SRAAM

Funky Trees Thrust Vectoring Ait-To-Air Missile!

Faithful replica of the SRAAM, Short Range Air-To-Air Missile, an experimental missile developed by the British in the 1970s that utilizes only thrust vectoring to maneuver the missile. No part of this missile is guided by gyros or in-game default missiles!!!.

Player Usage

1. Go into Air-To-Air mode, select the missile, find an aircraft and get behind it! This is a rear-aspect missile! Your maximum lock range at rear-aspect is 4 km.

2. You really want to get within about 1km or 0.6 miles of your target, especially if they are maneuvering; this missile does not have a lot of range!!!

3. A small humming sound produced by winches will let you know that you have obtained a lock. Lead your target and press left Alt (or hold down the fire weapons button on mobile, even if it is not lit up).

Stats

Guidance Type: Infra-Red (IR)
Aspect: Rear Aspect
Lock Range: 4 km
Track Rate: 100 degrees/second
Gimble Limit: 40 degrees
G-Overload: 20 Gs
Max Speed: Mach 2
Max Flight Range: ~2 km
Motor Burn Time: 3.3 second booster, will self-destruct after fuel is exhausted!
Guidance Time: 3.7 seconds
Weight: 154 lbs

Features and abilities

• Not guided by default in-game missile or gyro
• Improved fuse and reliable warhead detonation
• Detailed and realistic replica of the missile and its technical abilities
• Realistic replica of the launch tubes
• Impervious to Counter Measures
• Guided by thrust vectoring only
• Audible lock tone, produced by winches

Limitatons and problems

• The missile's performance may depend on the performance of your device, where a lower FPS may significantly affect the missile's performance.
• From time to time the smoke generator, a tiny hellfire missile where it's sole purpose is to generate smoke and nothing else, may fall out during violent maneuvers. This will not affect the performance of the missile whatsoever!
• The missile has a hard time orienting itself when pointed straight up or down
• The missile will self-destruct once the propellant has run out since it does not have any aerodynamic surfaces and will not be able to maneuver at that time.
• The missile is notably less accurate than other ones that I have built due to its strange design and the fact that it lacks almost any aerodynamic surfaces
• The warhead of this missile is extremely small (at only 4kg), thus it may take multiple missiles to take down and aircraft

Real Life Description

SRAAM was Hawker Siddeley's third generation air-to-air missile. Under development for the Ministry of Defence, this close combat weapon with thrust vector control could out-maneuver evading targets flying at sub-sonic and supersonic speeds. Visually aimed, SRAAM is guided by a passive infra-red homing system. Small, lightweight, easily fitted to any aircraft, the low-drag SRAAM launcher system contains all its essential services. Originally known as Taildog, the weapon introduced many of the concepts found on today's AIM-132 advanced short-range air-toair missile (ASRAAM).
Everything went relatively well until the UK government issued the 1974 White Paper on Defense, which brought a significant budget cut. The revolutionary SRAAM has been lowered to the level of just a technology demonstrator. Sraam (Short-range air-to-air missile) was reduced to a technology-demonstration vehicle as part of the British Government's plan to cut defense spending, it was announced in the House of Commons on 31 January 1974. ..... In April 1977 the UK Government announced at the AIM-9L Sidewinder had been selected for the RAF instead of SRAAM.
Source

Notes

The development of this missile was rocky, to say the least. Because certainly making a missile with no aerodynamic surfaces, six little folding fins that cause a big roll when deployed, thrust vectoring, extremely weird center of mass and lift distributions, extremely short range, and only 4 kg of explosive mass, could not be that difficult... Sources and technical information are also extremely scarce since it is only a prototype, however missile performance sheet from War Thunder, as always, had been a tremendous help. I also realized too late that the missile also had other mechanical/performance quirks that I did not find in my earlier research, such as body lift technologies, and that the folding fins were mounted on a free-spinning ring. No matter, it now works, and now stands as the best replica of the SRAAM missile on this website.

Credits

RicardoAce for the Harrier

Please report any bugs in the comments or contact me on discord @kuatta4