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Thread: AIM-9 seeker cooling

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    Senior Member Howie's Avatar
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    AIM-9 seeker cooling

    Just wondering what the limiting factors in real life/DCS are in regards to this.

    Is there a limited amount of coolant? Can the seeker head be cooled repeatedly? Is any of this modelled in DCS?

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    476 vFG Founder Snoopy's Avatar
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    Yes there is a limited amount of coolant, to my knowledge (no expert) it can be cooled multiple times. Not sure it is modeled on the A-10C but VEAO I believe modeled it for the Hawk.

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    Senior Member Howie's Avatar
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    Just wondered because the manual doesn't really explain what the COOL setting does in the DSMS Missile Control page:

    AIM-9 Control (AIM9), rotary OSB 19. Rotary selections include OFF, COOL, SEL. The selected rotary setting is displayed beneath the AIM9 label. There are no other functions. Selecting SEL places HUD in air-to-air mode.

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    476 vFG Founder Snoopy's Avatar
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    Per the real world TO...

    COOL means the missiles are cooling and the aim-9 is not available to launch and HOTAS controls are not available.

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    510th vFS Pilot Trigger's Avatar
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    Is COOL used for testing the missile on the ground with an IR source to confirm there is a tone?

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    476 vFG Founder Snoopy's Avatar
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    No, COOL means the missle is cooling the seeker but not cold enough to be used, has nothing to do with testing. The argon bottle which is used to cool the seeker has a limited amount to cool. Approx 5000 psi at max but once its below 3000 PSI it's useless.

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    Founders Eddie's Avatar
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    Snoopy has covered the A-10C and the AIM-9M, but for some more background it is different on other types.

    The F-16C has enough argon for 2-3 hours cooling at altitude as it uses the same system I'd assume it's same timescale for the A-10C.

    The AIM-9X however has an internal cooling system requiring no support from the host platform, so for those aircraft that can carry the 9X the limitation goes away.

    For another spin on the subject, Typhoon cools ASRAAM by means of a high pressure pure air generator (HIPPAG) in each ASRAAM launcher/pylon which supplies cooling gas to the missile on that station. Again removing the time limitation.

  8. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Eddie For This Useful Post:

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    Member JayPee's Avatar
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    AIM-9 seeker cooling

    Is that 2-3 hrs per missile? Or for the entire loadout?

    What is procedure for turning sensors ON/OFF? How long in advance, how long do you keep them on, etc. Reason I ask is because from what I understand there's some sort of inventory management required to not loose functional missiles.
    Last edited by JayPee; 23Oct14 at 22:08.

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    Member Grunt's Avatar
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    Joule-Thomson Cooling?

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    GOMER 2 Noodle's Avatar
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    Snoopy already answered the question, so I can only add a bit of detail.

    Selecting OFF in the Missile Control page will remove cooling from all missiles.

    Selecting COOL will apply cooling to all missiles on the currently selected stations. Coolant bottle duration is 3-4 hours depending on altitude/temperature, and the time for missile cooldown is less than 1 minute.

    Selecting SEL will cause the AIR-TO-AIR profile to be selected, the AIR-TO-AIR HUD mode will be selected, and AIM-9 HOTAS controls will be available.

    AIM-9 mode reverts to OFF upon landing, or after all missiles have been expended or un-inventoried. When certain specific conditions are met, cooling might be automatically removed from a missile after it is rejected, but I don't know if DCS models that. In fact, I wonder if DCS models cooling at all?

    Anyway, the transition from COOL to SEL will also happen automatically if an AIM-9 station is selected in DSMS, or the AIR-TO-AIR profile is selected.

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