DSplayer

Yeah I just modified the original shoulder_aim54 function to include the modified position function.

Last time I tried that, the Sparrows didn't even show up. I think full fidelity ED modules are a lot less tolerant to getting loaded custom missiles. You can physically mount them onto the pylons but it won't show up in the SMS page and you can't fire them. I'll give it another go and see what happens now. EDIT: Yep. Missile doesn't even exist on the SMS page. It knows that something is there but can't do anything with it. Even jettisoning it doesn't work.

I made a quick update (V1.1) using @Redounet's little improvement as a base to help get me started on how to fix the position of the missile on the pylon. Now the pylon stays where is supposed to be while also the missile sitting exactly where it should fit. I also made the missile more accurate since the values from the original Hawk LUA seems to make it super inaccurate. It doesn't help the old API making the missile do super hard turns but its better than missing outright when tracking. Update should be posted already so feel free to update. Honestly quite surprised at the amount of traction this mod got even though I made it at like 3 AM

How did you do that? I was trying for 3 hours trying to get it to move at all.

Some Persian Cat gameplay

Unfortunately it doesn’t.

I just made a super rough AIM-23 Hawk mod for the F-14 Tomcat. Link to mod: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3323002/ Changelog: V1.0 - Initial Release V1.1 - Fixed missile pylon positioning (Huge thanks to Redounet for some help in initially fixing the issue), Missile accuracy increased (I had previously used the values from the SAM missile files but it made the missile miss pretty badly. V1.2 - Increased CCM ability and removed the need for a separate AIM-23 EDM file. V1.2A - Updated luas to OB 2.7.15.26783 V1.3 - Updated luas to OB 2.7.16.27869 (includes latest AIM-54 updates), added PN to the AIM-23, and added an appropriate white and red AIM-23 texture courtesy of bennyboy9800. V1.4 - New file structure that no longer requires an update after new patch drops which changes Weapons.lua (less work for me yay) V1.5 - Updated for OB 2.7.17.29493. V1.5.1 - Zipped with OvGME so you can just drag and drop the zipped mod into your DCS mod repo (zipped folder no longer has the version number in filename). V1.5.2 - Updated for OB 2.8.3.37556. V1.5.3 - Drag increased on the AIM-23, HB weapon loadout limitations added. V1.5.4 - Updated for TARPS and other changes made in previous OBs. V1.5.5 - Hotfix to actually make the TARPS usable. V1.5.6 - Updated for latest DCS patch (as of 2024-03-05) V1.5.7 - Updated for 2.9.6.57650 V1.5.8 - Updated for 2.9.9.2406 V1.5.9 - Updated for 2.9.14.8222 | Updated AIM-23 FM to match new MIM-23 FM.

Will there be the implementation of a distance from target or distance from secondary selected object available for telemetry export? It would be really helpful when trying to measure the effectiveness of missiles.

I'm going to dump my graphs here: With my extensive testing, I've come to the conclusion that I already knew: the AIM-54s are faster this patch. Test parameters: Launched at Mach 1.0 at 40000 ft (active pause on) at an ace AI target flying Mach 0.85 at 30000 ft hot aspect in TWS with target size at small. All utilizing track files (when comparing the new and old at the same distance) for the most accuracy in terms of distance fired and what the AI does to defend. I used the OB 2.7.15.25026 as the version I conducted my testing it, I only reverted the Weapons.lua file to the older OB 2.7.14.24228 patch in order to test for the old drag numbers. This does mean that the improvement to the AIM-54 guidance effects the values I have here. A discrepancy I had noticed is that the AI will defend the missile at 10nms even though its supposed to go active at around 6nms when using Target Size Small. Actual Conclusion: AIM-54s overall go faster and because of that speed, they loft to a lower altitude while also maintaining a higher speed at those lower altitudes. The speed increase is most effective at long range shots as the lofting flight profile has the most induced drag and as you get closer, the loft gets less and less dramatic which results in less effects from the new reduced induced drag. It is important to note that the Mk47 motor variants have rather poor performance against maneuvering targets. Graphs: AIM-54A-Mk60 AIM-54A-Mk47 AIM-54C-Mk47 Bonus AIM-54A-Mk60 Graph. This includes the Weapons.lua file from OB 2.7.3.8494 this means its before the drag values were modified to match the CFD values found in the whitepaper. It's also very easy to notice the time of the flight where the missile had took a hard turn (4.9Gs max) in order to align itself before going active.

Currently the only way you can edit and selecting the F-14's cockpit textures is by putting them in the "F14B_cockpit" or "F14A_cockpit" texture folder in the Saved Games folder (or the Mods folder in the root DCS installation). However, you can only have 1 cockpit texture mod installed at a time since you cannot select what mods you want to use in the Special menu (the "Customized Cockpit" seen in basically every other aircraft). Just a little quality of life change since it's bit of a pain to get change the files every time you want a different cockpit (especially if you're not using OVGME). F-14 Special Menu currently Possible F-14 Special Menu with Customized Cockpit Option

This problem is especially noticeable against high speed targets that are almost beaming at longer ranges. That will cause the AIM-54 to just lag behind and the target doesn't even have to put that much effort in defending the missile.

