Hit with low-level projectile from an off-map location?

[12Bravo]

I've been playing the "Attack on Zalissya" battle as part of the "Shield of Kiev" campaign.  My OPLAT tank's APS system was triggered by what appeared to be a AT round flying along at ground level.  What is odd is, the shot came from off-map and from behind (Blue/friendly side of battle map).  I understand that artillery and air assets are off-map and maybe I was hit by one of these, but it seems unlikely since the shot is so low and it appears to not be a rocket or missile fired from aircraft.  Also, after my tank was hit, it took no action (other the the automatic APS system); e.g. triggering smoke and repositioning toward the direction of the attack.

This doesn't seem to be correct to me, but maybe my lack of understanding the engine.  Any thoughts?

Attached screen shots

[domfluff]

Popping smoke and slewing to face is a function of the laser warning receiver, so even non-laser guided ATGMs won't trigger that behaviour (Javelin, AT-13, etc.). So the lack of that behaviour isn't surprising.

Off-map artillery has a specific direction, and comes from a designated map edge, so it's not impossible sometimes that this can be a mistake and produce a weird result, but this doesn't look like artillery.

That really leaves two options - either a hidden ATGM team in an area that you have bypassed, or air assets. Air assets also use a friendly map edge, but they do multiple passes, and are represented in physical space (albeit invisibly). That last point means that geometrically you'll sometimes see some long ranged attacks come in very low - the aircraft might be at high altitude, but at maximum range, so the angle of incidence might be very shallow.

[12Bravo]

Thnx domfluff for your response.  I think the aircraft at high altitude/max range sounds like the most feasible answer.  I do have a couple of anti-air assets in the rear, but they could have missed this if the aircraft was at high enough altitude.

[MikeyD]

Striking a vehicle from the rear is a classic aircraft anti-tank tactic. If its coming in from a low angle its likely a helicopter, if it comes in from a high-ish angle its likely from an fixed wing aircraft.

[Holman]

Does CM model undetected aircraft?

My assumption has been that we always hear aircraft when they are making an attack.

[domfluff]

Good question, and I don't know the answer. With ground vehicles, the game will only play sound if the vehicle is spotted (unless the difficulty is low), and aircraft have a physical presence on the map, so it's not impossible that it won't play unless something sees it.

Obviously you're quite likely to spot an aircraft in general, and the noise could be masked by other things.