ASAP

It is to correct errors between where the wagon wheel is showing in the HUD vs where the actual maverick is looking. think of it like matching your rifle scope up to where it is actually pointed. If you lock onto a target with the maverick and look outside the wagon wheel should be right on top of the target you locked onto. If the wagon wheel is a mils ofset to the left for instance, you'd press adjust, move the wagon wheel onto the target using the DMS buttons, and then hit enter on the UFC to reset the new wagon wheel location. When a new maverick is installed on the jet, the missile is boresighted looking straight ahead of the missile and not ahead of the jet. the wagon wheel is not going to be in the center of the HUD where the pilot wants it it will be low and left/right depending on which side the missile is on. Additionally, until a maverick is boresighted properly it CANNOT be slaved to SPI because the jet doesn't really know where it's looking. Just prior to takeoff in arming, pilots run the depressible pipper in the HUD down to the desired mil depression where they want the reticle to be and turn their maverick EO power on. Shortly after takeoff before getting into the working airspace the wingman normally locks the maverick onto the flight lead, sets coolie switch to the center position which puts the missile in boresite mode, flies to put the aircraft exactly at the location of the depressible pipper and hits TMS forward, they then move the coolie switch back to forward/aft as applicable. That boresites the missile to where the jet wants it to look. THEN the pilot presses the ADJ button, and uses DMS to make sure the wagon wheel is exactly where the maverick is pointed. (i.e. if the maverick is locked onto the flight leads left engine, the reticle should be moved over the left engine). DCS skips all that because its a lot, its technical, and it would be more difficult to sim. in DCS everything always has a perfect boresight and shoots straight. Real A-10 pilots also treat mavericks like a visual delivery and fly the reticle onto the target prior to looking inside and slewing the maverick around to make sure they have a good lock on the target vs the standard DCS slave all to spi, hit TMS forward, trust that it worked (IRL it would not) and RIFLE. CCRP is for level deliveries when you have a good steerpoint, markpoint, TGP LOS on the target and you want to fly straight and level and drop the bomb on that SPI. most PGMs are employed like that. CCIP CR is just a submode of CCIP. CCIP is when you want to look outside, put the pipper on the actual target and drop bombs on them. typically free fall dumb bombs and forward firing ordinance. CR comes into play when a pilot does his normal delivery, but generally because of winds, the actual release solution is below HUD field of view. The pilot does his dive bomb normally, except when his pipper gets to the target and the pilot hits the pickle button, the bombs don't fall off the jet, they wait until the release cue falls through the pipper before the bombs come off. Generally with most deliveries the CR is an extra second or two. how accurate do you want your delivery to be? Should the bomb fall of the jet when the release cue falls below the pipper? (3/9) or do you want to make sure the release cue is lined up within five mils of the pipper in order to release, and if the pipper is outside that you abort? (5 mil) For a PGM that is going to navigate itself to the target, 3/9 is fine, because I don't have to be percise. If I'm doing dumb bomb deliveries I probably want to make sure I'm actually pointed very accurately at the target (5 mil). If I'm going to fly in very low far into bad guy land with a heavy draggy can of CBU I want them to come off the jet no matter what when I'm over the target area, if they miss I still need them for suppressive effects, now maybe I'm thinking 3/9 again.

I don't think any real world pilots want obogs either for that matter

No it doesn't. You are thinking about the F-16's dive toss. The A-10 can't do that. The CCIP solution assumes that the flight path marker stays frozen. You need to continue your dive until weapons release. It is not a dive toss mode. The CR is more for situation where you have a low mil depression because of the delivery you are doing and because of winds the solution is pushed out of the bottom of the HUD. You put the pipper on the target and you continue down the same wire until weapons release. It should only take an extra second or two for the solution. Times you'd see it is a low altitude level delivery of CBU or something with a low mil depression and winds force you to have to basically be over the top of the target, or a 30 HADB type delivery where the mill depression is like 300 mils and near the bottom of the HUD in a no wind condition. The CCIP pipper is doing the trigonometry based on the jets current parameters. If you hit the pipper and then start your 4 G safe escape you are going to invalidate that solution and lob the bomb well long of the target.

I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that you're 10 miles away from the thing you are looking at vs 5 like in the first picture and your SA cue is all the way to edge of the screen in all of them....

It would be great if we could actually display the laser mask zone like in the real aircraft and use the SA cue to stay out of it.

How far away is the thing you are trying to put your HMD SPI on? The SPI will switch to STEERPT whenever the current SPI becomes invalid. I'm not sure what the range requirements are for the jet to be able to make a valid HMD SPI but I don't think its infinite. Does it work if you look at something close in? The behavior you are describing sounds like the jet is deciding the SPI is not valid and reverting to steerpoint though.

It is accurately simulated for an A-10 thats pre suit-10. You can load it as a different type of rocket... but that just puts the rocket on a ballistic profile assuming no guidance at all. It probably isn't going to put the rocket initially at an angle where it is going see the laser spot either.

