The big leap in capability had been the development of ‘all aspect’ missiles, which could be fired at a crossing target or even a head on target, and that did not need to be pointed directly up an enemy aircraft’s jet-pipe in order to acquire it.īut that has all changed in more recent times, and today the fighter pilot expects to be able to engage a target far outside the narrow confines of his head up display, perhaps using a helmet mounted sight, or helmet mounted cueing system to ‘point’ the seeker head of his missile at a target somewhere off his wingtip – or even behind him. When this was achieved, the pilot would hear a confirmatory tone or ‘growl’ in his headphones, and would launch a missile, reasonably sure that it would then close in on the target and either explode on impact, or when triggered by a proximity fuse. Generally speaking (and excepting the R-73 and its variants), short range missiles required the launch aircraft to point its nose at the target, framing it in the head up display, allowing the missile seeker to acquire the IR source presented by the enemy aircraft in order to lock on. The leading short-range weapons then included the AIM-9 Sidewinder, in its Falklands War-winning AIM-9L form, or in the shape of the later AIM-9M, and the Russian R-73/74 AA-11 ‘Archer’, while older missiles remained in use in some numbers. Weapons development has largely been concentrated on precision air-to-ground weapons, and until relatively recently, and with a few notable exceptions, most of the world’s air-to-air weapons would have been familiar to fighter pilots from 25 years ago!
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