ARH and SARH missiles do not give themselves away in any way until they are seen by the pilot/radar.

[vague bolt]

ARH and SARH missiles do not give themselves away in any way until they are seen by the pilot/radar.
This is wrong, because the aircraft has systems for detecting radiation from radars.
You should know about SARH as soon as it flew at you.
For ARH, the radar turns on at +-12 km, and the warning should be activated from this distance.
The video is attached

[elfin spruce]

dang that's crazy

invisible missiles 😭

[dire lance]

https://tenor.com/view/metal-gear-solid-snake-big-boss-gif-12248663

[wind blade]

Triple stratolance pincer attack is rough buddy.

The SARH radars were pinging you with yellow line meaning you were detected. That's the only kind of warning it gives except if the missiles themselves are detected. Although if it targets you for longer, at least for ships and boltstrikes, the radar pings stay red.
For stratolance, you should simply assume they have fired at you if you are within 50km and getting yellow pings. Their missile flames are also visible, even in this video, from 19-20sec. If they are firing at you they will seem to become static.

ARH in game is definitely noticable by its radar pings before the missile get detected. It pings much faster than other radar sources, so it's recognizable audibly, and you'll see its accompanying grey radar pings getting closer fast. There'll also be a radar emission icon in the HUD.

It is hard to predict what is realistic for future radar mechanics. Especially with the powerful datalink knowledge? During the Indian Pakistan conflict of 2025 airplanes were downed and some say they didn't get radar warnings or anything beforehand idk.
Radar pinging can work less recognizably in the future perhaps.

[merry pawn]

AESA radars are effectively undetectible to modern RWR systems, and they are a composite of low emission wavelengths. so its more of a buzz than a chirp. so being able to tell if 1 or 7 radars are ranging you is very difficult. (plus active sweep and all sorts of fun stuff)

[proud palm]

This is not a bug, it is simply how missile detection and warning currently works. Perhaps there can be changes, but this is the expected result.

[vague bolt]

That sounds like a bug. What's even the point of RWR systems then? Missiles are just invisible and only appear when someone spots them. Radar mechanics shouldn't work like this. The aircraft sees it's in a hard lock and a missile has been launched at it, which means there should be a warning about it.
That is indeed how it operates in reality, and consequently how it should be implemented in a game that strives for +- realism.

[proud palm]

this is how current mechanics work, they can surely be changed, but it is not a bug

[wind blade]

I think it gets more likely the color of RWR radar pings gets removed again than that missiles immediately giving warning. It would mean that stratolance always gives a warning the entire time, and then it's simply not dangerous enough. Your team should be rewarded if someone takes an AWACs/ doesn't loose its radars, then you'll never be surprised by enemy missiles.

Mitch has said in an interview one of the things he was most proud of in Nuclear Option is how the datalinks works, it shares all information, but still it allows for stealth and surprisal. This is intended.

[wind blade]

Hard lock the entire time etc is the case nowadays/ in the past. People explained it's already starting to get more complicated than that. Let alone in 2070 with this datalink which should just be able to guide everything until the last 4 seconds for an accurate hit.

[vague bolt]

But Stratolance and ship radars maintain a hard lock on the target because they use SARH missiles with semi-active radar homing. The same Scimitars and other fighter missiles are ARH—meaning they fly via datalink and activate their own radar only when they are close to the enemy aircraft. After the missile itself acquires the target, in this case, a sudden warning appears on the RWR.

[wind blade]

The RWR does give ARH warning (fast RWR, obviously approaching fast) and except for stratolance it also gives it for SARH (red line RWR, you are targeted by the thing that is emiting radar).
That Stratolance does it differently (because the radar is not the one that fires at you, the launchers do that) should probably change and may be considered a bug.

I think every missile should give a warning quite early if we are talking about super realistic 2070 tech. It's already quite easy to see which missiles are coming for you anyway. With 3D knowledge, including past trajectories, and calculating the alternatives, it should often be super easy to identify every missile heading for you if it is identified, regardless of radar emission.

[vague bolt]

Overall, the frustrating thing is that missiles can only be detected visually and datalink, not by actual radar lock. And that would be worth refining.

[mighty fractal]

The RWR can detect a radar painting you, but cannot detect the passive seeker homing in on the resulting radar return.
The game already gives very generous (and unrealistic) color-coding for radar pings (if the ping isn't red, the radar isn't holding a lock) plus precise distance and notch indicators for missile warnings, and if you have decent sensor coverage you can often see ARHs on datalink long before they become a threat: just don't rely 100% on the instrumentation, especially not when your team has poor sensor coverage.

[vague bolt]

The issue is that there was no red radar lock indication on the mini-map from either of the launch platforms.

[bitter oracle]

it does this for ARHs now too though, it used to universally give a warning at 10km for those but now only does so when you spot it which is confusing since the ARHs switch to terminal seekers at 10km which is when the RWR should kick in