Do missiles actually chase fighter jets from behind like in movies?

[GKABS]

No, not even close for a number of reasons.

They fly much faster than their target so they do not have to chase; they overtake you quickly without any problem from behind and with little if any maneuvering. They are 3 times faster than you. The average time of rocket burn for a missile is only 3 -5 seconds. Of course their flight will last considerably longer as they glide and slow down but still track.

They normally fly in a straight line or curvilinear path with very few corrections. They either hit you quickly on one pass, or they miss you forever. There is no “chasing”. The average of time of flight for a missile was only a number of seconds depending upon its range from target.

The missile launches I have seen in movies are ridiculous.

Does a bullet “chase” its target? While a SAM may change its trajectory somewhat in flight, it still flies more like a bullet and chasing is out of the question. How Long Can a Missile Follow an Enemy Fighter Jet?

“A U.S. Air Force Republic F-105D Thunderchief trailing fire and smoke just after interception by an SA-2 missile on February 14, 1968. The SA-2 did not actually hit an aircraft — the warhead was detonated by a command from the tracking radar or by a proximity fuse in the missile when it neared the target, throwing deadly fragments over a wide area. The pilot, Robert Malcolm Elliot (1929-1968), was killed. His body was not recovered until 1998.” (Wikipedia)

By John Chesire

Former Fighter Pilot

[daddyairplanes]

2 hours ago, GKABS said:

By John Chesire

Former Fighter Pilot

his material is great on Quora. unfortunatly he passed away a few years back

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his answer of course discounts the top secret work done by ACME. 

 (Sonoran Desert freedom fighter on a dinner logistics run)

or more recently the hijacked shipment used to down Owen Wilson and his pilot in Behind Enemy Lines 

[GKABS]

11 minutes ago, daddyairplanes said:

his material is great on Quora. unfortunatly he passed away a few years back

That is sad really. 

[daddyairplanes]

it is, but he was a Vietnam vet, and that war is almost a full half century behind us. its odd to see the Nam vets now looking like the WW2 vets did when i was a teenager. but then again this OIF/OEF vet is looking like the Nam vets did 30 years ago. time moves on

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if you like going through Quora, try following Dave Tussey. he was an A-7 driver and was at the Pentagon when alot of the decisions about todays fleet (F-22, NATF, A-12, B-2) went down iirc. a few others pop up here and there as well 

theres also this dude Kevin U that shoots his mouth off alot. says he's an amatuer historian 

[Gepard]

In a close dogfight a modern air to air missile, like R-73, AIM-9X, Phyton 4 or IRIS-T are agile enough to curve with a fighter plane, that tries to escape. So the answer, whether a missile is chasing a plane, is: when fired on the enemies tale, yes.

[daddyairplanes]

2 hours ago, Gepard said:

In a close dogfight a modern air to air missile, like R-73, AIM-9X, Phyton 4 or IRIS-T are agile enough to curve with a fighter plane, that tries to escape. So the answer, whether a missile is chasing a plane, is: when fired on the enemies tale, yes.

true, but not in the spirit of the original Quora question (ive seen it, pretty sure i made my ACME joke there too)

it was asking if theyll follow like in a movie or cartoon. to which the answer is no

and even your named missiles are less likely to succeed if the motor is burnt out and theyre coasting into target. more common for a RL engagement at distance than a Hollywood engagement where the opponents see each others faces.

not impossible, but if the pilot is aware he was fired on not a solid 100% PK either

[GKABS]

5 minutes ago, daddyairplanes said:

true, but not in the spirit of the original Quora question (ive seen it, pretty sure i made my ACME joke there too)

it was asking if theyll follow like in a movie or cartoon. to which the answer is no

That wss the question your correct 

[Avgeek2010]

No, not really. They Lead to some extent.