You’re intuition is correct when the jet has already passed ahead—those are very hard to catch and shoot down. But usually you detect an aircraft when it’s heading towards you, and all the missile has to do is intercept. It doesn’t even have to be faster than the jet (unless the jet detected it in time and does a 180).
You’re intuition is correct when the jet has already passed ahead—those are very hard to catch and shoot down. But usually you detect an aircraft when it’s heading towards you, and all the missile has to do is intercept. It doesn’t even have to be faster than the jet (unless the jet detected it in time and does a 180).