1. Cross section? I don't believe it exists, however RADAR systems do detect a surface by how much is exposed and reflected back. In theory, you could detect an aircraft at any range. The F-22 is 35 miles I believe
2. In SimplePlanes, yes. But SimplePlanes missiles are so unrealistic it's not even funny. Missiles move at Mach 5, much faster than they move in game, and they can't maneuver more than corrective amounts (5 to 15 degrees at most). The fuel only burns for about 1 second, enough to accelerate, and then it glides to its target

@FoxDynamicsWeapons Well, there's a way to do it if you're not airborne yet. For example, if you want to do an intercept mission where you fly from Bandit Airport to shoot down a jet taking off from Avalanche, you could spawn at Avalanche (or somewhere else on Snowstone), spawn in the enemy plane, and then change locations to Bandit, before taking off as normal.

So are there anyways to spawn aircraft beyond 12 nmi ? Maybe by using dev console?

1. Ground targets' detection range is fixed at about 10 miles. However, air and "air" targets can be detected at any range, but it can only be spawned within 12-0.8 nmi from your position. Sad, tbh.
2. Yes. This is honestly kinda sad, however some players have found their way to make missiles track even when fuel goes out. And I'ma be honest, missiles don't really act like missiles.

@FoxDynamicsWeapons oh, ok.
I think it's also that.

@Bryan5 you didn't understand the first question properly I was asking about how far does the target have to be to appear in your screen

1: Range is the maximum distance the target can be locked, Example:
If a target is 9 miles away and the missile range is 8 miles, It will not be able to lock the target, And if the target is 8 miles away it will be locked.
1: Yes, When the missile run out of fuel, It's tracking(in game) also turn off.
Same for every missiles in SimplePlanes.