DarkFire

I'm not an Eagle expert so can't comment on the radar issue. On the subject of the MiG-31, the 31 is capable of going much faster and a bit higher than you can reasonably do, and their missiles have a significantly longer range than yours do. In this case what you need to do is deny his advantage: use terrain masking to deny them a firing solution then when you think the MiG is in range use your significantly superior maneuverability to gain an advantage. Your missiles are reliable (both the AIM-120 and AIM-9M) which should help you get a kill. The worst thing you can do against a MiG-31 is stay high and fast because this will play to his advantages. Against the MiG-29S? This is a much more difficult opponent if you allow yourself to be sucked in to a WVR turning fight. Your Eagle does however have very significant advantages in BVR combat over the MiG: your radar has a much longer detection and lock range, your missiles are more reliable and the AIM-120 offers you the ability to fire at range and then turn away or crank, denying the 29S a firing solution and forcing them on the defensive. Hope this helps.

Every time you contact an airfield or AWACS (if there are multiple ones airborne) the closest one to you is always shown at the top of the list, and all the rest are ordered in descending order of increasing distance. This can be very useful if you experience an emergency because you won't have to calculate which airfield is closest - just contact the one at the top of the list and they'll give you range & bearing to the field. Hope this helps.

Thanks, I just read your other thread. That clears that up then as far as our Flanker goes. Very interesting, thanks for posting that video. Provided that HUD cam footage is from an Su-27S and not a more modern version, ours appears to be missing quite a few HUD elements that the real one features. Hopefully these might be added at some point.

So in reality the whole 'change PRF while in STT mode' is a red herring? That would explain why the HUD doesn't show the PRF mode in STT: because in reality it's fixed to high PRF for missile guidance.

This. The 3 minute figure is a nod to reality, nothing more. Your navigation system will be completely accurate if you move off immediately after starting engines.

That's what I would imagine happens. Given that in STT mode the radar is clearly able to determine target aspect it would be logical for it to be able to adjust PRF on the fly to suit. Somewhat frustratingly the Su-27 flight manual is silent on the subject, hence my wondering if the real Su-27 manual mentions what happens. With regards to the missile tracking problem, and the susceptibility to being decoyed by expendables, the problem is and has always been the '%decoy' mechanic that controls how chaff effects missile lock. Until the system is re-modelled to be a more sophisticated EM-centroid tracking model with all that goes with it, the issue will persist. Hopefully the missile guidance review that ED is or will be conducting will make things more realistic. Maybe in the mean time the CM susceptibility figures for missiles can be tweaked a bit so that they better reflect what little evidence there is in the public domain for actual combat-conditions SARH missile performance.

I know this has been discussed before (can't seem to find the thread now) but are we sure that the PRF actually changes in STT mode when the toggle PRF command is given to the radar? Does the actual Flanker manual have anything to say on this specific situation?

Depends on the range to the launch aircraft. If you're just inside the enemy Rmax then it's fairly straightforward to simply turn away which will kinematically defeat the launched missile. Inside Rtr it's a different matter. The usual response is to put the missile on the beam (your 3-9 line), descend as fast as possible, increase speed, release countermeasures and if you can see the missile coming carry out a last second maximum ITR turn. It's much easier to defeat a SAM: you need to place the computed intercept point for the missile at below ground level so that the SAM will crash in to the ground before getting to you. If you're at high altitude this normally requires a maximum effort dive. The longer you have to do this the better, so in this instance defeating a Patriot or S-300 can actually be easier than defeating an SA-11 or similar.

I was under the impression that the EOS / laser rangefinder has (in reality) the capability of directing the radar in missile guidance mode at a target if the radar itself can't achieve a lock. I guess the effectiveness of this would be entirely dependant on how accurately the radar beam could be maintained on the target. Good enough for a proximity fuse activation?

What I've been able to gather from open source research: R-27P/EP: the only evidence for these that I've been able to find was a Janes article from way back in 2004, stating that the 'standard' P version had allegedly been released for export. The report claimed that the seeker head had a detection range of ~200Km which was significantly better than either the R-27 or R-27E missile body aerodynamic performance, and that it operated at centimetric wavelengths and was therefore capable against fighter targets and more modern AWACS platforms such as the E-3. I can't find any evidence of it actually having been bought by the Russian PVO or Air Force, or ever having been carried by an Su-27 or any derivative thereof. R-27-EM: Supposedly a variant optimised for low level engagements, and destined to be carried by the Su-27K / Su-33, this variant allegedly had a ~110Km range, with Janes noting that it "probably" entered service in circa 1990. Again, no evidence that it actually did or that it's ever been carried or deployed by a Russian Navy Su-33. R-27-AE: Supposedly an active-seeker version of the R-27E, this variant appears to have been cancelled in favour of the R-77 which supposedly entered service at around the time that the R-27AE project was cancelled. What probably happened: Vympel had all sorts of ideas for enhancing R-27 and R-27E variants, but the financial collapse of 1990 --> lead to most if not all the 'advanced' R-27/E versions being cancelled in favour of the R-77 family, which appears to have only entered very limited service itself. This is pure conjecture, but I would imagine that if/when the K-77 and K-77M enter service on the T-50, along with the K-74 as an R-73 replacement, I'd expect to see those newer missiles standardised across the entire AF / Navy fighter fleets. With no immediately imminent major war, it would make sense for a cash-strapped Russian ministry of defence to defer upgrades of the R-27 platform and simply wait until the more advanced K-77 series is procured, with the current R-27 and R-27E being considered 'good enough' in the interim. Whether or not Vympel will be allowed to continue development of more advanced versions of the R-27 platform for export is another question entirely.

