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I was watching Behind Enemy Lines, and one of my favourite scenes is the jet attempting to evade the missiles.

All this got me thinking about the Defiant from Deep Space Nine, and some research shows it doesn't have flares for defensive purposes. It's possible by this point in time technology would have made the use of flares obsolete. It's also possible that physics doesn't work that way in space.

Realistically, if you have 2 space craft, can one fire a missile and the other eject flares in an attempt to evade the missile as shown in the clip? If not, what would happen to the missile and flares?

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    ...that clip does not appear to show flares hitting anything. And anyway, flares aren't intended to hit a target, they're intended to be a target to draw missiles away or otherwise disrupt their ability to track the aircraft, since real missiles can't turn around for another try. The intent is to evade the missile, not destroy it. – Christopher James Huff Oct 01 '21 at 18:46
  • @ChristopherJamesHuff - Okay, this sort of makes my question invalid. Let me see if I can clear it up based on what you said. –  Oct 01 '21 at 18:47
  • In space "drop" may not be the right word. – Rodo Oct 01 '21 at 18:47
  • @Rodo - I'm going to clear up my question based on the feedback in the comments, what would be the right word? –  Oct 01 '21 at 18:48
  • I'm no English major but drop means it is falling to the ground. How about "eject". – Rodo Oct 01 '21 at 18:49
  • @Rodo - Sounds good! –  Oct 01 '21 at 18:49
  • @ChristopherJamesHuff - How about now? –  Oct 01 '21 at 18:52
  • @Rodo - Okay, seems better. –  Oct 01 '21 at 19:03
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    Good grief, that clip is hilarious. – Russell Borogove Oct 01 '21 at 19:55
  • @RussellBorogove - Ha! There is a navy pilot on Youtube that explains all the problems with that scene. For example, the missile chasing the jet, won't have happened that way. –  Oct 01 '21 at 20:14
  • Not "flare," but what David Cage said: "countermeasures." Heat-seeking anti-aircraft missiles home in on anything that looks like the hot exhaust from a jet engine. Flares mimic that. The spacecraft in "Star Trek" do not necessarily emit hot plumes of gas, so a missile that homes in on such a spacecraft might be looking for something else--some other "signature" (e.g., some hand-wavey, science-y sounding subatomic particle stuff.) The countermeasures against such missiles would do whatever it takes to emit the same "signature," and thus, hopefully become the missile's target. – Solomon Slow Oct 03 '21 at 16:01

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Yes of course.

I think that correct military terms aren't heat flares, but ejectable (dispensable) countermeasures.

Actually, one spacecraft firing missiles using infrared homing guidance systems and second spacecraft try to evade them with some type of heat countermeasure is exactly how realistic space battle could look like.

Forget Star Wars, realistic space battles could look much more like underwater battles from movie The Hunt for Red October https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099810/. Highly likely with nuclear weapons instead of conventional warheads, because they are much more powerful and radiation contamination in deep space won't be big deal for warring factions.

In case that missiles will be guided by radar systems, you can disrupt missile tracking with radar jamming from defending spacecraft.

But in case that enemy will use long range nuclear missile with infrared homing guidance, it could be good type of defense against attack. Other than that, you can directly destroy upcoming nuclear missile with your defense missiles, but you must done it before it came to close for nuclear explosion to hit your spacecraft.

David Cage
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  • As exciting as the clip is from the movie, it would in no way be as fast paced as that, correct? The fact that it happens in space would have no effect on the flares? The flares are dropped, but in space would it just sit there? –  Oct 01 '21 at 20:26
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    Not sure what you mean by fast-paced. In space there is no air resistance. Speed of heat flares (I would call them rather heat countermeasures) depend on force with which you eject them from the spacecraft. In deep space they can keep this speed indefinitely, because there is nothing to slow them down. And if you defend your spacecraft from long range nuclear missile you must eject them long time enough, before missile come too close. So no, it wouldn't be so fast-paced like in the movie. – David Cage Oct 01 '21 at 20:42
  • @EmpressSvetlana Engagements in space are likely to occur at great distances, but the weapons would move at great velocity. So there might be a big wait between firing a missile and waiting for it to arrive, but if you're firing waves of them then once the first wave arrives things are happening very quickly. I guess if you're winning the engagement by keeping the enemy missiles far away, then things stay slow. The "faster" it gets for you, the more likely you are to be losing the fight. – Harabeck Oct 01 '21 at 20:43
  • @Harabeck - So realistically, heat flares won't be of any use? Consider, as you said if you fire waves of missiles. –  Oct 01 '21 at 20:45
  • When I said fast pace, I guess it's just the way it's filmed. From the time the missiles are launched Owen Wilson and the navigator are in full alert/scramble mode (for good reason). In space, from the time of being alerted of a missile, you probably won't be scrambling so fast to evade them. As you pointed out it would be like Red October. –  Oct 01 '21 at 20:49
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    @EmpressSvetlana I think they could be useful, though I'm not sure calling them merely "flares" is very precise. You'd be firing waves of offensive missiles as well as defensive missiles designed to confuse or kill the enemy missiles. You might set of nukes to try and blind sensors, etc. – Harabeck Oct 01 '21 at 20:50
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    @EmpressSvetlana Primary defense should be firing multiple defense missiles on upcoming nuclear warhead and try to destroy it before it come too close to your spacecraft. But I don't see reason why you cant have heat countermeasures as your other defense system, for example in case you run out off all your defense missiles. – David Cage Oct 01 '21 at 20:52
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    @DavidCage - So to the larger question, the DS9 craft Defiant could have heat flares, assuming the missiles fired at it can track a heat source, and assuming the Defiant produces one. –  Oct 01 '21 at 20:56
  • maybe it's useful to note that this isn't just a theoretical issue: decoys against tracking anti-satellite weapons are a concern now - and it has been suggested that some "inspector" espionage sats have already deployed radar decoys to defeat tracking. https://satelliteobservation.net/2018/03/08/contested-space-ii-countermeasures/ – 0xDBFB7 Oct 01 '21 at 21:01
  • with the benefit of sci-fi, future ships like Defiant are usually written to have sophisticated broad-spectrum sensors, with the ability to machinery inside ships, and so decoys and flares would be much less helpful. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Excalibur may be relevant. – 0xDBFB7 Oct 01 '21 at 21:05
  • @EmpressSvetlana Every crewed spacecraft in deep space should produce heat. Even if it engines are turned off, there need to be working reactor for crew life support systems. If crewed spacecraft produce enough heat, long range missile with infrared homing should be able to track it even on very large distances. – David Cage Oct 01 '21 at 21:09
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    Simple flares are also only effective against very simple trackers that just chase the brightest thing they can lock onto. A real world decoy may have to have a similar power output, similar surface temperature, and similar surface area to what it's decoying. It may need to imitate the real propulsion system as well, and things like radar signatures...in reality, you may be better off just bringing two ships to the fight. – Christopher James Huff Oct 02 '21 at 00:01