Zeus67

Yes.

No problem. I'm glad to be of help. I apologize if the emphasis came a bit too strong but I wanted to make sure that it was clear for everybody the order of the steps for the INS alignment process.

It is a rocker switch. It works either way. In the picture the switch is in the "PCA Selection" position.

That is how you do an INS alignment. FIRST you enter your initial position and THEN you run the alignment process. The process is detailed in the manual.

By default you must align the INS every time you start a mission in the ramp (aircraft COLD). If you don't there is an error bias that will skew the INS navigation. If you start a mission either in the runway or in the air (aircraft HOT), it is assumed that you have already performed the INS alignment. The error bias is 0.0 so INS navigation is exact. There is a Special Options that allows you to start a mission in the ramp with the INS aligned. Select "INS is always aligned" and you won't need to do an INS alignment on mission start. But there is a caveat. A mission builder can override this setting forcing you to do an alignment when starting cold and dark. This option was requested by several MP server masters, so if you want to enter into a MP ask if you will need to do an alignment.

Go here: https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=175260 Plenty of HOTAS profiles for the M-2000C

The waypoint.

Yes, it does. It is called the Module d'Insertion de Paramètres MIP. You can see it in the manual. It is located between the PCN Mode selector and the PCN operational mode knobs. As far as I know, you can even change cartridges in flight.

No. That is a bug I am working on right now.

At this stage it is too late to do that. Training missions and an entire campaign have been created using those identifiers. Changing them will mean having to modify them. Sorry, but it is not possible. We chose MATRA as an easy identifier that allowed us to discriminate between the ED missiles and ours.

By planning before starting the flight. Just like it is done in real life. This is the link to the planning stage: https://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=2930367&postcount=11 Because during the planning stage I choose a specific building, in this case a TACAN station, with a known Lat/Lon/Altitude value. Same thing is done in a real life mission briefing. There always is a map. No bombing mission starts without one. Not even in real life. In a real life mission briefing they will provide you with a list of known geographical points to check for in order to recognize that you are in the right place. It is very easy to get lost in the air. In WWII a B-17 flying towards Germany got lost and landed in Norway. Yeah, the navigator not only missed a country but nearly missed the entire continent. With modern navigational aids it is harder but not impossible. No, you cannot. By definition the IP (Initial Point) is the point from where your bombing run starts. The IP can never be in the same spot where the target is. If you try, the system will declare it an invalid BAD coordinate and will disable INS bombing. Yes. The BAD can have the same elevation as the IP. You are correct. I'll explain below. He didn't. He created a flight plan that had the JTAC position as a waypoint. When the JTAC gave him range and bearing to the target, he could enter those as the BAD and the system engaged. In other words he planned his attack run before he flew the mission. From your statements I am guessing that what you are trying to do is use the M-2000C for CAS. That is you will loiter over the battlefield and will engage in targets of opportunity. Unfortunately this is the wrong aircraft to do that. It was never designed with CAS in mind and the AG capability is secondary to its main purpose: intercept and destroy enemy bombers. This is the type of aircraft that requires a lot of planning before a bombing mission starts with flight plans, known defense mapping, initial point, extraction point, SAR areas, etc. This is not an aircraft that you tell the pilot "Go there and wait for FAC instructions", like the A-10. In AG mode, this is the type of aircraft that your squadron commander comes and tells you: "Tomorrow we will support the 10th armored division in their counter attack. Here are the details." This is why you will always have all the target information at hand before you even start the flight. This is why you will always have the F10 map. This is why you will always know the target elevation in case you have to do an INS bombing run.

As promised here's the brief tutorial video:

Yes. The first time you call ME it will take a while to load the map. Map loading time depends on PC configuration.

Did you select a weapons load in the ME for your wingmen?

Yes. It is fixed in development. I'm checking. I did not have to move the target distance (Rho) but I did find out that if I manually modified the Lat/Lon values for the waypoint so they were over the TACAN station that the BAD would be moved laterally and away from the bridge. I guess that is the reason why. I did not have to do any target movement. All I had to do was calculate the approximate ΔAlt for the bridge span. The ME and F10 maps return the terrain altitude for the river not the span, that is why I measured both bridge shoulders and used them for the span. In my second run I did the bullseye with the bomb hitting the center of the span instead of one of the pillars. Unfortunately the bridge is not destructible and some areas do not have a collision model. Bottom line, there are a lot of conversion problems between maps. DCS use a flat map with coordinates starting from the center. Unfortunately we don't. We use a geographical, in other words spherical, map to plot nav points. DCS loses precision each time it converts from the flat map to the spherical one and viceversa. As far as I know this problem will remain with us until ED changes the maps from a plane to a sphere, but the problems involved with that means that the conversion will take some time.

