[WAD] Sparrow III issue or enemy aircraft "notching"

[KenMech]

First off, I would like to thanks the DEVs on the awesome game and the constant updates. I really love the game and enjoy the C:MO community.

I am playing Black Gold Blitz and I have some F15s [Rifle77] shooting at some F14s. The Sparrow IIIs fire off the rails and head towards the target, they get close then seem to run blind and then self destruct. I did search the forums and saw that this my be the enemy "notching" and causing the missiles to lose lock. I am not sure either way so I have included a saved game to see if this is WAD.

Thanks
KenMech

[Dimitris]

Hello, and thank you for your kind words.

I had a look at your save, and it looks like the missiles are indeed being successfully notched by the evading F-14s. There are a number of possible counters to this. One is to fire from closer range; this will rob them of the necessary time to perform the notch, but it will of course also reduce your standoff. Another approach is to split up your flight and approach and attack them from widely different azimuths, so even if they beam one attack they still fall to the other one.

Hope this helps, and have a happy new year.

[KenMech]

Dimitris,
Thanks for the quick response I will try those remedies.

To All Happy New Year

KenMech

[morphin]

Yes. Shut at about 30nm and shut 2 missiles with a few seconds difference. Also try to shut when the enemy AC is at 36000ft.
So the hit rate should be about 80% (about every 5 time both missiles will miss).Maybe with F-14 the hit rate is even less then the MIG's which i usually shut at...

There was a few discussions in the forum about the Sparrows and if they were really so bad ad shooting at AC

[thewood1]

If you want first/second hand accounts of notching and the spotty effectiveness of AIM-7s, Osprey has a couple of books on Desert Storm air combat:

Duel 72 F-15C EAGLE vs MiG-23/25
Combat Aircraft 53 F-15C EAGLE Units in Combat
Combat Aircraft 47 F-15C/E EAGLE Units Or Operation Iraqi Freedom
And a few others.

The first one has a couple of detailed accounts of F-15 vs Mig-25 encounters where Mig-25s were either notching or attempting to notch F-15 radar or Sparrow shots. It also shows how ineffective radar guided missiles can be against decently flown fighter aircraft. The Mig-25 used maneuvering, chaff, and notching to stay in the fight.