Today we’re talking about new retargeting mechanics for some munitions with TV and IR homing heads!

In the second half of the 20th century, technological advances led to the development of munitions with TV and infrared homing heads operating on the “fire and forget” principle. This reduced the time the carrier spent in the air defense zone and also enabled the simultaneous engagement of multiple targets. While this is a positive development, the growing capabilities of anti-aircraft weapons and the rising cost of aircraft led to a growing need to launch missiles at ground targets from much greater distances. To address this issue and increase operational flexibility, bombs and missiles were developed with a data link channel to the carrier, transmitting images from the munition’s seeker and allowing to it retarget in flight. This functionality will be available in the upcoming major update!

As you may know, munitions with TV and IR seekers with man-in-the-loop capabilities are already in the game, but they have been missing the ability to transmit images and receive corrections in flight for balance reasons. However, after internal testing of the mechanics, we concluded that the limited capabilities of these weapons, their availability to all nations in the game, the capabilities of air defense, and the reality of random battles allow us to add this interesting mechanic without negatively impacting balance.

Let’s take a closer look at the specifics of man-in-the-loop mode of the TV and IR seekers in the game. It’s worth mentioning right away that this isn’t full manual control with direct control of the rudders. Correction is limited to target selection in flight — the operator can only designate a new target within the seeker’s field of view, and the autopilot will then automatically adjust course to engage it. It’s also worth keeping in mind the relatively low maneuverability of many munitions. In short, loop-the-loops with a missile or bomb aren’t possible, but dropping them into an enemy concentration and designating the desired target as they approach is perfectly doable.

It’s also worth noting that signal transmission requires a clear line of sight between the munition and the launch vehicle. If terrain obscures the signal, the signal will be lost, and the launch vehicle will not receive images and the missile will be unable to receive commands until communication is restored. However, since guidance is still provided by the missile’s seeker, loss of communication with the launch vehicle will not prevent it from engaging an already acquired target, meaning that, if desired, the carrier aircraft can safely move beyond the terrain after successfully locking on to a target.

A significant limitation on the ability to correct these types of munitions will be the number of data link channels. According to available data, the systems with man-in-the-loop capabilities featured in the game support guidance of only one munition at a time, so only the most recently launched missile or bomb can be retargeted. Combined with the relatively low speed of most of these types of munitions, this limitation makes intercepting currently guided missiles or bombs with advanced air defense systems a relatively simple task.

Please note that when this mechanic is added, it will only be available on air-launched missiles and bombs, such as the new GBU-53 (SDB II), as well as the existing AGM-84H, PGM-500/2000, Kh-59M, Spike ER, LMUR, SPICE-250, and some others. We currently have no plans to add this feature to ground vehicles for balance reasons.

You’ll be able to see this mechanic in action very soon with the release of the upcoming major update! That’s all for now, and see you in the next dev blogs, folks!

Please note that the specifics of this mechanic may be changed before it is added to the game.