Good morning!
Today you will impersonate the commander of the Ramat David Air Base in Northern Israel and you will learn advanced air-to-air combat.
You have a combination of US and Israel aircraft available. Four F-14D Tomcat, two F-15A Baz, four F-15C Eagle, six F-15I Raam, six F-16I Sufa, two F-22A Raptor, six F-35I Adir, two Gulfstream G550 AEW Nahshon, two 707 Saknayee tankers and two Hermes 900 Star UAV under your command.
Your fighters are armed as follows:
- 4x F-14D Tomcat: 4x AIM-54C Phoenix, 2x AIM-7P Sparrow III, and 2x AIM-9M Sidewinder.
- 2x F-15A Baz: 4x AIM-7F Sparrow IIIm 2x AIM-9L Sidewinder, and 2x Python 3.
- 4x F-15C Eagle: 6x AIM-120D AMRAAM P3I.4 and 2x AIM-9X Sidewinder.
- 2x F-15I Raam: 4x AIM-120C-7 AMRAAM P3I.3 and 4x Python 4.
- 4x F-15I Raam: 6x AIM-120C-7 AMRAAM P3I.3 and 2x Python 4.
- 2x F-16I Sufa: 2x AIM-120C-7 AMRAAM P3I.3 and 2x Python 5.
- 3x F-16I Sufa: 4x AIM-120C-7 AMRAAM P3I.3 and 2x Python 5.
- 2x F-22A Raptor: 6x AIM-120D AMRAAM P3I.4 and 2x AIM-9X-2 Sidewinder Blk II.
- 6x F-35A Adir: 4x AIM-120C-7 AMRAAM P3I.3
Missile Types:
- AIM-7F Sparrow III: Semi-Active Radar Homing (SARH). Range: 2-38nm.
- AIM-7P Sparrow III: Semi-Active Radar Homing (SARH). Range: 2-38nm.
- AIM-9L Sidewinder: All-Aspect mid-course plus Passive Infrared terminal guidance. Range: 0.2-10nm.
- AIM-9M Sidewinder: All-Aspect mid-course plus Passive Infrared terminal guidance. Range: 0.2-10nm.
- AIM-9X Sidewinder: Inertial (INS) mid-course plus Passive Infrared (IR) terminal guidance. Range: 0.2-14nm.
- AIM-9X-2 Sidewinder: Inertial (INS) and Datalink (DL/INS) mid-course plus Passive terminal guidance. Range: 0.2-14nm.
- AIM-54C Phoenix: Time-Shared Semi-Active (TSARH) mid-course Plus Active Radar Homing (ARH) terminal guidance. Range: 2-99.4nm.
- AIM-120C-7 AMRAAM: All-Aspect Long-Range (Datalink (DL/INS) mid-course plus Active Radar Homing (ARH) terminal guidance. Range: 2-56.7nm.
- AIM-120D AMRAAM P3I.4: GPS-Updated Inertial (INS) and Datalink (DL/INS) mid-course plus Active Radar Homing (ARH) terminal guidance. Range: 1.1-86.4nm.
- Python 3: All-Aspect mid-course plus Passive Infrared terminal guidance. Range: 0.2-8nm.
- Python 4: All-Aspect High Off-Boresight mid-course plus Passive Infrared terminal guidance. Range: 0.2-10nm.
- Python 5: Inertial (INS) mid-course plus Passive Infrared (IR) terminal guidance. Range: 0.2-15nm.
You also have a PAC-2 GEM+ (Track via Missile TVM, Range: 2-55nm) SAM systems under your command.
TVM is a combination of SARH and radio command guidance. The ground radar illuminates the target, and the resulting reflection is detected by the missile. Unlike the SARH missile, the data collected is returned to the ground station via a data link, elaborated and then sent back to the missile in the form of guidance commands. A targeted aircraft will be aware that it's being illuminated by the SAM ground radar, but it will not know for certain if it has been engaged.
On the other hand, the ground radar must be switched on throughout an engagement or the missiles will self-destruct, therefore can be targeted by aircraft loaded with anti-radiation missiles. Most modern SAM systems (HQ-9, Patriot and many versions of the S-300 and S-400) use TVM guidance.