ASRAAM → Foucs on range/maximum F-Pole distance
IRIS-T → Maximum agility with the ability to use the missile as a hardkill system against incoming munitions
In that regard the IRIS-T has a special booster burn sequence, missile body design and thrust-vectoring to even be able to hit targets behind the plane, while the ASRAAM is engineered for minimal drag and maximum speed at the cost of maneuverability to hit targets far away. There is an ASRAAM version (P3I-ASRAAM) with thrust-vectoring but no idea if it’s manufactured currently as it was designed as a contender for the AIM-9X program which it didn’t win.
You could say the ASRAAM is like a R-24T while the IRIS-T is like a R-73 ingame for a rough comparison but don’t hold me to that ^^
ASRAAM will be very good for jumping MAW-less jets at incredibly long distances. Plus include the fact that most jets only get an IR MAW which can’t be trusted as much, whereas eurofighters will handle long range IR shots with relative ease.
Basically, we would have an objective advantage at range.
Meh, sorry. I misread the source ^^
It was stated for the up to 25 km air defense theater and yes it has 12 km range ground launched.
Interestingly, the ground launched ASRAAM is stated to have 15 km range when ground launched according to this website. So only 25% more range. (New Raven SAM for british ground here? xD)
I believe the difference in claims from the mk0 and mk2 from the mk1 comes down to the manufacturers interpretations. It appears that the ecrs past 180 degrees rapidly loses power, and so hendsolt chose to undersell its performance, while the other firms showcase the max range. It also doesnt make sense that the ECRS system would lose 10 degrees even with more focus, as the gimble is the same and so is the aesa area.
ASRAAM is also qualified for off the shoulder firing. Its flight enveloppe is simply larger in both min and max range all around the aircraft. I personally think that the ASRAAM is going to perform quite significantly better than the IRIS-T in game due to the fact that its NEZ is significantly larger than the IRIS-T’s one (seeker being identical as of IIRC modelling for now)
Does that really matter with the current furball meta? The game currently favors very-short, short and medium distance combat while the focus is at very-short to short range engagements. In a chase or frontal engagement the ASRAAM will be dangerous (depending on the seeker range which could be hilariously bad judging from the current A2A missile seeker ranges), no question. In an off-boresight engagement it will not be as good and I would assume the IRIS-T has more than enough range for most engagements. I fear that the ASRAAM will not be able to play out its range advantage because of ingame seeker limitations…
I feel like most people are underestimating the asraam… that things aoa launch limits are only slightly worse than that of the r-73 (45 vs 50 aoa)… And it will likely pull just as hard or harder as a magic 2 which we all know is insane for close off bore shots even without tvc.
I don’t really think people are underestimating it, it’s just a tad more reliant on how Gaijin implements the seeker. If it’s good the longer range shots will be nasty and the close range performance will be great. But in the furball meta the IRIS Ts maneuverability will always be great even if gaijin screws up the seeker
