Ok. My understanding is that a ‘fire and forget’ missile has it’s own internal tracking system that requires no help from the plane to guide it to it’s target, and therefore, after launch, the pilot can leave the area or do whatever he wants, the missile is completely independent of the firer… such as, say, the stinger missile.
Ok, great.
Except, over time, I’ve heard reporters refer to missiles as “fire and forget” which clearly weren’t, such as the AGM-114 Hellfire missile. No big deal, I thought - reporters usually don’t have their details straight.
Except recently I’ve heard different military analysts, such as ex-generals, also saying that. I recall specifically talking about the AIM-120 AMRAAM (which requires radar ‘painting’ from the plane until the second half of it’s flight envelope until it comes into terminal guidance mode) and the AGM-114 Hellfire (Non-K versions required the helicopter or other source to project a laser for the missile to track. The 114K is guided by reflected radar waves generated by the longbow radar on the target).
Neither missile, by my understanding, and the definition I used above, fit that description. So, is everyone wrong, including military analysts, or do I have some fundamental misunderstanding about what ‘fire and forget’ means?