Ah good. I wonder if we'll get the full 90-degree-off-bore, LOAL capability version.

I could just about see the point of not getting the Meteor as it doesn't really exist yet, but not having at least the ASRAAM will be a bit of a blow, especially since there have been Typhoon F2's sitting on QRA with them mounted since late 2007.

Or the Typhoon with its 4 x METEOR or AIM-120-C7 + 6 x ASRAAM or IRIS-T + 3 tanks. Hence my earlier comment about the Russian 'side' of things gradually trailing the NATO aircraft offerings in DCS. I think most of us Su-27 pilots like a challenge, but there comes a time when you end up trying to bring the proverbial 'knife to a gun fight'. I can honestly envisage a scenario in which there will be literally about 20 people willing and able to fly the Su-27 in anything other than a SP mission :(

Good call, I agree 100%. To add to this it would be nice to be able to add notes to the map, associated with drop pins and place markers.

What we now know as DCS World did indeed start with the Su-27, however both it and the F-15C have amongst the most refined flight models, if not the most refined, of any DCS aircraft.

Agree 100%. If ED produced a DCS-standard Su-27SM they could name their price and I'd unhesitatingly pay on day 1 of the pre-order. I think ED's philosophy and approach has moved on since FC3 was released, and I doubt we'll ever see an FC4 as the current policy seems to be that going forwards all modules will now be produced to full DCS standard, at least the 1st and official 3rd party ones. Who knows? Maybe if and when the Russian VKS has replaced all it's Su-27s with T-50's and Su-35's then maybe we might get an Su-27SM, but until then I think it's unfortunately not going to happen. Similarly with all Russian 4/4+ gen aircraft. I'd be pleased but amazed if either Sukhoi or MiG made an official agreement as happened with Kamov for the Ka-50. Personally I don't subscribe to the argument that FC3 aircraft are some sort of 'easy mode' merely because they don't feature clicky cockpits - quite the opposite - but with increasingly modern NATO birds like the F/A-18 and (eventually) the Typhoon, the Su-27 and -33 are going to be increasingly difficult to match up against the competition, particularly when it comes to BVR performance and SA :(

No, mine's also a .doff.lua file. Weird that the problem is different at different airports.

Moreover, there's no evidence that the Russian AF actually bought any baseline R-77's. The missiles currently deployed on Su-35's in Syria are likely the R-77-1 (Objekt 170) or the like. Hence, no R-77 on our Su-27S. For what it's worth I feel that it would be entirely appropriate for the DCS Su-27 to be upgraded to the Su-27SM variant.

This suggests to me that you have a corrupted input file which might be affecting the MiG & Su-33. Try looking at the input files in this directory: C:\Users\(you)\Saved Games\DCS.openbeta\Config\Input\su-33\joystick\ See if your joystick is listed with a .lua file in this directory.

Great video by Ralfi. Even though I'm a beginner Eagle pilot I'm looking forwards to playing through this campaign :thumbup:

Are you using a HOTAS setup that has toe brakes? Might be worth checking that one of the brakes isn't engaged slightly.

Without knowing anything official I think the Mud Hen is still on the official Razbam road map. That being said, I think we'll probably have to wait until things like ground radar and multi-seat AI (from the F/A-18 and F-14 respectively) are done & working first. Bit off topic but I'd love to get a Tornado GR4. We can but dream :D

The basic Su-27S that we have in DCS World was designed to work with AWACS and/or EWR. Although the Su-27 was designed to be fully capable of autonomous operation for e.g. escort missions, for air defence and interception missions it was designed to operate always with the assistance of ground controlled intercept (GCI). Soviet doctrine was that an interceptor's radar would only be used to lock on to a bandit for final engagement and missile guidance, with EWR or AWACS guiding the interceptor pilot in to position. Hence, the ability to set expected range-to-target and expected target elevation to ensure maximum chance of locking on to a designated intercept target. For situations where you do not have any AWACS or EWR support, you have the ability to adjust the scan zone of your radar by adjusting the vertical elevation. Note that adjusting the expected target range does not change the output power of your radar, simply the distance at which the center of the radar cone points at the set altitude. If you imagine a cone with the center pointed at a specified place in 3D space, with the center point being controlled by the settings you use for expected target altitude & expected target range. Although very old by now, these youtube videos offer some good explanations of how the N-001 radar works on the DCS Su-27: Part 1: Part 2: I'd also strongly recommend watching Ironhand's training videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU1LW888jCR6IZ7crfdZxDg This thread also contains some very useful discussion on radar use: https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=140032 On the subject of the data link: if you have AWACS and/or EWR support, your head-down-display will show you a top-down view of the battle space around you with all friendly & enemy contact data sent to your aircraft via the data link. If you do not have AWACS or EWR support but you have AI wingmen, your HDD will display contacts from your radar and information on contacts that have been detected by your wingmen. Pay attention to your HDD: along with your radar and SPo-15 radar warning receiver it will be one of the best sources of situational awareness for you. The symbology of the HDD unfortunately isn't all that intuitive so I'd suggest reading this thread for more information: https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=160144 Hope this all helps. Keep working on it: it's all very confusing at first but when you get the hang of it and become confident in radar manipulation (which you will in time) you'll get a great sense of satisfaction.

Maybe it's my setup but I've never got it to work on the roll channel, not once :( I'll re-check it to make sure...

Keep in mind that the trim reset only works on the pitch (and possibly yaw) channels of the ACS. This will not reset your roll trim.