Input parameters that use integers: ΔL/ΔG, ALT, ΔALT. Input parameters that use one decimal: CP/PD, RD, θ, DEC. Input parameters that use two decimals: L/G, TD, ρ.

The offset between the ME map and the DCS map seems to be an artifact of rounding errors. Similar to the 1 arc-second error when entering the initial position when doing an INS alignment. This error comes from the way DCS itself convert geographical positions from a sphere into a flat map. ED has tried and cannot get rid of it. Of course, flight plan coordinates are more precise than manually entered one. Because they are stored to the last decimal while the others are rounded and lose precision. As much as I'd love to enter 3 decimals for Lat/Lon, I don't have the screen real estate for the LON values. Even the real device does not have the real estate for 3 decimals and that is why it only uses 2.

This is a test mission that I made for 2.0.3. I was trying to solve a problem that somebody had using IP Bombing. It is a by the book mission. First, if you intent to use the INS for bombing a static target it is of utmost importance to plan the mission very careful before starting the flight. In this test mission I have to bomb the bridge by Hoover Dam. 1st. I detailed a flight plan: 2nd. I selected a Waypoint as my IP (Initial Point) and calculated the Offset towards my target: 3rd. I checked the terrain elevation around the target. This is a very important step, if done wrong you will miss the target altogether. 4th. Now that I have determined the true terrain elevation of my target, I make my final calculations: Remember that ΔAlt is NOT the target altitude but the difference between the IP altitude and the target altitude. In this case ΔAlt is -1995 ft. IP altitude (Waypoint 3) is 3553 ft. Bridge Span altitude was determined to be 1558 ft. ΔAlt = IP Alt - Tgt Alt = 3553 - 1558 = 1995. Since the bridge span is at a lower altitude than the IP, then the result must be a negative number so ΔAlt = -1995ft. 5th Climb into the cockpit. After the INS is aligned, you need to select the waypoint that is the IP in the PCN for editing. a. Click on PREP b. Use the numeric keypad to input the waypoint number. For this sample it is 03. c. Click the paramater knob until it is at ΔAlt. d. Enter the ΔAlt value, in feet or meters. In this sample it was entered in feet. e. Click the parameter knob until it is at Rho/Theta (ρ/θ). f. Enter the Rho (distance) value in nautical miles. g. Enter the Theta (true bearing) value in degrees. Continue with the rest of your checklist and start the flight. 6. When you are on route towards the Waypoint selected as the IP, you must: a. Select the bomb you are going to use. b. Select the fuzing you want to use. c. Click Master Arm ON to put the system in AG mode. The system will check that the waypoint has a valid BAD coordinate. If it does, the PI option will appear in the PCA. d. Select the PI option in the PCA. This will mark the waypoint as an IP. The radar will attempt to enter into TAS mode. e. Fly the aircraft towards the IP (Waypoint). f. When near the IP do an INS position update if needed. g. When you overfly the IP the following happens: - The system will give you steer commands towards the BAD (target position). - The FPM will show a couple of "wings" that indicate steering error. - A target cross will appear over the BAD position. It should be over the target. h. Fly towards the cross, trying to keep the FPM wings level. i. Press the trigger when the release cue appear on the HUD. Keep the trigger pressed. j. The release cue will move towards the center of the FPM. Keep the trigger pressed. k. A bomb will be automatically released as soon as the release cue crosses the FPM center and if you have kept the trigger pressed the whole time. l. Release the trigger as soon as the cue disappears. BULLSEYE!!

Flew the mission a second time. This time I got a bullseye. Hit the span dead center. No visual effect on the bridge.

Bugs found and to be killed: - Radar antenna does not move to its intended elevation for position update. - PCN rounds the value of Rho (distance) to an integer. I also found a difference between the map in the ME and the map in DCS. When setting up Waypoint 3 I centered it on the TACAN station building as per the ME map, yet when I arrived at the waypoint I saw that the cross was displaced at least 100 meters from the building in the sim map. Since the coordinates did not change, that means that the ME map and the DCS map have a coordinate difference. This problem merits more testing but it is quite possible that the map builders made a mistake on either the ME or the DCS maps. Not sure if that is the case and I am not calling it for now.

I created a similar mission to the one used by Zaelu. I found some bugs but none related to his main complain.

Do you still have the mission file? Can you submit it?

My guess is because France bought E-2 Hawkeyes from the US and the ground network was superseeded. I was told that unfortunately the TEL system is incompatible with the American datalink.