Python 3

Funky Trees Guided Air-To-Air Missile

The most advanced funky trees missile I have made to date, using all experiences gained from my previous creations over the span of 6 months, I present to you the ultimate air combat experience. A 1:1 replica of the Rafael Advanced Systems Python 3 missile paired with accurate, reliable, complex, yet lean funky trees code. Although I am far from the first person to create funky trees guided missiles, or even funky trees guided air to air missiles, I'd like to think that I have advanced the technology from a concept to a mature and proven product, able to be fitted on builds as a normal sub-assembly, and not a gimmick. As with my other creations, No part of the missile is guided/controlled by in-game default missiles nor gyros!.

History of the Python 3 missile, directly copied from Wikipedia XD
The Rafael Python is a family of air-to-air missiles (AAMs) built by the Israeli weapons manufacturer Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, formerly RAFAEL Armament Development Authority. The Python-3 is a much-improved AAM with all-aspect attack ability, higher speed, range, and performance. It performed well before and during the 1982 Lebanon War, scoring 35 (other sources claim 50) kills.

Player usage

Simply select an air target and BRIEFLY HOLD DOWN FireWeapons button (left alt on PC) and the missiles will fire one by one. No need to acquire lock and such.

Features and abilities

• 1:1 replica of the Python 3 missile
• Closely matching performance to the real thing (with what information I can gather)
• Realistic flight model and performance
• Realistic guidance and flight path
• Able to continue guidance even while gliding
• Able to re-engage target if it misses the first time (highly unlikely that it will actually hit but it at least attempts to)
• Able to launch multiple missiles all aimed at the same target
• Able to switch target mid-flight
• Impervious to countermeasures
• Gives no launch warning to targeted aircraft

Limitatons and problems

• The missile's performance is highly dependent on the performance of the device, where a lower frame rate could dramatically lower the missile's performance
• The missile performance is somewhat capped by the limitation of the in-game rotators, thus in very specific situations, the fins may not rotate fast enough to make the trajectory change.
• The missile has a slightly hard time orientating and tracking targets when it is pointing directly up or down
• The missile may not be able to hit a target that is too close to the aircraft because it has to orientate itself and gain airspeed to actually maneuver
• The smoke generator (a tiny hellfire missile inside the missile which it's sole purpose is to generate smoke for looks and provides no guidance or thrust) may sometimes fall out of the missile due to violent maneuvers or lag. This does not affect the performance of the missile whatsoever.
• The missile is less maneuverable and slightly slower at higher altitudes (>30,000 ft)
• The proximity fuse has a chance of not detonating due to physics limitations

States

Max speed: Mach 3.5
Max range: ~10 miles
G load: >40Gs
Rocket burn time: 4 seconds
Track mode: Infra-Red
Aspect: All aspect

Notes (me rambeling)

This missile was thrown together within 2 days right before I had to leave for 2 and a half weeks for military training, however since my guided bomb build, I basically already knew exactly how to build and code an air-to-air missile. Things I want to add in the future are launch limitations, aka limiting how far from the target the missile can launch at a certain aspect in order to make it perform more realistically. In addition to that, I plan to dabble with radar-guided missiles and emanate radar behavior such as how clustering can disrupt guidance or notching a radar. From now on I will do a lot more replica weapons, of course still guided by funky trees. This all has been a fantastic learning experience for me and the fact that I am able to use what I have learned in my degree to make this happen is extremely exciting to me. I also want to thank those who inspired me to start this journey, and their builds will be listed below.

Credits

Jundroo for Wasp as my test bed

Huge thanks to JoshuaW and BaconAircraft for being inspirations to my work.

BaconAircraft and his funky trees SAM system https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/0QIk0W/FT-Missile-Launcher

JoshuaW and his original funky trees guided air to air missile https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/537q67/FunkyTrees-Missile-v1-0