VAF [136] Striker

Have you ever noticed if chaff has any effect on the missile or system performance? IRL it shouldn't have any effect at all since the operator is radio guiding the missile but how it's modeled in DCS World could be different. Also, when you fire the missile you're looking through the optical sight, correct?

Neither system uses any IR missiles. Both the 9M330 for the Tor and the 9M311 for the Tunguska are radio guided with a proximity fuse system.

I'm sorry, I should have stated that the Sa-15 and Sa-19 systems track the aircraft by radar and the missiles are guided by the vehicle via radio. The optical system is a backup. A combination of jammer and chaff may have some effect on the tracking radar but I just don't know about that or how it's modeled in DCS World. I've tried dispensing chaff in the past and haven't noticed any effect. I think it's just a combination of luck and good maneuvering that saved my but on some occasions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2K22_Tunguska https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tor_missile_system

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by pushing the jammer button. The CMS system has four positions, standby, manual, semi, automatic. It does nothing in Standby. In manual you can select the type of system to defend against. In Semi it will choose the correct system but you have to dispense the chaff and flares. In automatic it will do both. the jammer is always on when the power switch is set in the up position. It doesn't really help when you're close to SAM threats for the reason I stated in my earlier post. Chaff will work against all radar guided missiles but will not work against Sa-15 Tor or the Sa-19 Tunguska. Both of these systems track you with a limited range radar but the missile is guided by the operator looking through an optical site. Be advised though that the chaff is only effective against the radar guidance system of the missile itself and not the ground based radar tracking system.

Glad you've found a solution. The jammer does work quite well but it's effectiveness is diminished the closer you get to a radar system. As you approach the system the energy emitted becomes stronger and will burn through any jamming device. It's useless against anything so short range because the focus of the radar beam is too strong. But if you're 40-50 miles away from a Su-27 it will scramble their radar image.

If he's tracking you then he's waiting for you to get inside his launch envelope so he can fire the missile. The lock time is irrelevant since you can be flying at the outside edge of the detection circle and could be in it theoretically forever. The important thing is the threat ranging. When the OSA first appears on your RWR at the outer circle it's at it's maximum detection range. When the symbol enters the inner circle it's within it's firing range. It's a little more complicated than that but RWR is designed to show that when you are within the threat range of any system it will show inside the inner circle. The exceptions are systems like the Big Bird radar (BB). It has a very long range of detection, something like 200 miles so it will show up on the RWR long before the S-300 or Sa-10 can take a shot at 22 miles. But it moves into the inner circle long before the actual threat range. You have to study and know each individual system to know the different symbols. http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=68182

The OSA only has an engagement range of about 6 miles so you can get well within firing range before it can take a shot at you and they're easy to spoof. Keep in mind that with radar systems the tracking range is always greater than the engagement range and they all differ. The tracking range is about 10-12 miles. After you locate the vehicle and have it locked with your TGP, fly straight at it at about 12,000 feet. You will get a good track with the AGM-65D at about 7.7 miles. Fire off as soon as you can and notch him while dropping chaff and then egress from his zone. You'll score a kill every time. Be careful flying into layered defense systems though. The OSA is rarely alone and might be inside the bubble of an Sa-11 or Sa-10 system.

Yeah, I looked it up after I posted. The best explanation I found was if you've just flown past one steerpoint and you want to have a quick visual reference to the direction you'll be turning at your next steerpoint, you set the heading bug for that next heading. It seems like an unnecessary redundancy but I guess it must have been used a lot in the past to end up a standard part of the HSI.

I have a question regarding this subject as well. I've always wondered what the heading bug dial and indicator are used for. I'm very familiar with the course dial, deviation needle and all of that. Someone explained it to me years ago but I don't really remember.

Welcome Andy1966. It's a good community.

Most people here are very happy to help with problems we've all experienced so it's no sweat. We all kind of pay it back from the help we've received over the years from more experienced members. It's just a matter of learning a little at a time and asking when you need it. I'm still learning stuff to. You can be certain that as time goes on you'll be sure to have more questions. Don't hesitate to ask.

