, which the phoenixes cannot do.
If we’re going to be that picky with ordnance, we’re going to have a chat about the mere existance of the Yak-141 in game, which had no radar nor verified ordnance during its test flights, but hey, Gaijin had no problems on giving the plane some theoretical assets.
AIM-7F and M can be shot in loft, but they don’t have any different guidance behavior. It’s no different from just pitching up ingame. AIM-7MH has specific loft guidance so it will maintain the loft after launch.
