Defending against missiles

There are no flares or chaff in FlightOut yet. To survive a missile you break the thing guiding it, outrun it, or put the ground between you. What works depends on the kind of missile.

#Know what's coming

The SPO-15's direction lamps show where the shooter is, and its strength row how close. See Radar warning receiver.

#Before the shot: a radar locked on you

A steady lock means he can fire a radar missile at any moment. Break his lock and he can't.

• Turn so he's on your 90° lamp (directly to your side) and get the ground behind you: be more than 150 m below him, or under 1,500 m above the ground. This is the notch (below).
• Get more than 60° off his nose: his radar can't look that far to the side. Fly hard across his line of sight; if he turns to keep you ahead, this won't work.
• Get behind a ridge. Radar doesn't see through mountains.
• Get out of range. His radar finds a Su-27 coming at him from about 120 km, one going away from about 80 km; once locked, it holds you about 15% farther.

#The notch

A pulse-Doppler radar like the Su-27's sorts aircraft from the ground by their speed towards or away from it. Fly across his line of sight so you're neither closing on him nor moving away (less than about 110 km/h, 30 m/s, either way), with the ground behind you, and you vanish into the clutter.

How to notch:

1. Look at the SPO-15: which lamp is the shooter on?
2. Turn until he's on your 90° lamp, left or right, and then put him exactly abeam. The lamp covers 20° either side, but at 900 km/h the notch only works within a few degrees of square (a little wider when you're slower). You're now flying across his view.
3. Get the ground behind you: dive to below him (at least 150 m lower) or down to under 1,500 m above the ground. Higher up and level with him, the notch does nothing.
4. Hold it for about 6 seconds. His radar coasts for 2 seconds before the lock breaks, and a radar missile flies on for 4 seconds after that.
5. When the steady LOCK and the launch tone stop, his lock is gone.

The notch works against his radar, not the missile: it's the shooter's line of sight that counts, not the missile's.

#Radar missiles (R-27R, R-27ER)

These need his lock all the way. Break it and they're lost a few seconds later.

1. Notch him (above), or put terrain between you and him.
2. Or get more than 60° off his nose by flying hard across his line of sight.
3. Once the launch tone stops, change direction: if he locks you again while the missile can still see you (within 60° of its nose), it guides again.

If you can't break the lock, run: turn away, dive into thicker air, use full afterburner. A missile fired from far away has burnt its motor out early and slows all the time it chases you. The R-27ER stops guiding after 60 seconds, the R-27R after 45.

#The R-77

• While it's far away (more than 15 km from you) it's guided by the shooter's lock, like an R-27: notch or use terrain to break his lock. It then flies on to where you were heading: change course hard, so that when it gets there you're more than 60° off its nose or more than 15 km from it.
• In its last 15 km its own radar is on: the SPO-15 shows it as the main threat, the strength row almost full and the lamps pointing at the missile itself. Now the notch doesn't work and the shooter's lock doesn't matter. What still works:
  • get out of its seeker's view: more than 60° off its nose;
  • turn hard across its path at close range: it can't follow a target crossing its view faster than about 45° a second;
  • terrain between it and you;
  • energy: make it chase you far, turning, high up where it turns poorly.

#Heat-seeking missiles (R-73, R-27T, R-27ET)

You won't get a warning. Expect one whenever a jet is behind you or close in front, especially within about 10 km.

• Come out of afterburner. It makes you visible from more than twice as far. Below afterburner, power makes no difference: idle and full power look the same.
• Turn towards it, or make it look at you from the front. A heat-seeker sees a jet's front from much nearer than its tail: an R-73 sees you from behind at 12 km, from the front only at 4 km. If you get out of its reach, it loses you immediately.
• Get out of its view: more than 75° off the nose of an R-73, 55° for an R-27T or ET. The R-73 can follow very fast crossing (90° a second); the R-27s only 30° a second.
• Hide behind terrain.
• They aim at your engines: a hit usually takes the tail.

#Speed and energy (any missile)

• After its motor burns out (5.5 to 8 seconds), a missile only slows down. Every turn costs it speed.
• Turning away and running (dragging) makes it chase you on its stored speed. Fired from outside its no-escape range, it often can't catch you.
• High up a coasting missile can pull only a few G: a hard turn late in its flight may beat it.
• Each missile stops guiding after a fixed time: R-73 23 s, R-27R and R-27T 45 s, R-27ER, R-27ET and R-77 60 s. After that it falls.

#The fuze

A missile goes off only if it passes within its fuze distance of some part of your jet: 5 m for an R-73, 7 m for an R-77, 9 m for an R-27. A miss by more than that and it flies on harmlessly. But if it does go off, the fragments reach much farther: up to 20 m (R-73), 36 m (R-77), 40 m (R-27).

#Putting it together

1. Watch the SPO-15. Know who's locked on you and from where.
2. Steady lock: notch or turn away before he shoots.
3. Launch tone: notch his radar (6 seconds), or terrain, or run.
4. Strength row almost full, LOCK flashing, lamps pointing at the missile: an R-77 has gone active. Break hard across its path, use terrain.
5. A jet behind you, no warning: come out of afterburner, turn towards the threat, keep him off your tail.
6. Watch for smoke: a missile's motor leaves a white trail for its first few seconds.