Sea Sparrow

The Sea Sparrow Missile is used in a claim by some flerfs to support the flat earth nonsense. As always this is based on lies, misunderstandings, and lies.

The claim goes like this:

1. The Sea sparrow Missile has a long range
2. The ship launching it must paint the target with a "2° RF pencil beam"
3. It goes super far, too far for globe
4. Magic
5. Therefore flat

Each of these steps is incorrect. The Sea sparrow Missile has a long range Here's the claim from Quantum Eraser's toilet paper brand called Welcome to Flat Earth:

Wow! 50km you say? He even quotes a web page and links to it. This is reverse psychology in action. Flerfs won't look, they think that since there's a citation it must be true. But, let's look at the context:

In context the lie is exposed. The system doesn't have a range of 50km, the motor does. That doesn't mean the system does. The citation QE provides doesn't state the range of the system. There are no sources that state the range of the system, this is classified.

Further, the Sea Sparrow is not strictly a surface to surface missile, it's also a Surface to Air missile. QE's entire premise relies on surface to surface only.

The ship launching it must paint the target with a "2° RF pencil beam" 2 degrees is not pencil thin. At 20km a 2° beam is nearly 700m wide. Hardly pencil thin. But, it is true that the radar must pain the target for the Block 1 missile to hit it.

It goes super far, too far for globe QE makes this astounding claim:

"On board ship with a 50-foot radar height, Earth’s curvature should block targets beyond 13.9 km (8.65 miles) by 463 feet, yet the ESSM Block I hits targets over 50 km away."

It's unclear how he computed this. But, you can compute this for yourself using Walter Bislin's Advanced Earth Curve Calculator. According to actual computation, and not even including the real-world effects of refraction there is a predicted blockage of ZERO FEET.

Where did he get the 50 foot height? He doesn't say. Why did he choose 13.9km (8.65 miles)? He doesn't say. Where is the citation that ESSM 1 "hits targets over 50 km away"? He doesn't say. Is this unsubstantiated target on the surface or the air? He doesn't say.

That's a lot of "trust me bro".

Let's see what information is actually available.

How high is the radar? The military doesn't share these details, but simple analysis can answer this question.

The radar is mounted on the elevated superstructure of the ships. Why? To increase rage. If the earth were flat physics/geometry would not require this.

The Ticonderoga-class cruisers are the tallest ships the RIM-162 Sea Sparrow is used with. The bridge eye-height is 64 feet and the parabolic dishes for the radar is above the bridge as seen in the photo.

The ship on the left is a Ticonderoga-class cruiser showing the two parabolic antennas above the bridge.

The dishes are 7.5 feet tall. Looking at the photo, measuring the pixels from the water to the bridge (468px) then the pixels to the center of the dish (78) and using the eye height of the bridge (64 feet) we get at least 10 feet higher than the eye height of the bridge for the center of the dish. Placing the radar at least 74 feet high.

Targeting a ship on the surface will require a large ship, no dingy's. They will be large, at least 30 feet tall.

So, how far under realistic conditions can this radar paint the top half of a 30 foot tall ship across the surface? 18 miles/29 km. Is there any evidence that the Sea Sparrow has ever hit a target this far away? NO!

Does the radar go to farr for the globe? There is no evidence that it does.

Magic This is the essential ingredient for flat earth.

Therefore flat earth This is simply a non-sequitur. Even if everything were correct. You can't even conclude "not globe" if everything he claimed was correct. Since there is a max distance there MUST be curve blocking the radar. The strongest conclusion would be a sphere with a larger radius. This would not match other measurements so be an outlier indicating flawed methodology or a blunder of some sort.

Further Info

Being a flerf, QE doesn't do research. If he did he would know that ships other than the one launching the missile can do the painting.

The Cooperative Engagement Capability gives an overview of how this works. Specifically mentioning the Sea Sparrow.