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Subject: 2009 displays of the F-22 and the Rafale
Bluewings12    6/24/2009 5:03:48 PM
Let 's watch them first :-)

The F-22
h*tp://www.air-attack.com/videos/single/cAhL7lJCk4I

The Rafale :
h*tp://www.dailymotion.com/user/ministeredeladefense/video/x9ma8h_demonstration-du-rafale_news

Both aircrafts are pulling nice stuff . Rafale only does it twice faster . Explaination and details to follow .

Cheers .
 
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Reactive       7/8/2009 9:28:33 PM

Get lost Reactive .

 

Cheers .
 

"200+ american citites destroyed by a China "unafraid of nuclear war".
 
Comparing an AFB demonstration with an air show, you ignorant pigshit idiot.
 
If you take yourself seriously then you are seriously the only person on this unfortunate planet who does.
 
 
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usajoe1       7/8/2009 9:33:52 PM
Get lost Reactive .
 
No, how about you get lost troll!!!
 
Quote    Reply

DarthAmerica    @BW   7/8/2009 9:35:59 PM
BW,

I'm done discussing the Rafale with you. It's truly a waste of my time if all you are going to do is assert obviously incorrect data as fact and continuously repeat and repeat over and over the same incorrect data no matter how many times you are corrected. I assure you there are more strictly moderated forums where this is most definitely considered a violation of the trolling policies and they would ban you as a repeat offender. 

It's not trolling that you like the Rafale or think it's the greatest plane in the world. it is trolling when you make things up you don't know and ignore published facts in order to provoke controversy. This will most likely be my final reply to you in this thread BW unless you make an effort to police your own post for accuracy. COntrary to your assertion about DACT, here is DACT elaborated on by people who know. I lifted this from another forum but it was posted by a frequent SP contributor...

Dissimilar Air Combat Training (DACT)

I've had permission from the original "author" of this post on DACT to reproduce it here.It's an interesting thread and seeks to demystify and correct some of the assumptions made about aggressor/dissimilar air combat training. It was initially posted to bring some "lightness and reason" about the Cope India 04 exercise between the USAF and IAF. I've chopped in a few other pertinent comments from elsewhere to round it off.

The guy who penned this has had long term exposure to air combat and dissimilar air combat training, so he is an expert in his field.


There are some serious misconceptions out there about how air combat training is conducted so Iâ??ve decided to write a post about how it really happens. Everybody seems to want to cite a particular exercise as proof of their point, when in reality, they have no contextual reference for these results they are referencing. Realize that I am writing from a USAF/USN/USMC/NATO perspective. If anyone else can provide some information about how itâ??s done elsewhere, please chime in.

Air-to-air combat is an extremely complex and dynamic undertaking. The combination of speed and the ability to maneuver in three dimensions creates an environment that is constantly changing and rarely allows any of the participants to see and understand the entire picture at once. In order to be successful in this environment, participants must be highly skilled, (reasonably) intelligent individuals who fight in these types of battles regularly. 

Fighter pilots from countries all over the world are expected to use hardware purchased with national treasure to defend their homeland against attackers or attack others as directed by their leaders. In order to effectively accomplish those missions, pilots must regularly train for air combat. Air combat skills are perishable and even the best pilots are not as keen as they might be if they havenâ??t flown in a while â?? especially when flying in large force exercises where one decision may be the difference between success and failure.

Definitions: Air Combat Training (ACT) is a term used to describe a battle between similar aircraft. If 2 F-16s are fighting against 2 other F-16s, this would be an ACT war, whereas 2 F-15s fighting 2 F-16s would be termed Dissimilar Air Combat Training (DACT). 

When planning a DACT exercise, planners typically will build an Offensive Counterair (OCA) strike package and Defensive Counterair (DCA) package with appropriate aircraft - this was displayed in the Cope India exercise when a strike package consisting of SU-30s, Mirages, and Jaguars attacked a target defended by F-15s. Besides designating types of aircraft and missions, planners will also draw up objectives for the exercise. These objectives can be very specific or quite broad depending on the situation.

