Page MenuHomeFeedback Tracker

Suggestion: Add Anti-Radiation Missiles (ARMs)
New, NormalPublic

Description

I enjoy the new stealth capabilities with the Jets and the revamped radar system, but I feel it's a bit of a letdown that to strike another, unaware jet, you either have to turn your own radar on, exposing you, or get close enough to be easily detected by passive systems and close enough that even slow, low power flying in stealth jets can't avoid radar. For this, I suggest adding Anti-Radiation Missiles, which seek out sources of wireless signals like radar and communications signal emitters, and have been used to deadly effect against jammers. Since they're passive, they're also very hard to detect, further adding to their stealth appeal. On the downside, early-gen ARMs become useless after a radar emitter or jammer is shut off, and the best that modern ARMs can do is track a target purely based off of it's last known direction.

I really believe that this could help Stealth Jets stay stealthy compared to others, and I feel that it will make all aircraft more wary of their emissions. I've seen good pilots who will often disregard emissions monitoring if they're facing a less-well equipped enemy since they'll win any 1-on-1 dogfight in that context. This gives the enemy a chance to get a free hit in on overly cocky pilots, evening the playing field. On the opposite end, players can find noisy enemy radar stations, fire a missile, and get gone before anyone's the wiser, giving SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses) operations a real presence in modes like Invade and Annex, where the power of AA units meant that the idea of CAS support was previously a joke, and fixed-wing pilots spend most of their time dead or grounded.

Details

Severity
None
Resolution
Open
Reproducibility
N/A
Operating System
Windows 8 x64
Category
Explosives
Additional Information
  • ARMs' range should only be limited by radar detection distance.
  • ARM launches should not be detected until within range of certain detectors (able to detect thermal signature of the missile, sweeping it with radar and getting a ping, etc...)
  • Recommend adding AA and AG variants, as AG ARMs are commonly used in SEAD.
  • Recommend making it easy for mod-makers to tag something as emitting under certain conditions (For instance, TFAR or ACRE tagging high-powered radios as ARM targets while transmitting, custom vehicles with radar-jamming capabilities becoming very easy targets for ARMs).

Event Timeline

Since ARMs are being added with Encore, recommend this thread be closed.