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− | [[File:Missile Firestreak Fired.jpg|thumb|x250px|Firestreak fired from a [[Javelin F.(A.W.) Mk.9]].]]
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| == Description == | | == Description == |
− | <!-- ''Write an introduction to the article in 2-3 small paragraphs. Briefly tell us about the history of the development and combat using the weaponry and also about its features. Compile a list of air, ground, or naval vehicles that feature this weapon system in the game.'' -->
| + | ''Write an introduction to the article in 2-3 small paragraphs. Briefly tell us about the history of the development and combat using the weaponry and also about its features. Compile a list of air, ground, or naval vehicles that feature this weapon system in the game.'' |
− | [[File:WeaponImage Firestreak.png|thumb|left|420px|The Firestreak missile (scale is approximate)]]
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− | {{Break}}
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− | The '''Firestreak''' is a British [[Air-to-air_missiles#Infrared_homing_.28heat-seeking.29_missiles|Infrared homing air-to-air missile]]. it was introduced in [[Update 1.85 "Supersonic"]].
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| === Vehicles equipped with this weapon === | | === Vehicles equipped with this weapon === |
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| * {{Specs-Link|javelin_fmk9}} | | * {{Specs-Link|javelin_fmk9}} |
− | * {{Specs-Link|lightning_f6}}
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− | * {{Specs-Link|lightning_f53}}
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− | * {{Specs-Link|dh_110_sea_vixen}}
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| == General info == | | == General info == |
− | <!-- ''Tell us about the tactical and technical characteristics of the missile.'' -->
| + | ''Tell us about the tactical and technical characteristics of the bomb.'' |
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− | {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
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− | ! colspan="2" | Missile characteristics
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− | | '''Mass''' || 136 kg
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− | | '''Guidance''' || IR
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− | | '''Aspect''' || Rear-aspect
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− | | '''Lock range (rear-aspect)''' || 4 km
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− | | '''Launch range''' || 7 km
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− | | '''Maximum speed''' || 3.4 M
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− | | '''Maximum overload''' || 15 G
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− | | '''Missile guidance time''' || 13 secs
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− | | '''Explosive mass''' || 11.2 kg TNTeq
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− | |}
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− | The Firestreak is a large missile, with an 8.75 kg warhead (11.2 kg TNTe). The Firestreak is a very early air-to-air missile design; it was Britain's first operational heat seeking missile. It has slightly better manoeuvrability than other early heat seeking missiles, and a much larger warhead, and is otherwise comparable in terms of speed and range.
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| === Effective damage === | | === Effective damage === |
− | <!-- ''Describe the type of damage produced by this type of missile (high explosive, splash damage, etc)'' -->
| + | ''Describe the type of damage produced by this type of bomb (high explosive, splash damage, etc)'' |
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− | The Firestreak has a 8.75 kg warhead, making it capable of outright destroying any target it gets a direct hit on. The warhead has a larger proximity fuse setting than other heat-seeking missiles (10 m as opposed to the more standard 5 m), this helps slightly offset the missiles poor manoeuvrability as any aircraft caught in the proximity fuse range is likely to suffer critical damage due to the large explosive mass.
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| === Comparison with analogues === | | === Comparison with analogues === |
− | <!-- ''Give a comparative description of missiles that have firepower equal to this weapon.'' -->
| + | ''Give a comparative description of bombs that have firepower equal to these type of weapons.'' |
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− | The Firestreak has a warhead of 11.2 kg in explosive mass, just less than thrice than that of the [[AIM-9B]], which only contains 4.5 kg. It is also slightly more manoeuvrable than the AIM-9B with a 15 G max overload compared to the AIM-9B's 10 G. Unlike other contemporary IR missiles, it also features the ability to slave to radar, which it shares with its cousin the [[Red Top]].
