Bunny Clark

I thought in the book they abandoned their briefed aim points in favor of a visual delivery on a related but easier identify target. At least, that was my reading of it. I was confused what I was supposed to do in the mission as well, but since I happened to still have functional JDAMs I just dropped on my briefed target and everything worked out.

From a cold start? Press the IFF tile, then ON. The display is now blank until IFF if turned on.

The Stennis carrier launched with the release of the Hornet, that's what the description is talking about. Though, it released free for everyone in DCS World, not as an exclusive to the Hornet module. Before that we had the Carl Vinson, which does not look so good, not that it mattered much as no player aircraft could use it at the time. But, since the Super Carrier release, the Stennis isn't the most detailed carrier anymore. That part of the description should get changed.

One advantage the AGM-65G has is speed. Especially when fired at close range, the extra impact velocity can really help it penetrate. At least, that's true in real life. I'm not sure how well that's modeled in DCS.

And you've just discovered why nuclear weapons don't work on DCS

In DCS if you start something on fire you've killed it. It won't actually explode and count as destroyed for a little while, but it will go eventually. At least, this is true with vehicles and buildings. Aircraft are more complex and sometimes more frustrating.

So, the real Hornet throttle has a wheel that can roll up and down. It has a center position and is spring loaded to return to center when released. It functions as an axis, the further from center it is deflected, the faster the sensor moves. In DCS it functions exactly the way it does in real life. The problem is that very few computer flight controllers have a control that works like this, and the realistic behavior is somewhat problematic on an axis that does not spring to center. I'm currently using a slider axis with a center detent for it, with the axis saturation turned down to 10% and a fairly large dead zone, and that works reasonably well. A number of people, myself included, have been asking for alternative ways to control this axis for some time now. You can read some more here:

Yup, and I also reported here: This is unfortunately a problem in Open Beta right now. The only way to get it to work that I'm aware of is to run in to about half the launch distance, which is not an easy thing to do with the other SAM sites in the area. Hopefully we'll see a fix in the December update. The mission does work fine on the current Stable build.

Yup, the 500 pound GBU-12s aren't going to have much luck punching through. Right now your best option is something with a 2,000 pound blast fragmentation warhead, which would be the Mk.84 or GBU-10. Ideally something with a penetration warhead is really what you want, best would be a 2,000 pound BLU-109 warhead, which we'll get eventually on the GBU-24 and GBU-31. The 1,000 pound unity warhead on the AGM-154C would also be a good option, trading off some penetration power for standoff range.

It's portrayed that way in the book too, and Kevin Miller is a former Hornet pilot and squadron commander. It's certainly possible he fudged reality for dramatic effect, but I'd guess he wouldn't have written it that way if it were totally unrealistic. But I'm not a military pilot and can't speak on that with any authority. It also wouldn't surprise me if no live weapons were carried very specially for training, to avoid the potential of an accidental live missile shot. Feels like that'd be a lot like carrying a real handgun on you while doing firearm simmunition force-on-force training.

I've made no-frills, no tests, only what you need to do in DCS checklists for all the modules I own. DCS Startup Checklists.pdf

I'm glad you're enjoying it, and thanks for the feedback! Yah, attacking those little boats is hard right now unless you have labels on. It should get a lot easier when we get SEA radar mode. Your wingman should reliably take out 4 of the boats, so you've only got 2 to deal with. Your experience on mission 3 is interesting, I've not seen it that crazy in dozens of times flying that mission. What orders did you give your wingman? Most of the time I fly it the northern fight is all over except for the Hornets mopping up stragglers by the time I get there. DCS AI sometimes just does some weird shit though, hopefully it'll work better if you give the mission another go.

I've got 3 Cougar MFDs and a homemade UFC controller, and I can say even with those interacting with the Hornet displays is pretty simple and easy. As Swift said, it works pretty well in the real jet, it's much more difficult in game if you've just got a mouse. But even still, in combat there aren't many DDI buttons that really need to be pressed. Most of the important stuff is accessible directly or indirectly from the HOTAS. What are you having the most trouble with?

