[lincer556]

Unknown Cruise Missile


IRCM Image #2 - IRCM Image #3 - IRCM Image #4

Weapon Information
Deployment: The Corporate War (Ace Combat 3 : Electrosphere)
Year of Deployment:(20??-2040)
Manufacturer(s): Neucom

History:
During Operation Claustrophobia, NEU forces launched this cruise missile after the GRDF forces, aided by Nemo failed to destroy Nuecom's facilities quickly enough. The target of the cruise missile is unknown, and it was destroyed by Nemo shortly after its launch.[/color]

Sources:
Ace Combat 03: Electrosphere (the game itself)

[Ribbon-Blue]

I think so. It flies around a little bit in the beginning, but, it just keeps climbing for the most part.

[Antare]

At first I thought it was just a cruise missile cause it looks so much like the Tomahawk but then I got thinking that:

Missile uses a jet engine to cruise higher and higher until it reaches space and then becomes a ballistic missile. This mode of ascent is done to reduce fuel usage and size.

[Scherzo]

....This isn't a Ballistic Missile. It's a cruise missile. Edits made.

[Heinkel]

It's listed as ballistic missile in-game.

[Scherzo]

It's either a mistranslation or flat-out wrong. Ballistics missiles don't fly around gaining altitude. They also don't need fins or stabilizers, which this missile has. It's a cruise missile.

[Heinkel]

But it's listed as ballistic missile in the game, there's no IRCM in Ace Combat.

[Ribbon-Azure]

A ballistic missile is a missile that follows a sub-orbital ballistic flightpath with the objective of delivering one or more warheads (often nuclear) to a predetermined target. The missile is only guided during the relatively brief initial powered phase of flight and its course is subsequently governed by the laws of orbital mechanics and ballistics. To date, ballistic missiles have been propelled during powered flight by chemical rocket engines of various types.

A cruise missile is a guided missile that carries an explosive payload and uses a lifting wing and a propulsion system, usually a jet engine, to allow sustained flight; it is essentially a flying bomb. Cruise missiles are generally designed to carry a large conventional or nuclear warhead many hundreds of kilometers with high accuracy. Modern cruise missiles can travel at supersonic or high subsonic speeds, are self-navigating, and fly on a non-ballistic very low altitude trajectory to avoid radar detection.

WHICH ONE FITS?

On my assessment, it's a ballistic missile, considering that it does nothing but go into space... then again, it has wings.

So what would it be... a ballistic cruise missile, which is an oxymoron.

Hmf.

[Zaku]

Despite being listed in game as an IRBM, its flight profile is that of a cruise missile. If anything ballistic, it's a quasi-/semi-ballistic missile that follows a moderately ballistic profile but is characterized by an ability to change trajectory in flight. Also note that it has a jet engine and is modeled after a Tomahawk anyway. It wouldn't have any ability to operate in space, just a low semi-ballistic profile, maybe into the stratosphere.

[Ribbon-Azure]

True, true.

[Heinkel]

Who says that's a turbojet? Could be a scramjet for a ballistic trajectory cruise missile, which I don't find to be an oxymoron.

[Zaku]

I don't think scramjets can feed in air from an angle, but regardless, something on a purely ballistic flight profile wouldn't fly around and have wings in its launch phase.

[Ribbon-Blue]

Despite being listed in game as an IRBM, its flight profile is that of a cruise missile. If anything ballistic, it's a quasi-/semi-ballistic missile that follows a moderately ballistic profile but is characterized by an ability to change trajectory in flight. Also note that it has a jet engine and is modeled after a Tomahawk anyway. It wouldn't have any ability to operate in space, just a low semi-ballistic profile, maybe into the stratosphere.

I don't think scramjets can feed in air from an angle, but regardless, something on a purely ballistic flight profile wouldn't fly around and have wings in its launch phase.

I strongly agree. It looks like a cruise missile and acts like a cruise missile, despite how it's labeled in the game.

[Jester]

...despite how it's labeled in the game.

Is the game always right?

[Ribbon-Blue]

Is the game always right?

Not always. This is a definite case of that, I think.

[Traben]

Is the game always right?

Namdai fallible? Poppycock.

If it's the English version of AC3 we're talking about, I'd blame it on translation.

[electrosphere11]

Yeah, I remember on my old AC3(export ver.) that it said the missile was an ICBM which it obviously isn't.

[AceofAces]

It's IRBM for Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile, not IRCM for Intermediate Range Cruise Missile.

[Ribbon-Azure]

It's IRBM for Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile, not IRCM for Intermediate Range Cruise Missile.

This is an example of missing the point.