RedSky

Sorry for the thread necromancy, but is there a keybind for this switch? It's useful in the latest update with the GCI datalink for trailing contacts, but clicking it in the middle of canyon flying is tedious at best!

The video also did not show weapon firing or radar. I think they did a great job with what was shown there, but suspected after watching it that we still had a few months to go to finish those systems. It's entirely possible they were partially complete even then, and I also imagine the better radar API in DCS now will help with development, but I'm not surprised to not have a lot of news yet. I would be surprised to not hear more within a couple more months.

I don't see why we couldn't get them before the remodeling. It doesn't matter for their current capability, and it seems likely that, while they were used a lot for air to ground search and light vehicle attack, they were probably originally integrated to the airframe as a self defense option. They would still work for that in DCS in the meantime, and it's pretty relevant right now in the MP environment at least since most of the PVE missions that include anything useful for helicopters have issues with hostile aircraft being about. It's been a huge blocker for me doing much with the Hind outside of some quick actions. I don't recall if anyone from ED has said anything about the remodel being a prerequisite for adding them to the Hind, so much as saying it was going to be done for the sake of the Hind's use of them, and that they would be added during the EA period. The latter doesn't mean we don't get them before the remodel, just that we don't have them yet. If something different was said, I might have missed it.

The Tomcat's strength is high and long. Alone, and with Jester, you're basically going to be limited to shooting long phoenixes and maintaining a safety bubble with possible enemies. That does not mean being predictable - even changing your heading from time to time to approach from a different angle, at high speed, will throw off someone sneaking in the valleys from being able to get to you stealthily, and you'll never even know you did it except in the aggregate of fewer deaths. Your SA down low is just going to be worse than the Link-16 aircraft or flankers. Your weapons employment will be slower in a compressed timeline than a Mirage or Eagle. Even with a good RIO you're at a disadvantage against newer and more integrated radars that do what the pilot tell them without having to coordinate verbally with another crewmember. Don't give them their fight down low, and if you have to go low, do so defensively with intent to create space to climb back, not to pursue and engage. In short, there's no shortcut to improve SA. Understand what your enemies' strengths are, and where you're strongest, and focus on maintaining that situation. You create SA this way be dictating the situation part, rather than relying on building the awareness part, because your airframe is stronger at deciding the context of a fight than it is at helping you remain aware of a changing context. Sure, keeping your eyes outside the cockpit, maintaining visual, using the datalink, etc, all still apply - but you just can't rely on them to carry you against aircraft that have all those tools, presented better to them.

That sounds right. I believe the E variants were the ones with the refueling capability, and thus probably also the ones with the buddy pod capability. I imagine that if we get it, it will come with the EE. Are we getting refueling probe equipped CEs then? That's interesting if so.

Is there a particular reason to doubt it? I think it would be a huge win to bring the first module supporting buddy refueling, and it was a used capability of the jet. I don't know about the Spanish ones in particular, but they'd probably be equally capable of equipping it and, if so, it'd be genuinely useful to fit the F1 into more scenarios in DCS without stretching any realism. Of course, any of this does imply some commitment from the devs and from ED. There are lots of unknowns, but the benefits are strong enough that it would seem worth real exploration of the idea.

This problem definitely exists in 2.5.5 as well, with the added complication of it seeming to be unable to lock scanned targets until within 20nm as often as not.

Everything seemed to work fine for me since this update, but what happened to our scan elevation line on the HUD? I liked that...

Yes, I know how to operate the system with the changes. The problem isn't switchology in this case, there's something genuinely wrong with the radar modeling right now. I heard secondhand that it was a known issue, but have seen no direct confirmation as of yet.

There's definitely more to it than this. I was 100% blind all day today, with the radar even refusing to lock contrails in the middle of boresight after several standby cycles. I hope there's something identified here to be patched, otherwise the Mirage isn't really functional outside of a cold war environment. Nothing like getting repeatedly shot down by targets you had been prowling for several minutes and had dead to rights if the systems worked.

Agreed. It can be a powerful tool, but the learning curve is really felt even in DCS, and I know enough from that to know it would take a lot of work to be proficient in the real airplane with them. It's a neat idea, but FLIR and synthetic vision displays are far better tools for most non-military aviation.

That is all true, but you're also comparing it in a scenario against 2-3 4th gens! Flown well I'm sure it will be a dangerous opponent in equal numbers to the 4th gens, even if at a disadvantage. And of course, as you mention, when we get more Vietnam era stuff too.

Hopefully we'll get to learn more soon. I know the Mig-19 still has a few outstanding items (sounds, at least), but it seems to be wrapping up from the last time I flew it. We're a long way off of a Mig-23 regardless, but it's easily the future module I'm most looking forward to!

That makes sense. It's definitely somewhat straightforward today at least, where you can buy packages with appropriate lighting and filters to retrofit with from several vendors. I'd imagine sourcing that stuff before was a nightmare, though! I've always wondered about setting up an airplane for NVG usage. It would at the very least provide a margin of safety for night flying in the event of forced landing, but the tradeoffs and training/practice demands aren't worth it for non-emergency/tactical use.

It looks like that chart is for the P, ML, and MLD. I may be misunderstanding variants a bit, but I believed the P is the closest to what we're getting from what I read a while back. Still, I saw this chart earlier in the thread but didn't notice that it was for more variants than the MLD. Considering the only thing on there not available to the MLA is the R-73, it seems likely that this is correct.