I’d like to start a detailed discussion about the kinematics and overall behavior of modern active radar homing (ARH) air-to-air missiles. There are currently quite significant differences in their performance, especially at high altitudes and long ranges.
The main missiles I’m referring to are:
• The R-77 family (all variants currently in the game)
• Various versions of the AIM-120 (particularly B, C, and D)
• The PL-12
• And other similar next-generation ARH missiles
Key issues I’ve observed:
• The R-77 loses energy much faster at high altitudes (8–12 km and above) compared to the AIM-120. Launches from 35–40 km often result in the missile arriving at the target with very low speed and limited maneuvering capability.
• The R-77 has noticeably weakened seeker resistance to countermeasures. When the missile has already bled off a lot of energy on the terminal phase, it can easily break lock even on relatively weak chaff.
• Lattice (grid) fins generate excessively high drag, which significantly hurts the missile’s kinematics.
• Missile AI frequently performs unnecessarily sharp and suboptimal maneuvers even when smoother pursuit would be more efficient. As a result, on the final approach the missile often lacks the energy to make the necessary correction and simply falls short or misses.
Additionally, it would be great to see further development of the R-77 family in the game.
Currently there are relatively few variants. It would be interesting to add more modifications, including an R-77 with a ramjet engine, which in reality provides significantly better energy retention at long ranges.
I would also like to see a rework of the R-77-1: right now after launch it delivers one powerful impulse, but according to available data the engine should work differently — strong initial acceleration followed by reduced thrust to maintain high speed on the cruise phase. This noticeably affects the missile’s kinematics and energy management.
The main goal is to bring the modeling of kinematics, fin drag, seeker behavior, engine performance, and AI logic closer to real-world physics and open-source information.
I’d appreciate test results, track recordings from identical conditions, and opinions from the community.