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It's been three and a half months, I wouldn't call that nearly half a year. That's like saying I'm nearly 60 when I'm 35...

That wasn't jamming - once you're close enough jammers don't work. There's a pretty nasty bug right now with the radar in MP which causes the lock to shake and then break. I'd avoid using the Hornet for MP until its fixed (or revert your OB back to the previous build, which is still compatible with MP servers running the latest).

In terms of BVR it's a mix between broken and completely outmatched. The F-15 can tell if you're friend or foe at a glance, you can't because the only way to IFF currently is to hard lock them (which alerts the target via their RWR). The F-15 can soft-lock you so it can track you without you knowing, you can't because the Hornet is missing key radar modes. The F-15 can hold that lock no matter what manoeuvres he pulls within the radar limits, you can't as the Hornet drops lock on anything more than the gentlest roll. Once you get to the merge, the F-15 can use ACM modes to quickly lock you up in a dogfight, you can't because the Hornet's ACM modes are currently broken and even if they weren't then they are much slower performing than the F-15. The missiles work fine, the plane is the problem right now. It's in both Stable and Open Beta, but the newest updates come to Open Beta first - if you're happy waiting a week for new stuff then just stay on Stable.

Heatblur have a very different approach to early access compared to either ED or Razbam - the Viggen launched essentially feature complete and has just had bugs fixed since then. We've already seen that the F-14 has all of it's air to air missiles working, along with the radar and the TCS - we've even seen GBUs being dropped. I think you can be confident that the F-14 will release in a much more capable state than the Hornet.

Right now air to air combat in the Hornet is painful, especially in Open Beta where the latest patch has broken key aspects of the radar. If you're primarily interested in air to air combat, I wouldn't suggest purchasing it right now - wait until we've got LTWS and/or datalink, and if the F-14 comes out before that happens then just buy that as it looks like the F-14 will arrive with full air to air functionality.

Well I never saw it before the latest patch and the ONLY thing that's changed on my system is the version DCS is running, so something's different.

If you had it too cold, the catapult wouldn't trigger on full throttle because the engine RPM couldn't get high enough to trigger it. I assume that change is intended to fix that.

Yep all up to date - I've not seen it until this very latest Open Beta (I played just before the update and all was fine, just after and this cursor issue is there). I'm assuming it's related to this change: VR. Cursor stretching in VR with windows cursor scale - fixed. My main monitor is 4k and my scaling is at 250% (it's a 4k TV that sits across the room). But I tried changing it to 1080P and 100% and relaunching the game and that made no difference.

+1 I was hoping the Hornet would be ready out of the box to replace the Mirage as my daily-driver. As it is, it's mainly sat in the Hangar for the last three and a half months while I'm waiting for it's radar capabilities to improve. I'm really hoping we'll hear some news on this soon, they mentioned a couple of months ago that they wanted to finish RWS as a priority.

I've had an issue pop up since 2.5.3.21444 which I've never had before, both at 1080p (which I'd switched to in order to work around the bug in the previous version around clicking menus) and at my native 4k. The mouse cursor has a weird textured background to it: I tried changing my resolution and restarting DCS a few times but nothing changed. I use a Samsung Odyssey, so I'm on SteamVR.

I've had an issue pop up since this fix went in, both at 1080p (which I'd switched to in order to work around this bug) and at my native 4k. The mouse cursor has a weird textured background to it: I tried changing my resolution and restarting DCS a few times but nothing changed.

It is possible for something to be designated hostile (albeit not by the IFF which is just friendly/not friendly) - we'll be able to do it ourselves eventually (you can manually change the IFF designation of a trackfile) and the AWACs/Carrier can also do it for you and send it to you over Link-16. It's a bit of a bodge-job for the Hornet right now so it's not clear exactly what they're trying to model though it's clear it's not modelled accurately from an IFF perspective (but the symbology is correct). Given the EW page can tell you that one Hornet is friendly and the other is enemy (which is something that should only be possible with Link-16 as far as I know), they're obviously taking shortcuts. I imagine they've just taken the simple approach that if the game says something is enemy, then it shows as hostile - there is no IFF to return negative as such.

It's a simulation of the real F/A-18C Hornet, they aren't going to make changes that aren't realistic and it's realistic that hostiles are shown with diamonds and unknowns with boxes. I don't believe we actually have the HUD symbology for 'friendly' enabled yet - as far as I can tell that should be represented by a box with the word 'FRIEND' on top. We just have hostile and unknown implemented right now.

It's a SHB though the numbers are slightly different - I'm not sure you can get a Hornet to 600kts on the deck without using the afterburner. This one's at 480kts & 500ft according to the video description.

Yep perfectly doable - here's one from a Super Hornet:

Are you going the same speed as in the video? The slower you're going, the more your CCIP cross will be 'under' you.

I don't think it'll be available - you can't fly from the back seat, they've said a rudimentary AI will take over when you jump in the back seat if you're in SP.

You need to give us a video / track of what's going on.

Yes eventually, though it doesn't seem like the real Hornet has any equivalent of the F-15's ability to show positive/negative IFF returns while in RWS automatically (without using datalink). When we get LTWS, we'll be able to manually select three bricks and show their IFF status (two that you soft-lock, and the third by putting your cursor over a third brick). Once we get TWS, it'll show the IFF status for 8 targets automatically but at a hefty scan volume penalty (i.e. instead of 140 degrees & 6 bar scans, you'll only be able to do a maximum of something like 6 bar & 20 degrees, or 4 bar & 40 degrees or 2 bar & 80 degrees). Once we get Link-16, you'll be able to see the IFF status of everything around you in RWS and other radar modes (assuming good AWACs coverage or that you're close to the carrier or that other Hornets have IFFed those contacts). Worth remembering that once we've got this you'll be able to use the SA page (which is like a hybrid of the HSI and Attack Radar pages) and see contacts 360 degrees around you - even if your radar isn't pointing that way or is off. So the Hornet probably can't do what the F-15 does on RWS with dots and bars, but once we've got datalink it won't matter.

Worth remembering you can land right next to the crate (within 6 feet or so) and hook up from there - you don't need to master a hover in order to pick it up. If you're really interested in slinging, I suggest you jump on the Dynamic Caucasus server, discord is here: https://discordapp.com/invite/r6szdwq It's the only one of the mainstream MP servers (as far as I'm aware) that has proper sling-loading, with the rope, activated on it. You'll find plenty of experts there, and lots of people willing to show you how to get started.

It's a slightly roundabout way, but if you go to F-10 map and turn labels on (it's a button at the top that looks like a speech bubble), you'll then see the names under each icon. If you're looking to watch someone specific, you just click on them and press F2 and you'll be spectating them.

Most of those ranges would probably be when fired at Mach 2.5 and 40,000 feet. I can get something like 40nm out of the 120C when fired at 40kft and Mach 1.0 or so in the Hornet, so it's probably not too far off.

Yep get the bundle - you've got days worth of playtime in the campaigns for all four helicopters. A map won't add any extra content really by itself, especially not PG which hasn't had much made for it yet.