Painbow SAM

== Overview ==
The lovingly named Painbow Fire-And-Forget Surface to Air Missile is a favorite of Iron Horde troopers. It is a single-fire launcher with an intelligent lock-on system that can overcome multiple modern counter-measures such as flare deployments or ECM units. With an engagement range of over 8,000m, the Painbow creates a blanket of anti-air cover where PVT aircrafts fear to tread. The missile began as a program in Y4161 by Iordanov Electronics Systems to produce an improved variant of their earlier model, the Skyhawk SAM. The weapon is easy to carry by a single soldier, along with a large pack of missile ammunition. While it has not been long in the Iron Horde's arsenal, it proved to be effective in the Battle of Rubik Oasis in Y4164, and sporadic small engagements with PVT forces over the last decade.
=== History ===
==== The Skyhawk SAM ====
Production of the Skyhawk ran from Y4085-Y4098, with a total production of around 150,000 missiles. With such military success, the program was accepted for further development as the Skyhawk Mod 2 by the Iron Ordinance Department and designated the Skyhawk Mod 2 SAM. Because of technical difficulties that dogged testing, the first launch was not until Y4103. In the current era, the Skyhawk's tracking protocols have needed routine updating as countermeasures have changed and improved. The Skyhawk's reprogrammable microprocessor had ultimately become obsolete in Y4146, and a service life extension kept the Mod 2 in service until Y4156. With the arsenal declining from obsolescence, in Y4159 the IOD issued a request to military electronics manufacturer Iordanov Electronics Systems for a replacement SAM system. Their design specifications needed new system to be compatible with mounted launcher systems used on the Iron Horde's current air defense assets and be able to defeat fixed and rotary-wing aircraft, as well as or better than the Skyhawk. Within a year, IES was able to design a competent weapon system in the Painbow Mod 1. Live testing for the Painbow began in Y4161 which proved very successful, outperforming the current iteration of the Skyhawk by all metrics. Full production of the new and improved Painbow SAM began in Y4161, being deployed later that year into scouting units on remote outposts of the Synovian Desert. 
==== Battle of Rubik Oasis ====
The Painbow's combat debut occurred during the Battle of Rubik Oasis in Y4164, fought between the elements of the Iron Horde Army and the Pax-Viribus Military. At the onset of the conflict soldiers of the Iron Horde's Strike Yellow Combat Engineer Battalion had been clandestinely equipped with sixty Painbow missiles, having received thorough training for the weapon system prior to the engagement. Unfortunately for the Iron Horde, the convoy that was en-route to Rubik Oasis was ambushed by PVT raiders, losing a third of their ordinance in the fight. On T2Y4164M37 an IH squad of Combat Engineers engaged and shot down three PVT GAA-7 Wyverns with Painbow SAMs. One week later, engineers brought down four MTU Albatross Helicopters by Painbow missile fire, in the vicinity of the Piazza Mesa Formation. By the battle's end, the PVT took 1,116 casualties while the IC only took 248.
=== Features ===
==== Advanced Rosette Scanning ====
Advanced Rosette Scanning improves upon the IR scanning algorithms traditionally used in heat-seeking weapon systems by adding a gimbal-suspended laser telemetry unit in the missile's nose cone. The unit can accurately determine which heat signatures are legitimate targets and which are likely to be fake, negating the effects of advanced ecm systems and counter-flare technology.
==== Microwave Defense Protocols ====
In order to combat against missiles fired to counter the Painbow's own missile, a LRMLA (Long Range Microwave Laser Apparatus) is installed in each missile. Once the missile has reached an altitude of 5,000 feet the apparatus will arm, tracking for any possible incoming counter-missiles. If detected, the system will activate, firing microwave radiation in the direction of the offending projectile. This countermeasure is effective in neutralizing a counter-missile's target acquisition capabilities, if not destroying it outright.