Harpoon/cruise missile self-destruct

[ELR5]

I was playing a tutorial scenario and fired off two harpoons at Fast-Attack boat that had just launched at me. The first harpoon hit the FA and sank it, the second kept on cruising and locked on to a neutral ship and sank that as well. Is there a way to issue commands (like self-destruct, etc.) to a cruise missile (not just Harpoons) after they've been launched? I've been poking through the manual and through the UI but couldn't find anything. It might not even be a capability the real missile had, I don't know.

Thanks in advance.

[michaelm75au]

If you have an active data-link to the missile from some platform, you may be able to redirect the missile. I don't recall if there is the option to self-destruct.

[mikmykWS]

No self destruct buttons. Nkt sure what does in real life.

Mike

[ExNusquam]

ORIGINAL: mikmyk

No self destruct buttons. Nkt sure what does in real life.

Mike

The only references on Harpoon functionality I have off hand are Dangerous Waters and the VRS TacPack/Hornet both model a controllable shutdown/destruct range, programmable before launch by the launching platform. Jane's mentions that the missile will execute a pre-planned search pattern and self destruct if it fails to find a target. I suspect that it's the same functionality modeled in DW, just described differently.

Older missiles should not have this functionality; I would only model it for weapons that are explicitly noted as having it. Here's a map showing a Soviet missile launch plan from 1973 - you can clearly see that all of the planned launch azimuths will avoid friendly forces. (Map sourced from A Tale of Two Fleets, Goldstein and Zhukov, 2004)

[ELR5]

Thanks for the info, I'll check into data links.

[ELR5]

Interesting info, thanks for adding that, I missed it with my original reply.

[Gunner98]

Even modern weapons, GPS guided especially have a safe BIP (Ballistic Impact Point) plotted and programed before firing - once she goes - she's gone...