I mean, I think the potency of the new GNSS missiles in look-down with datalink is still something, albeit situational.
All ARH missiles ingame refuse to turn their doppler filter off and go into IOG + DL instead of SRC in shoot down, but with most ARH missiles datalink is not precise enough and errors build up meaning you can’t really kill someone with datalink alone. The GNSS missiles fix this by removing error build up and instead introducing a flat error of 6 meters. The only reliable way to defeat this is to either notch the launching planes radar or force them to break TWS lock by firing at them and forcing them defensive.
If you’re low enough, you can also either multipath or do a sharp barrel roll to force a TWS ESA trackfile into the ground by breaking target refresh for a split second.
The error build up due to the current IOG drift of all modern ARH missiles is not nearly enough to cause significant problems, the difference with GNSS is very much negligible, all missiles in game can benefit from this IOG+DL trick.
In the clip you’ve shown you don’t seem to be pulling well enough to actually get the IOG off your back.
During testing, it became pretty blatant that regardless of how much you pull, it only matters if you do it sharply enough and at the right moment to break the launching aircraft’s TWS refresh, since the missile relies on it. This doesn’t happen all the time. You cannot defeat the IOG + datalink itself due to how precise it is; you can only defeat the launching radar to stop updating the missile or update it incorrectly.
AIM-120D and AIM-120C5 being guided solely with datalink
I mean, if you pulled up hard enough you would probably just force it back into TRK and then if you keep the maneuver it will just bite the chaff.
In general though I feel like this is just an awfully rare situation in which your enemy would have just dropped the ball completely by not counter launching? This would be a lot more useful if US radars had anything beyond 140 degrees of coverage and you could actually keep the DL while defending.
I agree yeah, it is pretty situational and in no way makes the AIM-120D remotely comparable to actually good missiles like the MICA or R-77-1. This would be a lot stronger on a platform like the AESA Typhoon where you could continue updating TWS even while notching the enemy missile.
Or an SU-30SM2 where you could just maintain an absolutely perfect notch while still freely tracking your target. I wish they just made the seeker harder to chaff, I’d be happy with that as it would make BVR launches actually viable, it would give US planes an actual purpose in the current meta, serving as long range platforms which is what the 120D is supposed to offer anyways.
