F-4 models from the F-4B to the F-4J historically carried the ability to fire sparrows using pre-programmed speedgates to make the missile look for targets that match a specific speed profile from a specific direction that is selected to aid in having a sparrow track in look-down environments.
This was possible even on some of the oldest versions of the F-4, with this being capable on the AN/APQ-72 with the F-4B.
Now what does this do specifically? Going by the texts:
For a more detailed explanation of function check the bottom left and right side of the page:
And here is a visual representation of which option you would pick in regards to enemy direction with an illustration of the aspect knob itself
To fire the missile, the radar must be in BST (boresight) mode, without a radar lock, meaning a new radar mode for the F-4 series of aircraft should be added.
This would affect gameplay by allowing Phantoms to use the already existing CW seekerhead mechanics in sparrows to aid in scoring targets in look-down environments. This would aid the F-4E against PD capable opponents, and this would allow aircraft like the F-4C, known for being usually pretty ineffectual due to a lack of flares become slightly more viable to use due to the fact that it can fire it’s sparrows while looking down. Of course, all these aircraft would be limited by the performance of their missiles. In gameplay. The player would either have a keybind to go between the different aspects or the game could allow a ‘pretend’ RIO to automatically pick the aspect gate in correlation with whoever is closest to your direct boresight and change it accordingly. Though I assume the manual option would be easier to implement.
This wouldn’t be overpowered as the missile could easily veer to a target you don’t intend to strike, we already see this with extremely long range shots with the AIM-7M. At the same time, to my knowledge the most powerful missile a non-PD phantom has is the AIM-7E-2. Similarly, the enemy can counter this by simply just turning away soon enough so that they would be outside of the aspect gate while the missile searches for somebody. This is not considering that this doesn’t magically make the missile an ARH. You still need to paint the area to hit the target.
Since the F-4J also had the ability. The F-4J should get it as well.
- Yes
- No
