compact VLS cruise missile, size 1, quadpack (ESSM style), GPS & radar guided
The Hornet is a very compact (1x1x14 blocks) GPS and radar guided VLS cruise missile with a range of 6.5km. Its small size allows packing 4 of them in one 3×3 sized launch tube like ESSM quad packing in a Mk-41 tube. A launch unit (LU) containing 4 missiles and a unit controller allows easy serialization of multiple units. It is likely the smallest non-XML-edited VLS GPS+radar cruise missile currently on the workshop.
This example contains 3 serialized LUs and a control panel. From the control panel input a GPS coordinate (Target Point, or TP), configure the flight profile if needed, then either press a button to launch the next available missile, or input a number (1 to 12) to launch a specific missile. The hatch opens automatically and closes 10 seconds after launch. You can also control each hatch manually. While functional the example is meant for copying and pasting into your own creations (ships, vehicles, stationary batteries) instead of using it as is.
Flight Profile:
Version 3 allows individual control of the cruise altitude and terminal flight profile of the next missile to launch. The missile flies straight up until it reaches 10m/s, then turns and flies towards the TP at the configured cruise altitude (300m by default, configurable from 50m to 1270m). Once it gets close enough to the TP ("terminal flight start distance", 600m by default, configurable from 100m to 3100m), it will start terminal guidance and tries to find and hit the target using either radar (default) or the GPS coordinate. Radar guidance is useful against most targets, incl. ships, vehicles, helos, and unknown targets in a general area. Use GPS guidance against stationary targets with accurate known location (including its altitude), if the target is undetectable by radar (e.g. some structures), or if the target can launch chaff.
The current version uses a higher cruise altitude and steeper diving terminal flight by default. This helps it fly above most hills, and the steep dive helps it find and hit targets hidden behind obstacles. A steeper diving attack also allows use of less accurate target altitude when using GPS terminal guidance. Max range is slightly reduced to 6400m due to the higher initial climb. Max range = 6700m – cruise altitude.
Connecting Launch Units:
To serially connect multiple LUs, just connect the control panel composite out to the CompIn of the first LU (LU 1), then connect CompOut of LU 1 to CompIn of LU 2, CompOut of LU 2 to CompIn of LU 3, etc. This allows you to control all the missiles, by either launching the next available missile or a specific missile. Numerical Channel 7 of the last launch unit’s CompOut will output the total capacity and Channel 8 will output the missiles left in all connected LUs.
You can replace the radar seeker with laser seeker to get a GPS + Laser guided missile. You can add a radio receiver to the missile to get a rudimentary command guided missile by sending the target’s X,Y,Z coordinate via radio. The missile can also work with an inclined / non-VLS launcher.
You’re welcome to add it to your creations but please mention this workshop link in your uploads.
Credit: The missile uses some code from "New physics sensor to Roll/Pitch/Yaw" by Sakyamoney https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2935865697
A 16 Hornet launcher jeep: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3058610820
Hyena MR with 8x Hornet-W missiles, a variant of Hornet with 8x3x1 blocks and 10km range: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3221860391
Update: Recent stormworks changes to broke terminal radar guidance for some situations – the missile may dive below water or impact terrain during terminal radar guided flight. So the default terminal flight altitude was changed to target altitude + 100m (from +50m) for radar guided terminal flight, to workaround the issue.
Update: Recent stormworks changes to subgrids means long range (2km+) missiles need to have their own keepalive blocks to stay active once it flies out of view distance (~2km). This increased the length of the missiles and VLS launch units by 1. The atmosphere related changes also affected ranges, so I removed the longer missiles since the shorter version can now reach 6.5km.
Update (23/11/26): Recent stormworks updates broke this again.
Update (23/12/03): Fixed and much improved version uploaded.
Update (24/01/20): Fixed a bug that prevented use of GPS-only mode.
