You can place cameras anywhere, they don't need to be right next to what is being targeted. Nearer ranges will allow AI to misidentify at much higher rates than max standoff ranges of an AIM-120C.
Yeah but what about the AI? Have you thought about the AI that would be running it, which never misses, and would totally be a useful existing thing? 😉
Just for reference: JWST has an optical resolution of 0.07 arcseconds. It’s a mirror 22 feet in diameter though, not something you’d put inside a missile guidance package.
Although, we would still need to get it back here... Okay so first we send two more rockets after it!
One to return it on and one with the/a human engineer on board to pack it back up.
I mean we can hardly have it return while unpacked. That would damage the delicate heat baffles! And we need those to shield it from the rockt engine at the back of our missile so it doesn't start targeting itself because it no longer knows where it is/isn't...
and then also dealing with the F-35 itself, even if you managed to lock on and target it, it will have anti-warfare capabilities you have to contend with.
Yeah, sure. But that doesn't matter if you point the AI at it with a really good zoom lens, though. And then you have a ton of them, pointed in an directions, like the compound eye of a fly. F35 spotted.