The F14, F16, and many other jets feature multi-target tracking. The F15 (upcoming assumingly), F18 (upcoming assumingly) etc etc. Are all capable of tracking multiple targets at time. The F14 can track 24+ targets, and fire 6 AIM-54C missiles at once on 6 different targets. The F16 can DTT and fire independently on two targets at the same time.
Another feature missing from our current AIM-9 and AIM-7s in game is maddog firing. Sidewinders and Sparrows can both be fired without lock. In the case of a sidewinder it will seek out a target in front of it, and lock on or run out of fuel and detonate. In the case of Sparrows the same would happen. You can dumb fire them, then lock target in flight.
They need to add Multi Target Acquisition and Firing to its correct systems and they need to fix the Fox 1 and Fox2s to Maddog.
The F-14 already has TWS, the tracking function is sort-of wrong but there’s arguably not a convenient way to correctly implement it(it should track the centroid of multiple targets with various overrides). The F-16’s modes allow for tracking of 2(or 1, actually, in SAM) targets outside the scan volume, the radar will take up some scan time to do this. Which could be implemented, with some work.
Sparrows AFAIK cannot be fired without lock and in terms of how they work wouldn’t be able to acquire. The AIM-7P’s datalink might change things. The Sparrow’s speedgate needs to be set onto the target for it to acquire, so without lock there’s no correct way to set it, and it needs to be kept on the target, which requires the radar to continually track it in STT. Now theoretically a datalink AIM-7P could be set up so that the missile is normally guided via command, and close to the target the radar switches to illuminating it. This is how R-33 worked, and it’s how AEGIS works. I doubt this was done for even one-target engagement, much less two, remember these are mechanically scanned radars.
For sidewinders and phoenixes, there’s no reason a pilot couldn’t fire them off without tone/lock since both could lock on after launch. AIM-54 even had a dedicated dogfight mode where the seeker would be active right off the rail.
Aim-7s do as well, and shouldn’t detonate just because you don’t have solid “lock” for 3 seconds. They can continue to read the radar reflectivity off the targets with no lock. This is why you can DTT and Multi-Target in the first place. The radar dish cannot focus on all 6 targets, yet you can fire 6 simultaneous sparrows at once from an F14 on 6 different targets.
Older aircraft (F-4) have a thing called the Aspect knob which works with BST mode to allow Narrow Speedgate launches even without a lock-on, by simulating a specific closure rate.
That doesn’t stop them from launching with the speedgate set to Wide , which bypasses the Doppler Filter entirely and homes on the strongest return. Which is mostly there for EECM / Jamming resistance. It would only degrade performance in a Look Down situation, due to the appearance of Clutter and the subsequent AGC action causing fishtailing and otherwise inefficient control surface inputs .
I’ve looked at this before since this has been brought up in the past.
The TDDs are referring to proximity fuses, not an IR/SARH seeker. (Hence the following line “A TDD and an S-A constitute a fuze.”
Now as to the all aspect IR capability, not much is known. However the manual does clearly state how to use it, and that it does function in all-aspect to a degree. (Probably like the British Red Top)
All following Naval Sidewinders probably also have this capability then, but again I have no evidence of this.