A broad objective may be stated as â??building trust between countriesâ? or â??familiarize pilots with other air forces.â? More specific objectives may be â??effectively integrate air forces for lane defense.â? In order to accomplish these objectives, rules of engagement (ROE) will also be set.

ROE consist of weapons load, identification criteria, maneuvering limitations, tactics restrictions, and just about anything else you can think of. ROE can be pretty liberal or very restrictive, depending on the objectives, experience level of the pilots, or number and type of aircraft involved. If the objective is to â??build trustâ? between nations, you can bet your ass that the rules are going to be damn restrictive to try to ensure there will be no accidents/dangerous or stupid stunts that would embarrass one side or the other or result in needless loss of life. This is why briefings are conducted, and â??pickup gamesâ? are not allowed. (This is also the reason why this article about the Typhoons getting bounced by F-15Es is absolute bollocks.) Regardless of the particular ROE established, somebody needs to be the bad guy. 

In most exercises there will be a threat aircraft and weapons designated as the training aid for the other side. In U.S. exercises such as Red Flag, this will be something like a MiG-29 with aa-10s and aa-11s, and will be referred to as â??opforâ? or â??red air.â? Red air will usually consist of F-15s or F-16s (or whatever they can get) and will do their best to simulate that threat by limiting their radar modes, lock ranges, tactics, etc. â??Blue airâ? will fly with their normal weapons loadout and will normally not have any restrictions other than operating their systems in a training/peacetime mode. There may be other restrictions imposed based on the objectives. Typically, the threat capabilities will start out low â?? short range missiles and very benign tactics, then increase as the exercise continues, as long as the blue air players are learning something and they are ready to progress to the next level. If the blue air fighters are getting their butts handed to them, the threat level will remain low, but if they are doing well, the threat capability will increase so the training is useful. 

Notice that the red air players are training aids. They are supposed to follow the rules and die like men when blue air is executing well. If, however, the blue air screws something up and they have an opportunity to kick some tail, they are expected to do so. Violating the ROE by using a capability that is restricted, shooting beyond a specified range, or not adhering to an established ID criteria is considered a training rule violation and is dealt with severely. Several pilots have been sent home from exercises and have even been reassigned because they didnâ??t like to follow the rules. 

By now it should becoming clear why one side or the other in these exercises often has a larger kill:loss ratio than the other. Red air is supposed to die â?? even if there are more capable aircraft on the red side. This is how many of the â??surprisingâ? results occur in large exercises â?? the threat level is tailored to the training needs of the blue air so they can learn from their mistakes in the debrief.

When conducting the debrief, kills must be assessed in order to find out what really happened. In order to do this, pilots must review the recording of the mission so they can evaluate their targeting and weapons employment. Red and blue air will get together, exchange data, and together decide who shot who and when. This is often an inexact science, however, with ACMI monitoring and extensive recording equipment in the aircraft, it is getting better. With results in hand, the blue fighters can then determine what they did wrong, and how to do better next time. This training is very effective for the blue air, but it usually sucks for red. What about exercises with real â??threatâ? aircraft like MiG-29s, MiG-25s, etc? This is obviously the best training there can be, however, there is a problem. 

When participating in an international exercise, both sides are probably going to hold some information back. This is not a â??you show me yours, Iâ??ll show you mineâ? game. In many cases, the shot data/weapons performance is classified, and not releasable to those on the other side. This is exactly the case in Cope India 04. 

How do you debrief an engagement when neither side wants to say what really happened? Nobody is going to walk into the debrief and say â??I shot that guy at this time and this range with this missile,â? because they are basically giving away their capabilities. There are a couple of ways to deal with this, one of which is to not relay any of the shot information, but to merely say â??that guy is dead at this time.â? In that situation, no information (other than the f-pole) is released to the other side. However, astute people on the other side can extrapolate the data and figure out approximately when the shot was fired and can have a pretty good idea as to the performance of the missile. The other thing you can do is to establish a theoretical missile, with a nominal range to be used by both sides. This levels the playing field and rewards the side which executes better, rather than the side with the longer range missiles.