| + | - Firestreaks have a warhead of 22.7 kilograms, being more than four times as deadly than the AIM-9B which only have 4.5 kilograms. |
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| == Usage in battles == | | == Usage in battles == |
− | <!-- ''Describe situations when you would utilise this missile in-game (vehicle, pillbox, base, etc)'' -->
| + | ''Describe situations when you would utilize this bomb in game (vehicle, pillbox, base, etc)'' |
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− | This missile is not agile. Do not use them on targets that are manoeuvrable as they will easily evade it. Instead, use them on bombers or aircraft which have no energy left to manoeuvre as it will be more difficult for them to evade the missile. | + | This missile is not agile. Do not use them on targets that are manoeuvrable as they will easily evade it. Instead, use them on bombers or aircraft that have no energy left as they will be more difficult for them to evade. |
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− | As this missile seeks infrared radiation (IR), be aware of locking onto other sources of heat which can throw the missile off course such as other teammates, flares and of course, the sun. | + | As this missile seeks infrared radiation (IR), be aware of locking onto other sources of heat that can throw itself off course such as other teammates, flares and of course, the Sun. |
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− | The missile's IR seeker head can be slaved to radar. What this means is that once a pilot establishes a radar lock and activate the missile's seeker, the seeker head will search for heat signatures on the location of your radar lock, rather than directly ahead of it. This is very useful because the missiles have poor G-limits for launching, meaning a pilot needs to maintain an almost straight course to launch the Firestreak. Slaving to radar allows a pilot to automatically "lead" the missile seeker within its range of motion, similar to what can be done with the [[AIM-9G]] and other later missiles after acquiring an IR lock, and can be used to launch missiles from oblique angles.
| + | === Pros and cons === |
| + | ''Summarize and briefly evaluate the weaponry in terms of its characteristics and combat effectiveness. Mark pros and cons as a list.'' |
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− | Like other air-to-air missiles, the Firestreak performs best at altitude where there is less drag from the reduced air concentration, allowing it to maintain the speed it gets from its initial burn time.
| + | '''Pros:''' |
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− | === Pros and cons ===
| + | - Rather large warhead |
− | <!-- ''Summarise and briefly evaluate the weaponry in terms of its characteristics and combat effectiveness. Mark pros and cons as a list.'' -->
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− | '''Pros:'''
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− | * Has the second largest warhead of any air to air missile
| + | '''Cons:''' |
− | * The IR seeker has a fairly wide field of view when slaved to the Javelin, Lightning, or Sea Vixen's radar
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− | * Can be slaved to radar
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− | * Highly receptive proximity fuse
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− | * 15G overload
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− | '''Cons:'''
| + | - Not very agile, easily avoidable at >5G |
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− | * Slightly lower velocity than other missiles | + | * |
− | * Relatively short range compared to counterparts
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| == History == | | == History == |
− | <!-- ''Examine the history of the creation and combat usage of the weapon in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the weapon and adding a block "/History" (example: <nowiki>https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Weapon-name)/History</nowiki>) and add a link to it here using the <code>main</code> template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <code><nowiki><ref></ref></nowiki></code>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <code><nowiki><references /></nowiki></code>.'' -->
| + | ''Examine the history of the creation and combat usage of this weapon. If the historical reference turns out to be too big, take it to a separate article, taking a link to an article about the vehicle and adding a block "/ History" (example: <nowiki>https://wiki.warthunder.com/(weapon-name)/History</nowiki>) and add a link to it here using the <code>main</code> template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <code><nowiki><ref></nowiki></code>, as well as adding them at the end of the article.'' |
− | De Havilland's '''Firestreak''' was the first British infrared guided missile to enter service, arming the [[Javelin F.(A.W.) Mk.9|Gloster Javelin]], [[Sea Vixen F.A.W. Mk.2|de Havilland Sea Vixen]], and, later, the [[Lightning F.6|English Electric Lightning]].
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− | Development was the result of a somewhat confused post-war process that started in 1945 with a very ambitious design known as "Red Hawk". When this proved too complicated, a simpler system known as "Blue Sky" was proposed in 1949 and eventually emerged in 1956 as [[Fireflash]]. Shortly after Fireflash development started, advances in infrared guidance suggested a new look at the original Red Hawk concept, and eventually a specification emerged as "Blue Jay".
