Vampyr

Bump. I ran into this today and was surprised to see that this bug has been around since at least last year. Steps to reproduce: Load BRU-42: 3x LAU-131 on A-10C II (other types of rocket loadouts seem fine) Expend all rockets Expected: rockets should no longer be visible in the pods. Actual: rockets are still visible in the pods. Attaching another quick track from today that demonstrates the issue. a10_rkt_bug.trk

Aren't we eventually getting IDM on the DCS Viper? Wouldn't that give JTACs the ability to send digital 9-lines to our Viper? Source: https://www.f-16.net/f-16_versions_article2.html

The A-10 has two antennae on its ventral side near the fuel dump mast. I noticed that one of them (which I believe is the "VHF/FM radio and homing antenna") looks different from one aircraft to another. On some aircraft it's swept back, while on others its not. Does anyone know what this is all about? I have attached a picture with a red arrow to illustrate the difference.

Will the Viper ever get support for receiving "digital" 9-lines over the datalink similar to what the A-10C II has? We're currently limited to receiving 9-lines over radio which is very cumbersome and tedious. I checked out the roadmap and I don't see it there.

bump

I bought a WinWing Orion 2 base with an F-16EX grip recently, and my order came with two plastic gaskets and an instruction sheet telling me to install one of the gaskets depending on how much offset/angle I want between the grip and the base. I installed one of the gaskets and now the grip doesn't screw in all the way because the gaskets are 2-3mm thick. The base + grip seem stable enough and there's no twist in there at all. Am I doing this right? Will this cause issues down the road (e.g. ruining the threads on the grip or base)? Pictures below.

Sorry... I stand corrected. LOS was not the issue. It's simpler than that. I simply wasn't following the JTAC's instructions correctly, and that was resulting in them stopping the lase upon weapons release. I would actually hear them say "abort" but couldn't figure out why. For some reason I thought that they'd continue lasing after aborting, which is not the case. Chalk it down to me not understanding the JTAC's instructions. If the JTAC loses LOS and stops the lase, they'll mention something along the lines of "no mark". That's very different from what I encountered.

Update: I did some more testing and my guess right now is that it might be a LOS issue. I whipped up a new mission where I had a moving target roaming about on flat, unobstructed terrain. I then created the exact same JTAC setup with an MQ-9 loitering above and lasing the target for me. This time, the LGB hit the target right on the mark. Back to the original mission that's giving me issues, the convoy I'm targeting is moving through a small countryside road that's lined by trees on both sides. I think that the MQ-9's laser is being blocked by those trees, and consequently that is where the LGB impacts. So yeah... it's an LOS issue, but to be more specific, a JTAC skill issue. The AI JTAC simply isn't that good, so now I'm going to have to wait until the convoy reaches a clearing before I ask the MQ-9 to start lasing.

I have an MQ-9 lasing a moving target for a GBU-12 released from my F-16C, and for some reason the LGB always misses its mark by a few meters. I'm sure that the MQ-9 continues lasing the target throughout, because my TGP is in LSS mode the entire time and maintains a lock on the lased target without me having to establish a point track. Anyone know why this is happening? My LGBs have no issues hitting the targets if I lase the target myself, but that kind of defeats the purpose of having a JTAC buddy lase for me so I can egress as soon as I release my LGBs.

Problem solved. Contrary to what I read on a different thread while Googling for solutions, it is necessary to contact the MQ-9 over radio to get it to lase the target, same as any other unit carrying out JTAC. I was under the impression that radio contact wasn't necessary with the MQ-9. Kind of makes sense I guess, given that the MQ-9 can be controlled by a human pilot in the real world. I also revised my WP tasks to just the following: EPLRS on Weapons hold FAC assign group I removed the orbit task because the MQ-9 will automatically begin orbiting the target when given a FAC task.

That didn't do anything. Edit: I did some further testing just to rule out pilot error as well (I am a new to the Viper after all), and after swapping out the MQ-9 for a ground unit JTAC, I was able to successfully acquire the target. It's just weird how this is so much harder to do with the MQ-9, when in fact it should be simpler because it has a clear LOS on the target at all times.

I've created a very simple mission where I'm trying to get an MQ-9 to lase a target that I can search for with my F-16's TGP in LSS mode. For some reason I cannot the MQ-9 to lase the target, and I'm not sure why. I've attached screenshots below showing how I'm setting up my waypoints and corresponding actions. Any ideas as to what I'm doing wrong here? WP0 setup WP1 setup WP1 action 1: weapons hold WP1 action 2: orbit WP1 action 3: lase target

Thanks I'll give that a shot! Are these bort numbers visible to others on multiple servers as well?

I see. Out of curiosity, is there a reason as to why DCS chose pre-2000 tail numbers only in their default liveries? It seems that 2000 and 2001 are just as accurate for the Viper we got.

I'm sorry... I didn't understand most of that.

I want my Viper to have a 00-xxxx or 01-xxxx tail number, but there doesn't seem to be a way to modify that part of the tail number (at least not with the default skins). Is there any way to do this short of creating my own skin? I'd rather not have to create my own skin just for this.

What did radar did they upgrade to?

BTW I didn't get the joke in you earlier post. Messing around with what? Lol :P

I only used 1998 as an example without know how many F-16 were built or delivered that year. So basically when it comes to factory specs, there's no difference between USAF and ANG block 50 aircraft, because ANG only gets used jets from the USAF, correct?

Of course, but I meant in terms of "factory spec". In other words, would block 50 ANG and block 50 USAF jets built in 1998 be built to the same spec?

What the title says. Also, is there any difference between block 50 ANG and block 50 USAF Vipers?

Another question: what does the letter after the C mean? For example, I've seen some Vipers referred to as F-16CM and some as F-16CJ. What do the letters M and J mean in this context? And once again, which one do we have in DCS?

That makes sense. Thanks for that list of serial numbers!

Thanks, but I'm trying to figure out what "sub-block" our Viper belongs to, and if there are any differences between the sub-blocks. As mentioned in the original post, I see that the Vipers are split into sub-blocks ranging from 50A to 50D. I'm not sure what the letters refer to.

I know it's a circa 2007 block 50 aircraft, but when I looked up serials for block 50 Vipers here, I see that there are "sub-blocks" ranging from block 50A to block 50D and possibly beyond. Which one do we have in DCS? Is there a difference?