Detailed assessments that would normally take place to validate shots can't/won't happen in an exercise like this, therefore the overall results are not really accurate. However, as you say, they most certainly will debrief to get some results regardless of the potential inaccuracies. How valid the results are depends on how the exercise was planned.

As you can see, the results of these exercises (especially those released to the public) are quite likely not accurate. And, for one side or the other to claim victory in one of these exercises is either dishonest or just plain ignorance. Normally, the results are released as a series of politically correct statements such as those weâ??ve seen by the authorities after Cope India. Both sides are happy, they learned a lot, and canâ??t wait to do it again. 

It should be noted that these types of exercises are planned many months in advance. A key part of the training syllabus is to agree on the types of scenarios to be performed during initial planning. 

Most of the learning experience occurs on the ground, not in the air. The evolution from Air Tasking Order to Mission Planning/C3I/Asset Coordination to Aircraft Generation is where air battles are won or lost. The mechanics of flying airplanes and shooting off ordnance is icing on the cake. 

Iâ??m certainly not trying to stifle the spirited debate that goes on here. Itâ??s fun reading the arguments for and against various aircraft, however, be careful when youâ??re quoting the results of some exercise when making your point!

I'm only saying that without details, all of this, "my airplane kicked your airplane's butt" is entertaining, but silly. One valuable part of the exercise is simply watching how the other side operates, what kind of tactics they use (they may have been "modified" along with the weapons), how they talk on the radio, etc. Obviously, the technology represented by the Su-30s is of great interest to the USAF also.


Sad part is you probably will disregard this and pretend it means something else to support your failed arguments. Maybe it will help people who have been confused though and really want to understand.

 
Regards
-DA  
 
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Bluewings12       7/8/2009 9:40:21 PM
Reactive :
 """200+ american citites destroyed by a China "unafraid of nuclear war".""
 
I said 100+ , not 200+ . Can 't you read ?
But nevermind that , you just can 't argue on the Rafale against me so you change subject ...
 
usajoe :
""No, how about you get lost troll!!!""
 
Sorry , I can 't get lost 'cause I 'm not a troll .
Care to discuss facts in an adult manner joe ? Just once , for your sake .
 
Cheers .
 
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usajoe1    DA   7/8/2009 9:41:56 PM

Don't bother with this Troll, dozens of posters have proved him wrong with facts and he still comes back with more bs. I think he does it just to piss people off. This is the reason I stoped arguing with him on any thing that has to do with that magic bird of his.

 
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Reactive       7/8/2009 9:49:46 PM

Reactive :


 """200+ american citites destroyed by a China "unafraid of nuclear war".""

 

I said 100+ , not 200+ . Can 't you read ?

But nevermind that , you just can 't argue on the Rafale against me so you change subject ...


 

usajoe :



""No, how about you get lost troll!!!""

 

Sorry , I can 't get lost 'cause I 'm not a troll .


Care to discuss facts in an adult manner joe ? Just once , for your sake .


 

Cheers .





Sorry, you were only out by 60-80+ cities (assuming 100% launch success).

It's amazing you get time to think about this whilst dealing with the other complexities of your occupation ; )
 
 
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Bluewings12       7/8/2009 9:53:10 PM
DA for God sake , I know the article you posted (we all know about it) and it is totally irrelevant to the discussion !
We are not talking about DACT but about dogfight capabilities in between 2 different aircraft , please stop to divert from topic because you loose ground , it is not fair ;-)
 
""I'm done discussing the Rafale with you. It's truly a waste of my time if all you are going to do is assert obviously incorrect data as fact and continuously repeat and repeat over and over the same incorrect data no matter how many times you are corrected""
 
Incorrect datas ??? Me being corrected ??? You are mistaking DA , I am THE ONE who still waiting to see someone providing hard datas against mine DA !
All you do is to talk about me being wrong but you do NOT bring anything meaningfull to prove me wrong . The ball is still in your camp as we say in France .
Pfff , this is getting ridiculous ...
 
Cheers .

