Fighter Combat - Tactics and Maneuvering

48 FIGHTER WEAPONS
The maneuvering envelope illustrates the same conditions, with the
target still flying toward the top of the page, except this time the target
begins a level left-hand turn just as the missile is launched and continues
this turn throughout the missile TOF. The diagram is labelled "hot side"
and "cold side" to define the target's direction of turn. The labels "inside
the turn" or "outside the turn" also could have been used. These terms
reflect initial conditions only (i.e., the instant of missile launch), as the
cold and hot sides rotate with the target aircraft as it turns. An observer on
the hot side of the turn at any point normally would be looking at the top of
the target aircraft, while on the cold side he would have a belly view.
The maneuvering aerodynamic max-range envelope is highly asymmetrical,
with the hot-side range being much greater than the range on the cold
side, as the timing of the turn is such that the target essentially is flying out
to meet missiles fired from its left side, and flying away from those initially
coming from the right. By choosing the direction and rate of turn, the target
can exert tremendous influence on this max-range envelope. The minrange
boundary is also affected, expanding somewhat on the hot side, but
not to as great an extent.
The regions of the envelope requiring look-up are greatly expanded in
the maneuvering case. A missile fired from these regions would have to
pass through the target's beam area before intercept could occur, greatly
increasing the chances of losing target track in clutter, especially if it was
looking down. These regions comprise a considerable portion of the entire
kinematic envelope, particularly at longer ranges, and serve to emphasize
the importance of look-up when employing this type of missile against
maneuvering targets.
The fuze-limited regions are also increased somewhat in the maneuvering
case. A missile launched in one of these regions would intercept the
target at close to a beam aspect, either hot side or cold side, with low
probability of warhead damage. Also note that all max-range limits have
been reduced to below the seeker-sensitivity limit, so that restriction does
not affect this case.
These envelopes are already confusing, but a full picture of the capabilities
of this missile would require many such charts to cover a wide range of
possible target maneuvers, shooter/target speeds, and altitudes. In addition,
a single fighter may carry two or three different kinds of missiles, all
with widely differing operating characteristics and envelopes. Envelope
recognition, therefore, becomes one of the major difficulties in AAM
employment. Even if the fighter pilot could draw each envelope from
memory, how would he determine the vital parameters necessary to decide
which envelope was valid (including target speed and turn rate) and
his position within that envelope (including range and target aspect)?
Probably the most workable solution to this problem is to equip the
fighter with a tracking radar system and a fire-control computer. Such
systems can accurately assess and display to the pilot the missile's aerodynamic
capabilities, and as many of the other limits as might be deemed
desirable, almost instantaneously. Most modern fighters have such
systems.
In order to make inputs to the fire-control computer it is necessary that