Surface to Air Missiles
Surface to Air missiles(SAM's) are missiles designed to engage a number of airborne threats, including aircraft, guided weapons, and ballistic missiles. They are a frequent part of Integrated Air Defence Systems, along with their unguided counterpart, AAA.
System Parts
SAM systems are made up of a number of component parts - if any of these parts does not work, the missile will be unable to operate in its intended manner.
Guidance
once a target has been designated, acquired, and tracked, it remains to be guided onto its target. The three basic requirements for missile guidance are:
- Precise target tracking by a TTR to provide target information (range, azimuth, elevation, velocity, etc)
- A method to track the position of the missile compared to the target
- A Fire Control Computer to generate missile guidance commands based on target and missile position.
If any of these fails to operate, the SAM unit cannot operate.
If your unit is not picked up by radar, and Target Tracking is not possible, you will not be fired upon by SAM units.
If your unit IS picked up by radar, but cannot be tracked accurately, then you cannot be fired upon by SAM units.
If a missile is in the air, and relies upon command guidance, Semi Active Radar Homing, or Track Via Missile, AND its ground radar system is destroyed, it will be unable to continue tracking, and will go ballistic.
A missile in the air that relies upon Active Radar Homing guidance will likely still be able to track its targets, as all of the above requirements are satisfied by its internal seeker and guidance suite.
