Pest Control
Third party targeting and over the shoulder shots may often be talked about within the air-to-air missile community. Less often are they actually tried in the real world.
An interesting shot was described recently by Brig. General Jerome Huret, head of the French air force’s operational evaluation and test center, involving two Dassault Rafale aircraft, and a target drone. The target drone was positioned in the launch aircraft’s seven o’clock, with target information provided by a second Rafale.
The launch aircraft called for a “de-louse” – to ensure that it did not have any unwanted company. With the target drone identified and the data provided to the launch aircraft, an MBDA Mica was fired “over the shoulder” – resulting in the destruction of the target drone.
Although Huret did not say, the shot was most likely carried out using an imaging-infrared guided Mica IR. Huret was presenting at a recent IQPC Air-Launched Weapons conference in London.
Il y a aussi Ultra GaN.