 
Quote    Reply

DarthAmerica    @usajoe   7/8/2009 10:41:32 PM

Don't bother with this Troll, dozens of posters have proved him wrong with facts and he still comes back with more bs. I think he does it just to piss people off. This is the reason I stoped arguing with him on any thing that has to do with that magic bird of his.


You are right of course. But what else to expect in a thread that used airshow entertainment as an assessment of absolute combat performance. UTTER WASTE OF TIME.

-DA 
 
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Rufus       7/9/2009 1:47:46 AM
"I assure you there are more strictly moderated forums where this is most definitely considered a violation of the trolling policies and they would ban you as a repeat offender. "
 
Even on lightly moderated boards he would generally have been banned long ago.
 
Someone who continually posts nothing but lies and fantasies over and over and over again is a troll.
 
It is obvious that he is utterly clueless, but it is also obvious that even he knows better than to keep repeating much of the stupid stuff that he does.  You don't have to be an expert, or even a knowledgeable amateur, to know that most of what he says is nothing but obvious lies.
 

 
Quote    Reply

DarthAmerica       7/9/2009 1:57:14 AM

"I assure you there are more strictly moderated forums where this is most definitely considered a violation of the trolling policies and they would ban you as a repeat offender. "

Even on lightly moderated boards he would generally have been banned long ago.

Someone who continually posts nothing but lies and fantasies over and over and over again is a troll.

It is obvious that he is utterly clueless, but it is also obvious that even he knows better than to keep repeating much of the stupid stuff that he does.  You don't have to be an expert, or even a knowledgeable amateur, to know that most of what he says is nothing but obvious lies.

 

He does it for the attention and just to be annoying.
-DA


 
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Blue Apple       7/9/2009 4:00:11 AM
But surely a demonstration of having adequate off-boresight capability?
 
By that standard even AMRAAM should have a decent OBS capability too. OBS usually refers to that snap shot at an opponent close to you on the side, shots where a small turn radius is needed (hence the need for TVC).
 
I got the impression that you meant it didn't perform well, apologies if you didn't mean that.
 
No apologies needed, I was indeed a bit provocative. I'm sure that ASRAAM will work well for the two airforces that selected it using ad hoc tactics. But my preference go to either MICA (if you can afford it) or AIM-9X (don't know much about Pyhon 5 except that it looks like a twin of the Magic).
 
Surely they would be more likely to develop an AA version of CAMM, rather than retrofitting?
 
The CAMM loooks a lot like the proposed ASRAAM P3I upgrade. From a qualification perspective, I think it would be better to keep the ASRAAM frame, otherwise they'll have to redo all tests: interface, vibration, separation all through the flight enveloppe... At several £100k a missile + the flight hours it quickly gets very expensive.
 
Thought that if you knew about beamriders you wouldn't make that specific statement

Beamriders & CLOS are not very relevant for AAM or even last generation SAM (except for the short range stuff)
 
Here is my guess as to what he may have meant, please let me know if I am completely wrong,
 
The problem is that the guidance problem is much more simple than you think. A missile doesn't need to know how close it is to its target or track its target trajectory. There is no history knowledge in the problem.
 
The end game is just a plain closed-loop system with the missile constantly adjusting its trajectory to keep it on an intersection course with its target. To do that, the most commonly used method is to keep a constant bearing with the target. As anyone who has been on a boat (or just in a car at a crossing with good visibility), if you do that you'll end up cutting your target path. If the target doesn't change its course, the missile will fly a nice straight path (energy spent is minimal).
 
There is no complex trajectory computation, it's a "simple" regulation problem with a command (constant bearing), a way to measure deviation vs that command (the seeker) and a way to act on this deviation (missile control surface). Of course building the hardware to pilot this system is not so simple today, not to mention 50 years ago.
 
The model (and the missile navigation system) become more complex if you try to compensate for second order terms in your regulation. The system is optimal for constant speed but not if acceleration happens on either side. You can compensate for the missile acceleration (actually, deceleration in this case) if you know its drag caracteristics. You can compensate for the target acceleration only if you have a RF seeker and are confident it's not being spoofed (if you are, you'll end up overcompensating and basically waste more energay that a plain proportional navigation).
 
