Hmm...so many questions from the deep and distant past. I don't recall what load the Mirages were carrying just that their missiles were shinier and undoubtedly more reliable in practice than ours. Both my live-fire Redtops performed some sort of exotic air display off the rail then unceremoniously plummeted into Cardigan Bay. As for the Redtop's head on capability, when you mention a 13-mile "acquisition" by the seeker head I very much doubt it but I'll wait to be reprimanded by an IWI. As I recall our head on Redtop attack profiles were about us going very supersonic against a high-flying target which was also going very fast and creating enough heat to enable the Redtop to fuse and detonate in time as it inevitably passed by whistling a tune. Whilst the uncomplicated Firestreak was more straighforward...see target heat source (at its rear), go to heat source, go bang! Never in all my DACT sorties was any kind of head-on engagement planned...always sneak up behind them...almost everyone else had a legitimate head-on capability whilst we didn't. It's why in the final years the two Lightning Squadrons became a glorified close-in dog fight training resource, no more.