It doesn't work the same way because the CCRP solution for all the other rockets is to loft an unguided rocket. APKWS is guided and would require a different solution that presents a LAR. Current A-10's have a CCRP AGR-20 HUD mode, it did not have it for a long time, and its not currently simulated in the game.

The top screen shot is the HUD in EGI mode, the bottom is in HARS. HARS is a backup mode if the EGI fails. you should basically always be in EGI mode. You select which mode you are on the NMSP on the center console. After you get your EGI alignment in startup you need to manually select EGI because it defaults to HARS. There are a lot more differences between the two modes other than just the TVV though. You can't do computed deliveries in HARS mode.

Again, QFE is not used by the Air Force, or our NATO allies air forces. If you need to know how high you are above the ground look at your radar altimeter.

Aim point matters, against the head, probably not. But vehicles are not armored equally all around. There's a lot of unarmored vulnerable looking stuff near the back. Though thats mostly because the artists just added a lot of greeble to make it more visually interesting. But, a single grenade in the undercarriage takes one of them down in the movie so I'd buy it.

Yup, that sounds right. Thanks! Thats what I get for going purely off memory The IFFCC is either going to release it at the ORP or the ballistic release point based on what you tell it to do in the profile. Neither of those are going to try and give the bomb more energy. The ballistic release point will try and drop it so that it has exactly as much energy as it needs to get to the target assuming the finds are streamlined. I remember reading somewhere that under most, but not all, circumstances the ORP is further out from the target because.... reasons... I think ORP is trying to maximize the bombs chances to see the laser spot, but I might be wrong about that. In either case, the reason the bomb tends to fall short is because of the design of the guidance logic and the tail fins full-deflection "bang-bang" guidance the bomb bleeds energy and is prone to falling short if not employed correctly.

I'm not sure how much of a difference it will make, but here is something you can try. in the DSMS profile for the GBU-12 change one of the options from OPT to BAL (I unfortunately can't remember the name of the option, but it should be fairly obvious because its the only one set to OPT). Opt makes the bomb release at the ideal spot to find the laser, BAL (short for ballistic) makes the bomb release at the best ballistic trajectory to hit the target. See if that helps with it falling short at all. Additionally. If you are down low I recommend turning the laser on just prior to pickling and leaving it on until the bomb hits. Delay lasing would probably cause more issues than its worth.

The results you talked about sound reasonable and accurate. There's a lot to breakdown here: Perfect. Put your SPI at the base of the target, missing short is generally better than missing long because bomb impact angles and fragmentation patterns. CCRP is very accurate even from much higher up. The ballistics of a conical fin MK-82 are very well understood and the computer does an excellent job of putting a dumb bomb right where you want it. The limiting factor in a level CCRP delivery is YOU being able to get the pipper right on the ASL. Of course, the winds blow. The jet has its own wind table that you shouldn't (but can) mess with. Its possible they will push the bomb off the target especially if there is elevated terrain making the wind whip around and unusual velocities and angles through the bombs flight path, but in general the jet does a great job of calculating winds into the release parameters. IRL there is a minimum guide time for the GBU-12 to be able to hit its target which drives a minimum altitude you can release the bomb. Also the lower you get the more you have to deal with things like podium effect. If you drop the bomb in one spot and then fly over the target, 15 seconds later the laser might be pointed at the back side of the target where the bomb can't see the laser spot. The issue is not as pronounced up high as it is down low. Just like with your SPI, pickle at the base of the target. Factor in your reaction time between when you think "Time to pickle" and when the button is actually depressed. If you continually miss long, pickle shorter of the target. CCIP diving deliveries require some skill and know how to do correctly. Unfortunately there isn't anything official teaching you how to do that in DCS. There are some good videos out there that attempt to explain it. IRL any diving delivery is flown with specific parameters. Its not as simple as tipping in and killing something. You would do a specific delivery like a 30 degree dive bomb or a 45 degree high altitude dive bomb for instance. Those each have a very specific base altitude and offset, and then you roll in and point at a specific aim off distance from the target, and set the target at a "Initial Target Placement" in the HUD. You'd also set your desired release cue over the target, which is based on your desired time of fall which is also set by the delivery you are trying to do. All that is to say that CCIP deliveries are complicated and need to be practiced and you don't have the required data you need to do it correctly, so missing isn't surprising, and I wouldn't stress too much about it. CCRP is way more accurate than your average DCS user doing diving dumb bomb deliveries because CCIP is difficult to do correctly. As far as laser guided bomb accuracy, there are some nuances that might be causing issues trying to use them down low. Without seeing you actually use them I can't speak to why they are less accurate. The GBU-12 if unguided or not guided properly is draggy and I would expect it to fall short.