Armor piercing rounds like the SABOT used in US tanks and other types of AP rounds will go right through soft targets and hit the terrain and get deflected. HEAT rounds are best used on soft targets like BMP's and soft structures like buildings. The buildings in DCS aren't modeled like in ARMA either. They have something similar to a 2D hit box area so they can only be destroyed by the correct angle. If you go up to them and shoot machine gun and you see the rounds impacting on the surface and making fire and black smoke you're at the correct angle. Added: I know you didn't mention ARMA, I was just using it as a comparison on destructible ground objects. Also, I wanted to mention that you're probably seeing the round go through the structure and impact the ground behind it and then deflected up. ED is completely remodeling the Caucus map so maybe we'll see more advanced structure modeling and destruction in the future.

Thanks Gliptal!

1- Are the MK-82 AIR so imprecise? I keep trying several modes (CCRP or CCIP 3/9) but the bombs are too imprecise. These are the only dumb bombs I keep missing the target. Dumb bombs are very imprecise and the simulation models wind, momentum, angle of approach and many other things in a very precise manner. They take an immense amount of practice to get good using them. Also, you can use LASTE to help with low altitude bombing. It's in the manual. 2- Do you need to paint the target with NWS for the GBU-10/12? They some times fly beyond the target and miss it. Yes, you need to use the laser to guide GBU-10's and 12's. Go into the setup for the TGP and turn "Latch" on and when you lase the target it will stay on. The GBU's need a constant laser pointer to follow. I turn it on about 12-15 seconds before impact, watching the number on the bottom right of the TGP. Don't overuse the laser or leave it on, it will burn out after awhile. 3- What is the mininum angle I can shoot a Maverick? I noticed that when I am at least 30º angle from the target, even with lock the missile will drop but miss the target. Do I need to be pointed at the target to shoot (The F18 doesn't require a direct approach). Do you mean maximum? Minimum AOT would be 0 degrees. You do have a maximum angle and distance. If you go past minimum firing range they will miss. Your ideal firing range is between 7 and 7 1/2 miles and about 20 degrees AOT. 4- In night operations using NVGs, how do I set up the MFDs so that the white text (like NOT SOI) don't blind the rest of the image? I can adjust brightness, contrast and all that, but the letters are always too bright. They are modeled like in real life. If you set the switch to green HUD at night it will help because the green text is not scrambled or fuzzed by the goggles but anything white will be blinding. I turn off the goggles intermittently to look at the MFD's. The MFD's do have a night setting but it only helps so much. Turn your instrument lighting down to where you just need it. 5- Is there a way to adjust the digital clock brightness individually? Whenever I adjust instrument brightness for the front panel the clock turns bright green and is unreadable. Not that I know of but someone else might be able to answer this. It might be tied to the panel light knobs. 6- Why does, every time I touchdown on the runway and vacate it, after a little while there's a master warning, the MFD's blink and then return to normal? Is this normal? It's the EGI (Embedded GPS, Inertial Navigation System) system and from what I understand it's normal for it to do that. 7- How do I setup SADL Ownship and Group IDs? This only matters for working in multiplayer because the AI automatically are on your setting. The important one is the group ID. When you're in MP make sure you're all on the same group ID and no one is sharing an "own ID". 8- Is it possible to assign targets to other planes (AI and MP Players)? A small tutorial would be awesome. Yes, but you have to be on the correct frequency then use the radio menu, for instance, "attack my target" and have something locked up by the TGP. If you're using complex radio management, the AI will only respond if you switch to the UHF AM frequencies. If you're using a mic switch on a HOTAS Warthog that's easy. Otherwise VHF AM is Left Alt & Numpad + and UHF AM is Left Alt & Numpad -. Additional quick question, out of pure curiosity: Why aren't there Radar missiles for the A10C? Those SA-12 would be history quickly. No Sa-12 in DCS World currently but Sa-10's have a range of 22 NM. The only thing currently effective is the Kh-58U that the Su-25T can carry. The A-10C can carry the AGM-65D and they work well on most systems but you have to find them first and lock them up. It doesn't have any SEAD capability in real life either.

This is amazing software and well worth going for the Pro version. We use it all the time for post flight analysis and online debriefings. If you're in a big group I highly recommend getting enough members together to purchase multiple licenses.

