3 ms·

Unless it was nighttime or the engagement happened at low altitude on a cloudy day, wouldn’t that usually lock onto the sun?

• bluescrn 7mo ago
  The wobble would only 'scan' a limited field of view, so only if the sun was in that view
  • chroma 7mo ago
    Also wouldn't it only work for aircraft that are flying away from the launcher? IR & light signatures are much weaker from the front. At best I think this guidance system would only be economical for ground-based launchers, as the cost of aircraft and their limited payloads mean you want the most effective weapons onboard, not the cheapest. Annoyingly, I can't find any information online about such a simple guidance system. The earliest homing missile fielded by the Soviets was the K-13[1], which used technology reversed-engineered from the AIM-9 Sidewinder[2]. Later systems seem to be improvements upon that technology, not simplifications. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-13_(missile) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-13_(missile) 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIM-9_Sidewinder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIM-9_Sidewinder
    • Tadpole9181 7mo ago
      > Also wouldn't it only work for aircraft that are flying away from the launcher? Yes, pretty much all early guided missiles of the sort were what's called "rear-aspect". Can't see the plume - can't make a boom.