AWG-9 was ahead of its time. only held back by older electronics, which was resolved with AN/APG-71, which is incredibly good
Not at supersonic and subsonic speeds iirc its the transonic speeds where it had more drag than the AIM-120
1 Like
I mean ground effect is also an issue as you can just hug the earth at any range and boop ARH missile is useless
Only if fired at the same alt though.
Im finding that in aircraft like the Typhoon, which quite happily operate and survive at 20-30k ft. I get kills no matter what height you hide at, because I can just shoot down. Cant wait for the improved radar controls, going to make life so much easier in the coming update for shoot down
holy s*** they are.
Ok its still three decades older than the blue vixen, which was also very ahead of its time.
1 Like
Thats why if I hug the earth and fly in an S pattern and drop a little chaff so even when above me I will still cause ground effect to trigger and kill the missile lol its such a dumb feature
how was blue vixen ahead of its time? it was behind when it entered service
and AN/APG-71 is more fair comparison, that has longer range, is more powerful (as powerful as CAPTOR-M), has good modes.
according to the manual the tomcat can hit farther than vixen it can track fighter sized targets at 80NM and F14 with AWG-9 can track same targets a 120NM but vixen is more precise
so id say there roughly on par NM is nautical miles btw
Blue Vixen = to AN/APG-73 despite the fact Blue Vixen was like half the size.
CAPTOR-M = to early PESA radars. (maybe even early AESA radars)
assuming the vixen is on par f18C it can hit 80NM and AWG-9 can hit at 120NM but vixen is more precise in 80nm than tomcat but tomcat hits farther as its a interceptor not air superiority
Pure range is one metric, and maybe useful for detecting inbound raids at longer ranges. But Blue Vixen had some insane look-down performance. Managing to outperform US AWACS during Operation Deny Flight in Bosnia in 1995.
1 Like
not quite half iirc. but what was the power of blue vixen vs power of 73?
CAPTOR-M is maybe equivalent to Zaslon PESA radar from 1970’s. it isnt touching AESA except for very early ones in the range/peak power metric.
and when did blue vixen enter service?
yes thats why i said its more precise and is less likely to miss but in pure power i metric tomcat has that corner :D
1993, though was in development for much of the 1980s immediately following the Falklands a need for a more advanced radar on the SHars.
(should be noted that both the Typhoon’s CAPTOR-M and the Gripen’s PS-05 were both Blue Vixen descendants)
1 Like
just wish aim54s functioned well enough to hit
Its tiny. so small it fits into the nosecone of the sea harrier and doesn’t lose much from its size. Vixen may have less range to ping an aircraft but its substantially higher resolution, which is the important part for shooting a missile at anything you actually wish to hit.
hows its resolution of accuracy next to captor?
so does every other military radar from after 1970, still doesn’t match CAPTOR in overall utility
captor of course being the direct descendant of the blue vixen
While knowing there’s something stupidly far away in a general direction is useful its not going to get launches on the way to a target as well.
1 Like
Given one of the Blue Vixen’s primary design requirements was to detect, track and engage sea-skimming ASMs. It was definetly precise
3 Likes
AIM 54C needed the extra range to hit as of accuracy simulated with aim54 85% hit rate against manuvering targets
Who would guess a radar built from lessons learned by ripping the argies a new one would make a radar like that?
1 Like