Currently aircraft equipped with TPODs can only point track other fighter sized aircraft at a range of 20nms. This is even though in IR modes (WHOT and BHOT) with the new FLIR system you can distinctly see a contrast between the aircraft and the sky behind them at a range of 40nms (around the range of where planes render visually) and a TPOD should be able to lock this pretty discernable target out of the sky. Can we expect an increase in the range where you an point track other fighter sized aircraft? LITENING pod on the F-18 seeing a target (J-11A) at 42nms. This target cannot be locked up even though there is a clear contrast:

With the new 54 guidance change, I noticed when the missiles go active and if the target is doing evasive maneuvers, the missiles do hard G twitches when it loses lock (it doesn't look as smooth as it was earlier) which is similar to the behavior that it had before the big AIM-54 fix this earlier year. Kind of a double edged sword since it seems like it can pull more instantaneous Gs but you can also have problems where the missile decides to just twitch so much that it could lose a lot of energy. What I did notice in terms of speed was that the AIM-54A-Mk60 was once again able to reach beyond Mach 5 when launched at higher altitudes (for my test it was ~54000ft) and was able to maintain a speed of Mach 4.5 while cruising onto the target (launched from ~92nms away) with a pretty good terminal energy too. Image of that 92nm test's telemetry chart: Perhaps maybe explaining what "Reduced AIM-54 induced drag.", "Returned to original guidance parameters thanks to a guidance fix by ED.", and "ED: AA missiles. Corrected target tracking extrapolation." means in terms of what happens to the missile's energy and what happens when the missile goes active will probably help us a lot when we're trying to understand what the changes did. EDIT: I redid the test on the same mission and parameters but this time I used the older Weapons.lua file from the previous OB patch that I had copied. There does seem to be a slight difference with the speed along with flight path that it took since it shaved off about 3-5 seconds from the TTI. The speed increase is most prevalent with the Mk47 motor variants. They seem to cruise at slightly above Mach 3.3 now (closer to high Mach 3.3s for the Mk47C and high Mach 3.5s for the Mk47A) compared to when they used to cruise below Mach 3.5 (closer to Mach 3.34 for the Mk47A on the old LUA and Mach 2.94 for the AIM-54C). That's a pretty substantial increase all while the AIM-54C still gets to go super high compared to the other 2 variants and is still takes the longest of the 3 to hit the target. Overall, that induced drag reduction really helps the AIM-54 get speed at that initial lofting phase along with the descent phase. What differences the original guidance parameters really did remains to be seen imo. Old LUA Mk60: New Weapons.lua excluding AIM-54A-Mk60 (In order: Mk47A, Mk47C) New LUA excluding Mk60 (In order: Mk47A, Mk47C) PHXTestNewLUA.acmi PHXTestOldLUA.acmi

I just learned that some of the F-4s later (RF-4Cs, F-4Es, and F-4Gs) on in US service (and some that got transferred to foreign air forces) had a single piece windshield. From what I could gather, this was a retrofit that was supposed to be added to every aircraft but all the F-4s were basically retired before the upgrade could be fitted in any actual large quantities. Pretty cool stuff ngl. Images: An F-4G from the 37th Tactical Fighter Wing: A diagram from "The Phantom Story" by Anthony M Thornborough: Reference material from the book "The Modern Phantom Guide: The F-4 Phantom Exposed" by Jake Melampy:

Those Air Force variants would probably be included on the Iranian F-14 model.

Maybe that new improved guidance via datalink and INS could allow for you to lose lock and then pick it back up and the Sparrow would keep tracking without missing a beat.

Relating to the release date again:

Can I get like an official document source for that? I need to yell at someone about the proximity fuse on the AIM-54 and how it should be around 15 meters.

The Mk47 motor on the AIM-54C does have a weaker impulse than the motor on the AIM-54A-Mk47. That combined with the increased weight causes the missile to perform worse than the AIM-54A-Mk47 kinematically.

HB was going to give an update on possible discoveries relating to the AIM-54C a couple months back but nothing came out yet.

A human RIO cannot move the radar beam once a Phoenix has been employed however. But they can mark targets as Do Not Attack and drop the TID range down to make the AWG-9 ignore them. With Jester, you can only drop down the TID range to make the AWG-9 ignore contacts in the back.

Not a real Tomcat SME but TWS is limited to ±20° 4 bar scan and ±40° 2 bar scan. A pretty small chunk of sky it has to scan in comparison to the more flexible RWS. Maybe with the APG-71 this changed and the scan volume could’ve been larger.

I am still having the problem where Jester decides to switch to the TCS from the LANTIRN pod after detecting an enemy aircraft within visual range.

Any update on this update?