The A-10 never had a range advantage, you didn't lose anything. The AGM-65 and AIM-9 are two totally different weapons that are completely independent of each other. I'm not sure what you are getting at by saying they are tied together, no relationship exists. The 18Km range for an AIM-9M that you are expecting just isn't a thing. that is way beyond its actual range. The 3-4 range is fairly accurate under certain conditions, its actually a rather long range shot in most cases. There's no radar integration the AIM-9 needs to see a certain wattage of IR energy in order to get good lock. The missile can actually lock onto a target way beyond its kinematic range. The A-10 pilot has to look at the bandit and assess its relative size to determine if they are within the range. TLDR: I think your expectations are the issue, not the simulation.

In real life they do not. They process with any kind of aggressive maneuvering and need to be manually recaged.

Word of caution. The TGP B/S button does boresight the TGP to whatever mil setting you enter, but the A-10's systems and TGP DO NOT behave the same way as the F-16 CZ. My understanding is that when you slew around the TGP in the F-16 you are also moving all the steer points along with it and it is a very important habit pattern to CZ the TGP lest your bombs go who knows where. In the A-10 that is not the case. Your SPI and steer points are 100% independent of your TGP (unless your TGP line of sight SPI obviously, then wherever the TGP is pointed is your current SPI). In practicality, there is no real reason to need to boresight your TGP in the A-10. That is a different habit pattern, with different HOTAS, from a different jet, which was designed to function differently, for a different mission. The typical work flow in the A-10 is you get a target grid, dump it into a steer point on the CDU, and slave the TGP to steer point with CHINA HAT AFT LONG. Then you can slew the TGP around, find your target and either take a mark which you can make SPI, or use the mark to update a new steer point/overwrite your original steer point. OR (my personal least favorite option for a lot of reasons) you can make TGP line of sight SPI with TMS FORWARD LONG and then the dead center of the crosshairs is your SPI. The default state of the TGP is generally slaved to your steerpoint (Which should in all cases be at 0 AGL not floating uselessly in the sky somewhere like most mission designers like to make it). Typically if you need to move your SPI around rapidly the best way to do it is with HMCS and DMS RIGHT HOLD while looking over the rail at the area you want to get your pod into. Please note, new people very often confuse TGP line of sight SPI with taking a mark. When you hit TMS forward long you are not "making a SPI" of what your targeting pod is looking at when you hit the button, you do that by making a mark point. When you make TGP line of sight SPI, the center of the crosshairs is your SPI, so when you move the crosshairs around, or your pod is drifting in INR for instance, your SPI is moving around as well. If you want to capture the think you are looking and make it an enduring SPI, you want to take a mark.

Not a bug. If you are trying to drop a JDAM and you interrupt the release process by quick pickling you have a few seconds to mash the button again and hope you are still in LAR for the bomb to come off. If you don't depress and hold the pickle button before leaving the LAR you are now the proud owner of a 500/2000lb paperweight.

In the sim, it's probably a key binding issue if I had to guess. TO start with, check the bindings for the eng operate switch. If they are moved to motor somehow or placed in iGN it would cause the light to come on. If its an actual airplane issue... If the engine is below a specific RPM (I think it's 56% but I might be wrong), which is well below min idle RPM, and the throttle is placed in idle the start cycle will initiate automatically. what are the engines idling at? That would mean that your engines have some other bigger underlying issue.

Re-cage it and uncage it. That SAI is trash and has resulted in numerous mishaps because it has a tendency to process pretty badly. Pilots have to become slightly neurotic about re-caging it especially if any weather is in the AO. Otherwise you'd find out it's processed exactly when you need it the most.

That part is accurate. If for instance maintenance asked a pilot to leave the flaps down when they shut down because they need to inspect something, the next pilot should make sure the flap lever is in the correct position that matches the physical placement of the flaps. That way they don't start moving on as soon as the the hydraulic system pressurizes during engine start which could potentially be hazardous.

This is inaccurate. The correct position for the flaps is UP when the aircraft is shutdown. As the pilot pulls into the parking spot after a flight they open the speed breaks and lower the flaps for the crew chief to inspect them. Unless the crew chief asks the pilot to leave them down after checking them, the standard procedure is to raise the flaps and close the speed breaks prior to shutting down the engines.

Hell yeah brother!

IRL the altimeter will always start in pneumatic. It should allow you to switch it to electric once AC power is applied to the jet. checking that pneumatic and electric altimeter matches withing 75' of each other is one of the startup checklist items.

I realize this can't be used as the evidence that ED is looking for, but literally every A-10 pilot I have ever spoken with has said the opposite of what you are saying here. They have to fight the tendency to ride the brakes to keep it under the 25 knot taxi speed. They pretty much all say that the A-10 will taxi at 40 knots under idle power if you let it. I get what you are saying and I fully appreciate that you need fact based evidence before committing to a change. Grand scheme of things, this is a really small thing that doesn't really effect anything... But the sound difference between idle and even slightly pushed up is significant and noticeable, as any maintainer who has done an engine run could tell you. The aircraft I see do it routinely are on a level flat apron and their taxi weight is around 41K.