Modern missile seeker heads.

[nuuumannn]

So, all we needed in 1942 to defeat the dreaded Zero were heat seeking missiles? Bad planning by the AAF!

They should'a bought Hellcats from the Navy!

 

[P-39 Expert]

They should'a bought Hellcats from the Navy!

Yep, except no Hellcats in '42.

 

[Greyman]

AIM-9X has an advertised air-to-ground mode of operation. It is far harder to track and kill a moving truck in the desert than a piston engine airplane in blue sky.

I remember reading about a situation involving Canadian Hornets during Desert Storm:

Canada's multirole Hornet manned the combat air patrols to the south where Iraqi aircraft never ventured while the sweep and escort missions occurred with air superiority already achieved. It was becoming clear that Canadian Hornets would have to take the fight to the enemy.

This occurred in an unconventional way on the night of 30 January 1991, when a formation of CF-18s attacked an Iraqi patrol boat. After two weeks of uneventful combat air patrols, Capt Steve 'Hillbilly' Hill and Major Dave 'DW' Kendall did not hesitate to accept their ship borne controller's unexpected request: "would you like to strafe a boat?" The boat in question had escaped a USMC EA-6B Prowler attack when the American jet ran out of ordnance.

After receiving final clearance to engage from their controller, the two Canadian pilots emptied their 20mm cannons with multiple strafing runs. With only air-to-air missiles remaining they attempted to acquire an infrared lock to fire an AIM-9 Sidewinder missile. The boat's heat signature was too low and after some trouble 'Hillbilly' acquired a radar lock and fired an AIM-7 Sparrow semi-active radar missile at the boat. The missile impacted the water short of the target at which time both pilots returned to base. The boat was eventually finished off by US bombers; but, the Canadians were officially awarded an 'assist' to its destruction at sea. Hill and Kendall were extolled by senior military officials at home for their "...example of Canadian can-do" attitude. However, the Canadian Commander Colonel Roméo Lalonde conveyed to the press in theatre a different opinion, asserting they should have made less passes to minimize their exposure - he was not entirely happy about the attack.

They had, after all effectively wasted a $250,000 air-to-air missile on a boat in the first offensive action by the Canadian military since the Korean War. The engagement was admittedly unorthodox but Lalonde's criticisms were viewed to be a little harsh by most officers in the fighter community.


The boat was supposedly a TNC 45 - Lürssen Defence | Lürssen Shipyard - german quality-shipbuilding