IRM-S1

The IRM-S1 is an Air-to-Air and Ground-to-Air low range heat seeking missile that is used for targeting and destroying air targets from lighter aircraft or ground air defense vehicles.

Details

Compared to its bigger brother, the MMR-S3 heat seeking missile, its range and yield is much smaller, which forces you to go closer in order to engage enemy aircraft, which makes the missile suboptimal for attacking, instead shifting the missile’s main focus to being a defense rocket for close-by threats for smaller, less agile aircraft, and as an air defense weapon for ground vehicles, which are used to aid against air-to-ground attacks against convoys and buildings.

Since the missile is a heat seeking missile, it locks onto the hottest object in its field of vision. Since they emit intensive heat, flares can be used to confuse the missile’s tracking system, at which point the missile will lock onto and attack the flare, instead of the target aircraft. The best way to counter these missiles is to prevent them from seeing your engine by turning them away from their direction, or turn them off momentarily, as they are the biggest source of heat, and then release flares.^{[🛈 Merge into article on countering IR missiles]}

The missile’s effective range varies greatly, and it depends on which direction is the target aircraft flying, how fast and how good is its heat signature.

“Carried by air defense vehicles and light aircraft, this heat-seeking missile is effective against air targets at a range up to 5km”

Technical Info