While it is somewhat well known that rockets can function as DIY flares, there is another aspect of their decoying capability I find intriguing. Rockets as radar decoys.
So, with the current meta, aircraft with larger missile loads have distinct advantages. Firstly, in math presence, with the amount of pressure say, 10x ARHs can apply. But also, they have annadvantage in AAM interception, with their fire poeer being exoebdable enough they can brute force interceptions, qhile lesser armed adversaries cant intercept them all.
So, with this idea in mind, I thought of an idea; using rockets as radar decoys. After all, if missiles being fired at missiles is a norm, why not have them waste some on nothing. It will help even out the amount of missiles if nothing else.
Now, while this is all nice and good, there are some, difficulties, that make it not as practical as it may seem. Firstly, rockets dont actually have that long a lifespan. Most small caliber rockets only have 9-14km of hard coded range before they self destruct., so they must be fired regularly. Secondly, most planes still actually need to sacrifice actual missiles to carry rockets. And thirdly, missile interception isnt as prevelant of a tactic as people think.
Now, this may feel odd, basically every match has chats filled with interceptions. But the thing is, from looking at it, and what planes fall for it. Its actually not as commonly intentional as people seem to think. The vast majority of interceptions / decoys ive noticed with this, is agaibst things like pheonixs, or from aircraft with otherwise lacking advanced NCTR.
Soo… all of this to say, has anyone else tried this to any extent? I only have mild effects at best with it, so im wondering if anyone else has any advice or experience with trying this. Or any recommendations on how this tactic could be improved.