I'm playing HCE, an EC2003 scenario called "Steal Second" (HDSI 11) and I've noticed a very strange thing: Both AGM-64 Phoenix and AGM-120 AMRAAM have a 60nm range. And while the C5 version of AMRAAM indeed is estimated to fly as far as 65 nm, the Phoenix is widely known for its superior range of over 100nm. How is it possible then that here it's so short?

 

On a separate note - while playing another scenario (which I've attached in my previous topic) there's been no possibility to convert any of my aircraft to a tanker. And I did have F-18s and S-3s on my carriers... Is that normal? I mean - what a strike group is worth if it can't reach beyond its strike aircraft (F-18s) range with air refueling? I don't think that could ever happen in reality. (I'm pretty sure I started that mission with Full Ordinance setting to Yes.)

Edited January 13, 200818 yr by TonyE
Not in the form of a defect report so post icon removed

I'm playing HCE, an EC2003 scenario called "Steal Second" (HDSI 11) and I've noticed a very strange thing: Both AGM-64 Phoenix and AGM-120 AMRAAM have a 60nm range. And while the C5 version of AMRAAM indeed is estimated to fly as far as 65 nm, the Phoenix is widely known for its superior range of over 100nm. How is it possible then that here it's so short?

 

 

The first thing that every new F-14 pilot learns is that the hundred mile range of the Phoenix missile is a myth. The myth springs from a test conducted by the manufacturer (Hughes, IIRC) where absolutely everything was optimized: the target was a drone with blip enhance to give it the radar aspect of a Tu-22M, approaching head on at Mach 1.5, not jamming or maneuvering. It was being tracked by an E-2C Hawkeye which was cueing the Tomcat. The Tomcat was flying at high altitude and Mach 1+, directly towards the target, first registering the target on its own AWG-9 radar at about 140 miles range. The Tomcat launched a Phoenix missile at approximately 100 miles range, but due to the target's motion, the actual distance travelled by the missile was only about 60 nm --- which, by one of those odd statistical flukes, just happens to be the range quoted in the game ... ... It doesn't matter all that much, though, since you've still got range on just about everything you'll be shooting at.