True. But you’re reading too much in it.

That’s what I said all along.
Either the HMD cue the seeker so that the missile locks onto the target (LOBL), or the HMD is used to designate a target tracked by some sensor(s). In the later case the HMD is used as an input device to select one of the targets tracked by the sensor(s) by simply looking at it. The corresponding track (and not the target bearing) is then passed to the missile’s INS which enable a HOBS/LOAL shot.

If HOBS shot only possible once missiles seeker lock on target then over shoulder shot wouldnt be possible , since obviously the seeker cant look backward. And even in case the missiles seeker lock at target , the only thing it would have known about target at that moment is angular direction ( so basically the samething that HMD could have feed to the missiles).If you were to say that long range shot require target range and velocity to be perfromed then i would agree wholeheartedly, but at short range , there is little reason why bearing on launch isnot enough ( consider that little lead intercepted and no ballistic arc required )

No third party illumination mentioned doesn’t imply there was no tracking involved before the launch occurred.

There is no where in that video mentioned that these fighter lock on target by radar before turning aways and launching missiles , if that was the case then there is no point for the HMD to be mentioned.
there was also claim from MBDA that their missiles can perform LOAL with bearing information from HMD

According to an MBDA statement the firing was conducted from an F/A-18, at low level and “typical fighter speed”, at a target located behind the fighter at a range of more than 5 km. The result was a direct hit on a target drone.
Short-range LOAL engagements are typically undertaken with targeting data from a pilot’s helmet-mounted display (HMD), which allows a target anywhere within the field of view to be designated

In terms of combat avionics, “tacking” means you “know” where a target is, ie a good solid range is a known factor.

That’s why radars have a “detection” range and a “tracking” range.

well , we can go on about this wording all days , but without offcial claim from manufacturer ( like they did with EOTS ), it rather impossible to conclude DAS has passive ranging or not.

You’re mixing things up too. The manufacturer never said what you think he said.
The manufacturer said the HMD can cue the missile, which means one of two things : either designate a target tracked by other means (wherever it is), or make the missile to lock onto the target (LOBL, forward hemisphere).
The manufacturer never said you only need a HMD to enable a successful HOBS LOAL launch.

It is said here that HMD can supply missiles with angular direction

The JHMCS has a magnetic helmet-mounted tracker (like DASH), which determines where the pilot’s head is pointed, combined with a miniature display system that projects information onto the pilot’s visor. A magnetic transmitter unit is fixed to the pilot’s seat and a magnetic field probe is mounted on the helmet to determine where the helmet is actually pointing.

https://www.rockwellcollins.com/Data/Products/Displays/Soldier_Displays/Joint_Helmet_Mounted_Cueing_System.aspx

The Eurofighter Typhoon Helmet Equipment Assembly represents the state-of-the-art for Helmet Mounted Displays. It incorporates a Head Tracking System (HTS) which effectively informs the aircraft system where the pilot is looking. Modern head tracking systems provide better than 1° of accuracy at all viewing angles. This means that the Eurofighter Typhoon pilot can direct missiles to look in the direction of a target and the missile can then be locked on to that target. The pilot can maintain the target visually and designate the target even at angular extremes such as the elusive “over the shoulder” shot. The HMS therefore truly provides a ‘look and shoot’ capability.

https://www.eurofighter.com/news-and-events/2005/06/helmet
According to this

Python-5 and HMD allow over shoulder ( rear hemisphere launch , no third party illuminiation mentioned )

Then the manufacturer adds that LOAL capability allows for HOBS shots, which is true for any LOAL capable missiles, with or without a HMD, provided your sensors got a solid track to feed the INS.

But that the point iam trying to make here
, HMD and LOAL HOBS missiles allow overshoulder point and shot without a third party illumination.

But guess what, add >25% more thrust and nothing changes? Pffft. Formally stated by Austrian AF.

But that is only their static thrust , may be their dynamic thrust at mach 2 doesnt change much

.
The new thing that allows for LOAL is the INS, which requires 3D coordinates and not a vague bearing. Whether you like it or not, that’s how the whole thing works.

i wouldn’t call angular accuracy of 1 degrees at short range is vague TBH. Take for example DAS on F-35 allows 360 degrees shot, no second illumination aircraft needed, even though as an infrared sensor that lacks LRF, it can only provide bearing

I insist that HMD needs to be fed data from other sensors (be it from your aircraft or another one through datalink) to cue a weapon to a target. otherwise, you just shoot the weapon into empty blue sky (from the weapons perspective), give it an approximate direction and hope it manages to find something by itself

My point is that even without another sensor such as IRST or Radar, the HMD itself has an angular tracker, and because it can measure the directions pilot look at, this information can be feed into missiles. The angular direction information came from HMD is no different from the angular direction information came from an IR system, the only difference is that pilots is the one who confirm there is target at that specific direction. In both case the missiles know there is something over that specific direction.Iam not say it is better than a radar lock but it is entirely possible to launch missiles with HMD only.

if you have no sensor that can see the target, your HMD has no clue it is there and displays nothing.

It is a display showing you what the system can tell you, just like an MFD that’s mounted in the instrument panel. The difference is that HMD is mounted in the pilot’s helmet, but what it can display is the same as what an MFD can display – data provided by the aircraft, and, more specifically, the type of data that you programmed it to display. The source is always external to the display device, be it in the instrument panel or on your head. If you can’t grasp something so simple, I can’t help you (and probably nobody else here can)

You dont understand , HMD isnt just a moving display , it doesnt have sensor to see the target directly , but it has a motion tracker to determine what exact direction pilot is looking at , in short it can provide missiles with direction of target ( because pilot know what he look at before he pull the trigger )
Here is another example :

The Eurofighter Typhoon Helmet Equipment Assembly represents the state-of-the-art for Helmet Mounted Displays. It incorporates a Head Tracking System (HTS) which effectively informs the aircraft system where the pilot is looking. Modern head tracking systems provide better than 1° of accuracy at all viewing angles. This means that the Eurofighter Typhoon pilot can direct missiles to look in the direction of a target and the missile can then be locked on to that target. The pilot can maintain the target visually and designate the target even at angular extremes such as the elusive “over the shoulder” shot. The HMS therefore truly provides a ‘look and shoot’ capability.

https://www.eurofighter.com/news-and-events/2005/06/helmet

once more, the HMD alone sees nothing.. it is the sensors outside that bring information from which you can choose what to shoot at. Unless you imagine that you as a pilot tell your missile “hey, go back and see if you find something” you have to admit that you launch at a target that is designated to the missile (even if the missile locks after launch, it has to know the whereabouts of what it’s after). To designate it, you need sensors that are part of your system, be it through aircraft sensors, missiles, pods, or through datalink

But HMD and LOAL missiles does allow missiles to be launch at direction where you dont have sensor coverage

Python-5 on F-16I , F-15I allow 360 degrees shot eventhough there is no sensor looking backward on either of them

HMD didnt tell missiles ” hey go back to see what there , but rather hey there a target at that specific direction , come and see “

no, as HMD has no sensors capable of doing anything else but say its position inside the cockpit, if it can “see” and “lock” something, it is through the sensors on the aircraft (or eventually a missile wired to act as a sensor inside the weapons system)

Technically speaking, isn’t HMD give the missiles angular direction of target? (in case of over shoulder launch where no others sensors could have sense adversary aircraft)