for now only increased fins AOA
How does that help the Aim-54?
As described it would permit the missile to adjust the magnitude of the commanded control surface deflection in response to the output of the guidance section(or any other derived metric, like range to the target or closing velocity which could be gathered from the datalink or onboard sensors), allowing for energy to be optimized in any number of circumstances.
Basically the force generated by the fins at high altitude is reduced significantly due to the drop in the fluid’s density(and other assorted factors), and so in comparison to a 1:1 deflection modifier could potentially have completed the maneuver faster by defecting the fins to its limits in the direction of the computed point of impact, but this risks becoming unstable due to overcorrecting and causing a resonance to develop wasting significant energy so isn’t suitable for lower altitudes.
At Sea Level, any amount of control surface defection generates a significant restoring force and so may need to be moderated to ensure energy efficient flight.
If the missile knows it needs to only travel a short distance it doesn’t need to loft, and due to the reduced time of flight may need to maneuver more aggressively to successfully complete the desired intercept.
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Has any of you noticed a change in the Sparrow F/M today ? They seem even worse than they usually are.
No changes were made.
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In hindsight, pretty weird that gaijin didn’t bother trying out AIM-54C fixes during the ARH test. Would’ve been a perfect opportunity to give it low smoke, a better seeker, and a better loft and see how it performs…
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Missiles don’t seem to proxy if notched in the first place
I’ve seen this happen on TacView, this isnt realistic is it?
Depends on the type of fuse I suppose, but my guess would be no.
Its gonna be interesting to see what comes with tomorrows update when the official patchnotes drop. I’m guessing the only change to the AIM-54 will still be fin AOA, so the AIM-54A will remain the best one in-game while remaining effectively worse in every way to the R-27ER. I doubt the AIM-54 loft will be adjusted or energy management code added to mitigate the reported energy issues at range now with the AOA change, or even something as simple to add as its reduced smoke motor.
I’m also curious to see if the TCS is getting reworked or if only russian jets are getting the OLS autoswap, since someone on another post mentioned OLS is a term specifically used in Russian jets
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They specifically called out IRST somewhere, that’s what’s happening with the OLS autoswap.
When I tested the F-14 on the Dev server, the TCS felt like it was working with OLS, but it might have been the TGP doing it, as I also had that equipped
Well maybe I have a little hope for that then.
I gotta say, its rather annoying that to this day, it seems we have less available declassified info on the AIM-54C than on the AIM-120’s, particularly about the seeker.
Considering the timeframe for the AMRAAM’s development compared to that of the AIM-54C, its not exactly a longshot to guess the 54C likely has a seeker capable of both HPRF and MPRF.
We know it received an all new digital guidance section (WGU-11/B) and a new control section (WCU-7/B), and we got some sprinkiling of info about what this new guidance section achieves, such as better clutter resistance, better ECCM, better target discrimination, iirc also Stream Raid capability, I’ve seen claims of some type of NCTR capability as well, but any actual details, such as the range or PRF of the 54C’s new guidance section seem to remain classified.
We know the new warhead (WDU-29/B) is directional, and I have a navy source (which I believe I’ve already posted here) which states the increase in “effectivness” over the old Mk82 blast frag warhead is 20-25%, and from thr looks of it, the AIM-54C (ECCM/Sealed) may have gotten a further upgrade to guidance, control, and warhead sections as well, yet still, details on this missile are much harder to come by, and seemingly remain classified despite newer missiles having more available information. Its downright bizarre.
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Very late 54Cs likely received an AMRAAM seeker (A new Phoenix was in development alongside a new F-14 refresh before the Navy chose the F-18)
Nothing past the AIM-54A was ever exported, no reason for any information to be revealed since none has even leaked in the first place. No foreign operators ever used later ones and it probably has something to do with the US not wanting to give Iran any ideas as they still operate the F-14.
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Ive heard the AIM-54C (or maybe it was the ECCM/Sealed version) seaker received the TWT amplifier from the AMRAAM project. I’d be somewhat suprised if it got the AMRAAM seeker outright though, since its much larger and could accomodate a larger seeker. Granted the smaller AMRAAM seeker would be a weight saving without much/any loss of range.
To this day I curse the guy who leaked Canadas involvement in helping US diplomats escape Iran, leading to Iran pulling out of the deal to sell its F-14’s to Canada…
Why not curse Iran instead? We’d probably know more about the plane and its systems and get to enjoy seeing the F-14 in cool export liveries if they hadn’t done a certain thing in the first place.
I dont have a problem with a country deposing a monarch. The unfortunate part though is that it went from a monarchy to a dictatorship, which is in effect no different. That being said, all F-14’s and AIM-54’s were going to be sold to Canada for super cheap, the deal was penned and in the process of signing when someone told Iran that Canada had helped extract US diplomats from the country, killing the deal, and I’ve heard this was done for political reasons by a US politician, though I can’t find the source for that anymore.
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Aka : “We’ve forgotten about this report and have chosen to file it away.”
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How is the new update looking for AIM-54?
Taking feedback at the moment.
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A more aggressive lofting code would definitely improve the missile, in speed. But I’m sure the others that are active here have much more in depth feedback to give.
@MythicPi now’s your chance to put it all out there.
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