In theory, compensation for the second-order terms mean that you only need to pull twice your target G before the impact vs thrice with vanilla pronav.
 
I was considering this myself for a while and concluded that it was a good excuse to watch my local pair of wild peregrines, if I find out conclusively and record it I will let you know.
 
I would be very interested. The few articles that include pelegrine falcon trajectory plots during the stoop show straight lines which would contradict a simple velocity chase (trajectory would be parabolic in that case). But unless there is a movie (with a good reference background), an accurate radar plot or even better a GPS tracking device on the bird, I can't tell if they indeed fly a straight path when plunging or if the schematics are academic oversimplification.
 
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Herald12345       7/9/2009 5:03:51 AM

But surely a demonstration of having adequate off-boresight capability?

By that standard even AMRAAM should have a decent OBS capability too. OBS usually refers to that snap shot at an opponent close to you on the side, shots where a small turn radius is needed (hence the need for TVC).

You don't need small radius turn during a pass through. You need POINT. MICA doesn't.  ASRAAM does. It also uses after cg cintrol and cylinder lift to reduce srag and mass penaltiers and get the most thrust out of its candle.     

I got the impression that you meant it didn't perform well, apologies if you didn't mean that.

No apologies needed, I was indeed a bit provocative. I'm sure that ASRAAM will work well for the two airforces that selected it using ad hoc tactics. But my preference go to either MICA (if you can afford it) or AIM-9X (don't know much about Pyhon 5 except that it looks like a twin of the Magic).

Surely they would be more likely to develop an AA version of CAMM, rather than retrofitting?

 Tactics, tactics, tactics. French air combat tactics are the turning fight and chase missile. The British tactics are the pass through in your face shot, shoot first with a radar-tracked predict lead shot. . 

The CAMM loooks a lot like the proposed ASRAAM P3I upgrade. From a qualification perspective, I think it would be better to keep the ASRAAM frame, otherwise they'll have to redo all tests: interface, vibration, separation all through the flight enveloppe... At several £100k a missile + the flight hours it quickly gets very expensive.
 
Which is why this:
 
 
 
Looks like THIS:
 
 
 

 And why this:
 
 

 
Strongly  resembles this:
 
 
 

Thought that if you knew about beamriders you wouldn't make that specific statement

Beamriders & CLOS are not very relevant for AAM or even last generation SAM (except for the short range stuff)

 For early AAM missiles like Falcon and ant the ANAB it was relevant. Not today when SARH us the standard and RH ATG is still cutting edge.

Here is my guess as to what he may have meant, please let me know if I am completely wrong,

The problem is that the guidance problem is much more simple than you think. A missile doesn't need to know how close it is to its target or track its target trajectory. There is no history knowledge in the problem.

Incorrect. Against a distant maneuvering target during a LOB trajectory, the target will move lateral to the drop basket.  In 45 secoinds that is an offset of  typically 10,000-14,000 meters. The missile has to have enoigh potentual energy and enough side shove to correct lead as it travels to its drop basket. That is what updating is all about for BVR missiles whether STANDARD or AMRAAM..    

The end game is just a plain closed-loop system with the missile constantly adjusting its trajectory to keep it on an intersection course with its target. To do that, the most commonly used method is to keep a constant bearing with the target. As anyone who has been on a boat (or just in a car at a crossing with good visibility), if you do that you'll end up cutting your target path. If the target doesn't change its course, the missile will fly a nice straight path (energy spent is minimal).

Again incorrect.That is proportional lead logic and is wasteful of a radar or SARH guided missile that needs the maximum of its potential energy used to POINT.where the predicted intercept will be. The final merge is  a violent side shove to get close or to hit as the missile passes close to the target, but with predict lead, the aim is to find the MOMENT when the target and the missile will coincide. Proportional lead is a chase the image logic that wastes energy with constant correction.  It is highly wasteful of flyout and reach.  
 
There is no complex trajectory computation, it's a "simple" regulation problem with a command (constant bearing), a way to measure deviation vs that command (the seeker) and a way to act on this deviation (missile control surface). Of course building the hardware to pilot this system is not so simple today, not to mention 50 years ago.
 