Well I can tell you all that all the suggestions worked like a charm. I kept the range indicator to 10 and mapped the antenna adjustment to a HOTAS button so I can change it quickly and I can find the targets almost immediately now. I've also been switching to medium PRF and that helps as well. So I track the target until close then when in CAC switch to IRST and can find them every time now while in rear aspect. If they're notching I switch to bore or vertical and can usually find them either that way or visually anyhow. Thank you for all the help. Great to have such amazing Su-27 experts available for the advise!

Thanks, I understand now. I'll do some more practice with it this evening. I think that I need to just get used to moving that antenna around as quickly as I can. I might make a modifier so that I can use one of my joystick buttons to do the job.

OK, then that would make sense then. So if the contact is below and close the radar cone wouldn't even be illuminating the target. OK, so then that brings up another question. I think I read somewhere that the radar on the Su-27 is designed to point forward all the time within certain parameters. So for instance if you point the nose up at 10 degrees, the radar is still looking forward horizontal and the same thing if you point the nose down 10 degrees. Is that correct or did I misinterpret that? If that's the case then when I nose down and try to illuminate targets it wouldn't necessarily see them unless I manually move the antenna down? But it looks like the only way to find targets that are in close is to be constantly moving the antenna up, down, left and right and setting it to medium PRF and switching from radar to IRST to radar?

It could be a combination of both. I've been setting the radar out to 50 or 60 when tracking them inbound but when they get closer I've been setting it down to 20-30 but maybe I need to set it lower like around 10. I'm pretty sure that as you decrease the range you're widening the angle of the radar cone or is that not correct? Otherwise you'd be constantly adjusting the radar angle which seems unnecessary. The one thing I haven't been doing is switching to medium PRF.

OK thanks. I'll give that a try.

No, they're still coming straight at me for the most part. This is a great example since I've been thinking about it. I'll lock them up temporarily just to locate their position then unlock them. I'll keep doing this and they're still coming straight at me. I'm in interleaved mode and as soon as they get within 15 km I can't find them again. I haven't fired at all they just aren't there any more. Should I have switched to medium at a specific distance. I know that a lot of this is not relevant since I would have fired a missile when in range but if I've already fired one or two shots and they're closing, that's where I'm having the most trouble. Also, I've tried the HMS but I've found that I have to be looking right at them to get a lock. I'm guessing this is working correctly but I've found that bore and vertical scan works better at close range. Is the HMS dependent on the PRF setting too?

I can find targets using "Interleaved" mode all the time without any problem at long range. A good example is I lock a target up at 40-50km with the range set to 60km. Even if the target is jamming I can get a decent lock as soon as the radar burns through the jammer at about 45-50 km. I'll track the target right up to 20km but then when it reaches about 15-20km it just disappears off of the radar. Within 10-15km, no matter what I do I can't get it back on the radar again. I already know what altitude the target is at and it's aspect angle so I know it's not an altitude setting. It has to be something to do with the PRF setting I'm guessing. Can someone explain to me what I'm probably doing wrong.

Good deal, I'm glad that worked. If you would like any help in learning to work the A-10C systems, please don't hesitate to ask like I stated before. We're more of a club for sim pilots and you're welcome to come on our coms any time and we can go over the systems. We do extensive training in the A-10C and know them pretty well. Just send me a PM and I'll get you set up with the Teamspeak info.

Those system specs are more than good enough. I guess I should have asked if you're actually getting a screen freeze like when loading and nothing works at all. Like QuiGon stated, the tutorials are designed to pause while waiting for you to continue by using the space bar. However, if you're actually getting a hard lockup that's more likely a driver issue or a C++ issue. Can you provide more information on what's happening?

Hello GrizzW, and welcome to DCS. There are a couple problems currently with the beta and the regular 1.5 version of DCS World on first trying to install it. Here's a link from ED on what the problems could be and how to fix them. It's turned out that updating C++ usually fixes the freeze problem. Also, make sure that your video card drivers are up to date and your card supports DX11 and DX12. It's also helpful to post your system specifications so we know what you have and can look up some of the prior problems. If you need any additional help, feel free to PM me. If you ever need help with the A-10C you're welcome to hop on our coms. We do training on Wednesday evenings and fly missions on our server on Saturdays. https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/support/faq/556/