ME SAM Missiles Questions

[Scud]

So I'm playing in the first ME tourny and in a scenario with helicopters and SAM missiles. The SAMs are all set to shoot stuff down, but they don't. On one turn's replay my opponent's helicopters come into my ground forces line-of-sight (LOS) and one remains in one of my tanks LOS into my turn, although not in LOS of my SAMs. Still, I sort of expected some kind of response, seeing that the SAMs are radar controlled and well within striking distance. Is the reason for the non-firing the flying height of the helicopter, or is there more to it than that? If the helicopters are flying too low for SAMs, is there a way for me to tell? I didn't notice anything by clicking his helo icon, but maybe I missed it?

Will the SAMs auto-fire using their radar even if the aircraft can't be spotted by my ground units, or do they operate in the same fashion as anti-aircraft weapons in WWII CS? In which case their corresponding radar unit is just valuable eye-candy? Not sure. My opponent didn't know either and I couldn't find it referenced in the manual.

Ideally, I would think, if my opponent sends up his helicopters at the right altitude, far to the rear and invisible to my ground forces, but within range of my SAMs, they should fire if long range op fire is on. Correct?

Lastly, if I have the SAMs op-fire off and in the unlikely event my opponent's aircraft become visible to them, am I correct in assuming I can direct fire the SAMs the same way I would any other combat unit?

Dave