Making EM Guns Viable in Space Combat (3e)

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Polydamas

My understanding is that air-to-air combat has been dominated by guided or seeking missiles since at least the 1980s

Use of the first radar missiles c. 1960 was limited by operating skills so arcane that they might as well have been Ritual Magic.

Sidewinder D (heat seeker used by US forces in the late 60s) was finicky but usably dangerous.

Sidewinder J (used by British forces in the Falklands c. 1980) was pantingly eager to go go kill its' targets at about 3x the range as D. Still heat seekers though.

In Desert Storm (c. 1990) the Allied score was 26 kills for radar missiles, 6 for heat seekers (and at least 2 of those were by the Royal Saudi AF) and maybe 1 helicopter gunned down by an A-10. Many of the radar kills were at night too and from single-seater fighters. No guy-in-back needed.