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− | Blue Jay began development in November 1951. Many of the technologies were entirely new, and development took considerable time. One significant issue was the size and power requirements of the tube-based electronics, which took up much of the forward quarter of the missile body. This left no room for the warhead, which had to be moved to the rear of the missile, thereby taking up the area that would normally be used for the control fin actuators. These were instead placed in the electronics section, operating the rear-mounted fins using long pushrods. To further complicate it, the power for the actuators were air bottles in the tail. The layout was quite complicated.
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− | The first launches took place in 1955, and it entered service with the RAF in 1957 and the Royal Navy in 1958. Designed specifically for use against bombers and other large targets, it was not particularly manoeuvrable and its overall performance was less than that of the AIM-9 Sidewinder that had entered US service the previous year. It made up for this somewhat with the use of a very large warhead, well over double the weight of Sidewinder's.
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− | Several minor modifications to the basic design were suggested but not implemented. These eventually led to a much more capable upgrade, the [[Red Top|Hawker Siddeley Red Top]].
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| == Media == | | == Media == |
− | ''Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.'' | + | ''An excellent addition to the article would be a video guide, as well as screenshots from the game and photos.'' |
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| == See also == | | == See also == |
| ''Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:'' | | ''Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:'' |
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− | * ''reference to the article about the variant of the weapon;'' | + | * ''reference to the article about the variant of the cannon/machine gun;'' |
| * ''references to approximate analogues by other nations and research trees.'' | | * ''references to approximate analogues by other nations and research trees.'' |
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| == External links == | | == External links == |
− | <!-- ''Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:''
| + | ''Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:'' |
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| * ''topic on the official game forum;'' | | * ''topic on the official game forum;'' |
− | * ''other literature.'' --> | + | * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Firestreak |
− | | + | * ''other literature.'' |
− | * [[Wikipedia:De_Havilland_Firestreak|[Wikipedia<nowiki>]</nowiki> de Havilland Firestreak]]
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| {{Missiles}} | | {{Missiles}} |
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| [[Category:Suspended armaments]] | | [[Category:Suspended armaments]] |
Description
Write an introduction to the article in 2-3 small paragraphs. Briefly tell us about the history of the development and combat using the weaponry and also about its features. Compile a list of air, ground, or naval vehicles that feature this weapon system in the game.
Vehicles equipped with this weapon
General info
Tell us about the tactical and technical characteristics of the bomb.
Effective damage
Describe the type of damage produced by this type of bomb (high explosive, splash damage, etc)
Comparison with analogues
Give a comparative description of bombs that have firepower equal to these type of weapons.
- Firestreaks have a warhead of 22.7 kilograms, being more than four times as deadly than the AIM-9B which only have 4.5 kilograms.
Usage in battles
Describe situations when you would utilize this bomb in game (vehicle, pillbox, base, etc)
This missile is not agile. Do not use them on targets that are manoeuvrable as they will easily evade it. Instead, use them on bombers or aircraft that have no energy left as they will be more difficult for them to evade.
As this missile seeks infrared radiation (IR), be aware of locking onto other sources of heat that can throw itself off course such as other teammates, flares and of course, the Sun.
Pros and cons
Summarize and briefly evaluate the weaponry in terms of its characteristics and combat effectiveness. Mark pros and cons as a list.
Pros:
- Rather large warhead
Cons:
- Not very agile, easily avoidable at >5G
History
Examine the history of the creation and combat usage of this weapon. If the historical reference turns out to be too big, take it to a separate article, taking a link to an article about the vehicle and adding a block "/ History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(weapon-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main
template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref>
, as well as adding them at the end of the article.
Media
An excellent addition to the article would be a video guide, as well as screenshots from the game and photos.
See also
Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:
- reference to the article about the variant of the cannon/machine gun;
- references to approximate analogues by other nations and research trees.
External links
Paste links to sources and external resources, such as: