Guided Missile

Introduction

Historically, the term "missile" refers to any object or projectile that is forcibly thrown, launched, or propelled at a target.

Nowadays its almost exclusively used to refer to the guided metal poles with flame shooting out the back that get launched from military planes, boats, and various land vehicles.

Design

The Problem to Solve

A missile is a closed system that needs to accomplish one task, and should be designed as so. Starting with the planning.

Before building anything, you should first think about what your missile will be trying to accomplish. A short range air to air and a sea skimming AShM are both missiles, but they share very little things in common. You should be always designing your missile for the target.

Design Constraints

Once you know what your missile needs to do, you can use that to define the set of design goals and constraints to follow during the design process.

Goals and constraints may include but are not limited to:

• Range
• Speed
• Maneuverability
• Launch platform

These are all things that will affect your final design, and should be set before building.

Segments & Parts

Guidance

Radar

A majority of missiles simply use the missile output from the 1x1 missile radar, this has many advantages such as having built-in PN guidance and no radar noise. Making it a good choice for moving targets.

This also has the disadvantage of being able to be affected or disabled by chaff

Laser

Similarly to radar, the missile laser receiver block has a missile output with built-in PN guidance. And also doesn't really have any countermeasures if they don't know your laser frequency.

The main disadvantage of laser guidance is that you have to keep a laser pointed at the target in the first place.

Other

More advanced missiles almost always also include some form of GPS guidance to be able to fly towards targets that are either not in range or not in view. GPS guidance will be discussed later on in the GPS guidance section.

Maneuvering

Fins

Most missiles use the built in fins of solid rocket segments for their turning, this is recommended as they double as fuel storage and also do not expand the footprint of your missile. They also use composite as their input which can be hooked directly from the missile output of 1x1 radars.

Payload

Warhead

There are 4 warheads, small, medium, large, and EMP

• Small warheads damage everything in a 2.5m (10 block) radius
• Medium warheads damage everything in a 3.25 (13 block) radius
• Large warheads damage everything within a 3.5m (14 block) radius
• EMPs make vehicles within 500 meters unpowered for a minute

Each warhead also has a limit for the heaviest vehicle they can outright delete.

Troubleshooting

Launch your missile, watch it, and refer to the subtitle that matches what you see the best

My missile falls off the hardpoint: Launching with the release node instead of launch node on the hardpoint connector Booster not connected to launched node on hardpoint Booster not attached properly/on the wrong grid (common with smokeless motors)

My missile doesn't go towards the target at all: Incorrect radar settings, make sure it is set to static with a reasonable FOV Radar isn't being actiavted on launch, connected the active node of the radar to the hardpoint Missile fins aren't connected, connect the missile output composite node of the radar to your fins Screwed up balancing, make sure you have fins in front and behind your missile's center of mass

My missile doesn't go in the right direction: Fins are rotated incorrectly, refer to the guidance section Fins are connected to the radar output instead of missile output

My missile goes towards the target but loses control: Authority and stability issue, it is highly recommended to disconnect all fins from the radar and connect them one by one starting from the very front one, usually you will not need to link every fin to the radar

My missile spins out immediately: Assymetric center of mass, check the center of mass of your missile in the editor Center of lift way too forward, missile need passive stability to fly properly, add more rear fins or remove some front fins

My missile explodes immediately: Increase the impact threshold of your warhead