I've had this problem as well, and it's been caused by going with a partially complete INS alignment. You need to wait for RDY to flash, if RDY is steady it's usable but some things like autopilot steering won't work. The simple way: set INS to STOR HDG, no need to interact with the DED at all. Wait for /10 and flashing RDY, then set INS to NAV. If you want to do a full alignment, set INS to ALIGN NORM, then check both LAT and LNG on the DED (if you're doing a cold start and haven't moved they'll be correct) and confirm each with ENTR on the ICP. You have about 2 minutes to confirm the coordinates before it screws up the alignment. Now you can wait for a flashing RDY at either /10 which will be a normal alignment or /6 which will be an enhanced precision alignment. Once you're there, set INS to NAV.

Yup, you can't interact with any of the Super Carrier boats without owning the module. You can still place and use the John C. Stennis carrier though, that one is included free with DCS World. Are you having trouble placing the Harrier on the Tarawa? What do you have the waypoint type set to?

Probably because English is not his native language, and it hasn't been working out very well for him so far. Why the surprise? Alright, I'm going to have to make some guesses here based on Google Translate. If you can see a datalink contact but are not detecting it with your radar, it's usually because your radar scan volume isn't covering the contact. Check your scan elevation at the contact range and ensure the datalink contact is within it. target aspect and scan PRF can also play a role. Eventually we will be able to designate a datalink only contact, but that feature hasn't been implemented in DCS yet.

Yup, that's exactly what I do. Seems to work reliably.

The DCS World manual was updated fairly recently, and actually includes some really good documentation for the mission editor now.

All of my mission kneeboards work in both Stable and Open Beta without any changes, so I don't think that has anything to do with it. I'm curious why in your screenshot your mission is showing as a .zip file. That's not the way it should be, I don't think, but I use 7-Zip.

Are you in an area or point tracking mode? If so, the pod is not slewable in those modes. Also, the Uncage button now toggles LSS, there is no boresight or recenter option exactly. There is Velocity Vector Slave mode though, which cages the FLIR to the velocity vector, you can enter this mode by pressing the VVSLV button on the FLIR page, or by double-clicking the NWS button on the stick.

The horizon line will never be in a fixed location, as it's vertical location on the HUD is a function of AoA.

I think you have a fundamental misunderstanding of how the sensors on the Hornet work. The only system on the Hornet that detects another aircraft's radar emissions is the ALR-67 Radar Warning Receiver, which you can view from the EW Page. This sensor can warn you about other aircraft targeting and launching a missile at you, but it cannot be used to target another aircraft for air to air missile attack. TWS and ACM are both radar modes which involve using your radar to track another aircraft for attack. Neither have anything to do with another aircraft having its radar on or off. A track with your radar is required for attacking any specific target with a radar guided air to air missile like a Sparrow or AMRAAM. Datalink is a system which shows you aircraft that other aircraft have detected with their radars. While this can allow you to see aircraft that you have not detected with your radar, it still only shows aircraft that have been detected by a radar system. It still has nothing to do with the target aircraft having their radar on or off. As for making a "silent" attack, at the moment, no that's not really possible. Some people will call TWS mode a "silent" mode, but that's not really correct. An aircraft tracked in TWS will see your radar illuminating it in search mode, as opposed to an aircraft you've locked up in STT which will get a lock warning. In practice this distinction only matters against a target with poor situational awareness anyway, as any enemy that's aware you've committed to attack him is not going to use your current radar mode to judge if you've attacked or not. Eventually, the Hornet should get the ability to mark a datalink target for tracking, which will allow you to intercept and guide on an aircraft without turning your radar on. I'm unsure if we'll be able to support an AMRAAM launch with datalink only though.

Without a radar lock, the missile has no way of determining range to target, so your aircraft cannot display a DLZ. To get range and closure speed information, you'll need to acquire the target on radar. The easiest way to do this in close is by using the ACM radar modes in Dogfight Mode. Enter Dogfight Mode with the switch on the throttle, then hit TMS Up to enter ACM Boresight mode. This will place a radar aiming cross on the HUD, or an elliptical aiming cue on the JHMCS, which will lock a target within 10nm.

In TOO and SP modes, the HARM can't distinguish range to target as it's a passive only seeker. You need to make a judgement based on your speed, altitude, and depression angle to target.

Yup. On the ground you can ask the ground crew to swap the mounted device, I believe it's subject to the same restrictions as rearming / refueling. Which helmet device is equipped can also be preset in the mission editor. This is a thing because the JHMCS I visor is not compatible with NVGs, it's too bulky.