Azimuth and bearing correction to point with a predict lead built in (signal strength chase). The feedback loop for ATG seekers and proximity fusing bullt into them was perfected in a 2d mechanical architecture as long ago as 1941 by RCA and HUSL. You won't hear Thales or MBDA admit this though. They don't want to admit where they STOLE the idea for their defective RH version of MICA.  
 
The model (and the missile navigation system) become more complex if you try to compensate for second order terms in your regulation. The system is optimal for constant speed but not if acceleration happens on either side. You can compensate for the missile acceleration (actually, deceleration in this case) if you know its drag characteristics. You can compensate for the target acceleration only if you have a RF seeker and are confident it's not being spoofed (if you are, you'll end up overcompensating and basically waste more energy that a plain proportional navigation).

Which is why some RH ATG missiles are now receiving telemetry talkback instead of just receive only command update. Its a weird form of TVM double check where two sets of data are compared. There is no such thing as constant speed or beraring so you will always have a second order derivative solituin in your algorithm and why that algorithm will be a pattern match set of tables in the missile GCU that compares such things as drag, fall, and what the INS tells you about current attitude and portion of the trajectory traveled.to the predict point. These all chgange from second to second. Its simpl,er to do it in the aircraft, buit these days we try to get the missile to do it for itself.     

In theory, compensation for the second-order terms mean that you only need to pull twice your target G before the impact vs thrice with vanilla pronav.

3x or you MISS. 

I was considering this myself for a while and concluded that it was a good excuse to watch my local pair of wild peregrines, if I find out conclusively and record it I will let you know.
 
I would be very interested. The few articles that include pelegrine falcon trajectory plots during the stoop show straight lines which would contradict a simple velocity chase (trajectory would be parabolic in that case). But unless there is a movie (with a good reference background), an accurate radar plot or even better a GPS tracking device on the bird, I can't tell if they indeed fly a straight path when plunging or if the schematics are academic oversimplification.

Peregrins usually follow a hyperbolic segment path, not a parabola .
They, like many predator birds,  use PREDICT LEAD. Somewhere on SP I posted videos showing this.

Herald
 
Quote    Reply

Blue Apple       7/10/2009 5:08:52 AM
Which is why this looks like THIS

It's not like there are thousands of ways to build an efficient missile frame... (although it's likely that familiarity with the Tartar configuration played a role in the Matra 530 design) 
 
My point was that any new load that you want to put under an aircraft requires a very, very long validation procedure, especially for AAM where you can't really accept a limitation of the release flight enveloppe. So it's best to keep the overall shape & weight as close as possible when upgrading missiles.
 
See the AMRAAM, it's still the same massive missile even though it would be technically possible nowadays to make a much smaller missile with the same performance of pre-C5 upgrades (in fact, it's called the MICA ;-) ). But the USF chose instead to keep the same size and balance & significantly improve the missile range.
 
Incorrect. Against a distant maneuvering target during a LOB trajectory
 
I was explicitly talking about the end game, once the missile is out of its inertial navigation phase and the target is locked. Of course using pronav all the way means that the missile will lose all its energy before reaching a long range target but that's not what MICA (or any missile with INS) does*.
 
*unless of course you're a poor FAF pilot who has to submit to the whims of the DGA, a wonderful organization that decided that pilots shouldn't have access to MICA IR LOAL modes before the Rafale F3 standard.

Proportional lead is a chase the image logic that wastes energy with constant correction.  It is highly wasteful of flyout and reach.  
 
But it's the most efficient logic for the final phase of the flight which is why Sidewewinder, AMRAAM, Sparrow (later versions, first ones used beam riding), ASRAAM and pretty much every other missile use it.
 
They don't want to admit where they STOLE the idea for their defective RH version of MICA.  
 
Use of proportional nevigation by the French was the result of a USA-France technology transfer during an exchange scientific mission back in 1958. I've never seen a French source say otherwise.
 
