Matra R550 Magic 2
| This page is about the French air-to-air missile Matra R550 Magic 2. For the other version, see Matra R550 Magic 1. |
Contents
Description
The Matra R550 Magic 2 is a French infrared homing air-to-air missile and was introduced during Update "Wind of Change".
Vehicles equipped with this weapon
General info
| Missile characteristics | |
|---|---|
| Mass | 89 kg |
| Guidance | IR |
| Aspect | All-aspects |
| Lock range (rear-aspect) | 6 km |
| Lock range (all-aspect) | 3 km |
| ECCM | Yes |
| Launch range | 10 km |
| Maximum speed | 3 M |
| Maximum overload | 35 G |
| Missile guidance time | 25 secs |
| Explosive mass (TNT eq.) | 9.6 kg |
Effective damage
Highest Explosive mass out of all short range missiles, making it quite good at dealing damage and reliably crippling and destroying enemies.
Comparison with analogues
Compared to competitors such as the R-60M or AIM-9L, the Magic 2 exerts a huge amount of force on itself due to the incredibly high thrust applied by its booster, thus meaning it has acceleration on par with missiles such as the PL-5B, a missile renowned for excellent flight performance.
Usage in battles
The Matra R550 Magic 2 works incredibly effectively as a short-range air-to-air missile, capable of pulling hard turns in very small distances.
At sea level, the Matra R550 Magic 2 is capable of destroying targets within 150 m to 2,500 m (assuming they're travelling directly away from your aircraft). This range is only attainable if the enemy aircraft does not manoeuvre - due to the Magic 2's G overload of 35G, it can pull incredibly high angle of attack (AoA) manoeuvres at the cost of its energy. Therefore, if an enemy performs a gentle turn the Matra R550 Magic 2 will burn a substantial proportion of its energy. Therefore, for a guaranteed kill, launching within 1.7 km of your target at sea level is recommended.
Of course at higher altitudes the Magic 2 performs substantially better. Because there is less air resistance at higher altitudes, missiles are capable of travelling substantially further than they can at sea level. At altitudes around 5,000 m, you can safely launch your Magic at an enemy plane travelling away from you at 3.5 km, assuming that plane is travelling at an almost identical speed to you. If they are travelling slower, then obviously you can launch at higher distances - this also applies to engagements at sea level. As well as this, due to planes struggling to be able to perform high G manoeuvres at higher altitudes (due to smaller amounts of air flow under the wings), the Magic 2 will always manage to out perform an enemy aircraft in turning performance so, if you're fighting a Mirage F1 at high altitudes, do not turn - cut your afterburner and drop a substantial amount of flares before turning to the left, right or down (do not go up, this only bleeds your energy further).
This also leads on nicely to another great feature of the Magic 2 - Infrared Counter-Countermeasures. Once fired, the FoV of the seeker will get substantially smaller, making the missile less susceptible at detecting Flares deployed by the target. Overall, it is very reliable when shot from side and rear aspects, and fired from as close as possible.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Very high overload factor
- Very high initial acceleration
- All-aspect missile, making it possible to shoot planes coming at you, and has an easier time locking enemies from the sides from further away
- IRCCM
- Low motor burn time, meaning the enemy will only have 2 seconds to see the missile and react to it after it was fired. It then becomes invisible after the motor burnt out.
Cons:
- Low motor burn time of 2 seconds, meaning it has a hard time hitting targets above 1.5 km when chasing
- Prone to flares when not in rear-aspect
- Loses energy quite fast once the motor finishes burning
History
The R550 Matra Magic 2, a French short-range air-to-air missile, was developed in the late 1970s with advanced infrared homing and improved maneuverability. It first saw combat in the Falklands War in 1982, used by Argentine aircraft. While it gained international use in subsequent conflicts, it has since been replaced by more modern missiles due to advancing technology.
Media
Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, 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 weapon;
- references to approximate analogues by other nations and research trees.
External links
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- topic on the official game forum;
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