Quote    Reply

Reactive       7/10/2009 8:57:13 AM

Which is why this looks like THIS



It's not like there are thousands of ways to build an efficient missile frame... (although it's likely that familiarity with the Tartar configuration played a role in the Matra 530 design) 

 

My point was that any new load that you want to put under an aircraft requires a very, very long validation procedure, especially for AAM where you can't really accept a limitation of the release flight enveloppe. So it's best to keep the overall shape & weight as close as possible when upgrading missiles.

 

See the AMRAAM, it's still the same massive missile even though it would be technically possible nowadays to make a much smaller missile with the same performance of pre-C5 upgrades (in fact, it's called the MICA ;-) ). But the USF chose instead to keep the same size and balance & significantly improve the missile range.

 

Incorrect. Against a distant maneuvering target during a LOB trajectory
 

I was explicitly talking about the end game, once the missile is out of its inertial navigation phase and the target is locked. Of course using pronav all the way means that the missile will lose all its energy before reaching a long range target but that's not what MICA (or any missile with INS) does*.

 

*unless of course you're a poor FAF pilot who has to submit to the whims of the DGA, a wonderful organization that decided that pilots shouldn't have access to MICA IR LOAL modes before the Rafale F3 standard.



Proportional lead is a chase the image logic that wastes energy with constant correction.  It is highly wasteful of flyout and reach.  

 

But it's the most efficient logic for the final phase of the flight which is why Sidewewinder, AMRAAM, Sparrow (later versions, first ones used beam riding), ASRAAM and pretty much every other missile use it.

 

They don't want to admit where they STOLE the idea for their defective RH version of MICA.  

 

Use of proportional nevigation by the French was the result of a USA-France technology transfer during an exchange scientific mission back in 1958. I've never seen a French source say otherwise.

With the greatest of respect, I think you are missing the points Herald has made. EVEN for the terminal intercept, the difference between proportional and predicted lead methods. I have a diagram that illustrates this but it won't let me upload an image "check posting rights".
 
With proportional lead, you follow what is a "curved" path towards the object, that is less efficient than taking a direct vector in a straight line towards a predicted intersection point. You have to travel further, at higher drag. This is because you can't define a world space between you and the target, and therefore a future intersection point does not exist. The fact that aircraft turning away from a missile have a far higher IR signature compounds the problem, as does a small seeker-head resolution (due to the enormous costs per sensor) that relys heavily on image processing (analogous to antialiasing).
 
The diagram illustrates a simple arc path taken by a fighter aircraft, the proportional lead seeker also draws an arc getting closer towards the target (proportional), but still traces a smaller-radius curved path to meet the target (which makes for a sustained, high-G, huge-drag turn). The predict lead vector is a sharp turn at the beginning of terminal intercept followed by a straighter heading based on the predicted intersection point. It allows the seeker the luxury of optimising its flight profile and given it has a high level of knowledge about the maximum CEP in which the target will be found. The predict lead draws a SHORTER PATH (based on a simplified single turn situation, which is obviously compounded (for proportional lead) when there is a more complex path traced by the target).
 
With predict lead you don't have to match the flight pattern of the target, you don't have to maintain a series of sustained turns in order to maintain relative target position on seeker, with proportional lead you are essentially relying on a simplified "mechanism" for homing in on an image: a wasteful design for a RH missile which has far greater information available to it.
 
Consider how sidewinder got its name, its continual course-corrections. If a missile can plot a future intercept point based on 3d-knowledge of the targets range, speed, and bearing, it can go directly to that point without being forced to maintain sustained high-G maneuvers. Given the speed at which intercept happens, the target represents (to a missile) quite a slowly moving, predictable entity, it has a turning radius that is (relatively) large, a velocity that is relatively constant, and an envelope for evasive maneuvers that is limited, the only way that target wins is if you burn all your energy getting to it, with predict lead, you use the data to extend your range and still have enough momentum for end-game intercept.
 
If anyone knows how to post the image let me know.
 
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Bluewings12       7/10/2009 7:10:46 PM
Just a simple question : do the US posters still believe that the F-22 is a better dogfighter than the Rafale ?
 
Cheers .
 
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