Notso

In theory, but not so much always in practice. Sometimes there is no VFR area to move to. So you have to deal with what the gods give you. In that case the fighter will do a rejoin using its radar and slowly close the distance from astern to get close enough to the tanker to get a visual. It would be rare to have the clouds so thick that you couldn't see the tanker from at least the pre-contact or observation position. If it's that bad, you're likely not even flying that day. But yes, you can AAR in IFR conditions, but you would still need to be visual with the tanker to a degree once rejoined. I'm pretty sure if the WX was as bad as the video in the OP, there would be no attempt at refueling IRL. In addition, yes the tanker would attempt to find the best weather if the track they were in was really bad. But I swear the converse is true that tanker pilots are all trained to find the one cloud to fly into on an otherwise VFR day. ;-)

Yep

Sigh

OK, I'll see if I can get a track of this. Should be easy to replicate. And I didn't think it sounded correct to drop the lock when thumbing forward on the DFGT OVRD SW. Thanks.

Nope, still not correct. Pickle is still not a normal Brevity word or call used on the radio. Pickle doesn't really tell anyone anything useful. It just means you Pressed the weapons release button. Did the bombs come off the jet? Maybe not - maybe they were hung or you just forgot to turn on the master arm. A more correct call (though usually still not required anyway) would be an "OFF" call with a status. OFF HOT means the bombs came off when you pickled. OFF DRY means you either aborted the pass or nothing happened when you mashed the button. In a normal interdiction event - the OFF HOT call is rarely needed and doesn't add SA to anyone. If the attack went as planned and you pickled on your correct target and the bombs came off as expected, silence is golden. If you went DRY on the attack for whatever reason, in that case I would certainly tell my flight lead or wingman so the decision can be made as to whether to re-attack or not. About the only other time you would make an OFF HOT call is either on a controlled bombing range or if doing Type 1 or 2 CAS and you want to let the JTAC know there is a bomb on the way. Another typical scenario to make a weapons release call is if you're the bomb mule in a buddy lase event. In that case - typically you would say to the person lasing the bomb "OFF HOT, 30 secs" (time to impact) so they know to get the laser on at the right time if doing a delay lase. Even if doing a continuous lase, the 'OFF HOT' call is still a head's up to get the F'ing laser on if they forgot to turn it on prior to release. The #1 rule to tactical communications that you always should ask yourself before you key the mic switch is: "Does this call add SA to someone, is it needed or required?" If none of the above, then all you're doing is garbaging up an already busy net just to hear yourself speak. When in doubt, stop talking.

Ah, interesting. I will try that. On a related note, is it correct that in DGFT mode, there are no ASE circles or Wez displays for either missile type when locked using an Auto-Acq mode? Seems odd that they don't appear once the lock has occurred. Or is that still WIP?

Not accurate.

I have a related question about DGFT mode.... Everytime I use boresight or vertical to get a lock, if I then thumb forward to switch to MRM mode to use the AIM-120, it breaks the lock. Is this correct behavior? If so, how do I switch missile modes while in DGFT from AIM-9 to AIM-120 and back? There's been many a time I've missed a fleeting shot because I've broken lock trying to go to a -120. TIA.

I am definitely looking forward to the more robust ATC comms that ED promises in the newsletter.

Zactly. Most all airports - mil and civ alike - will have pre planned arrival and departure procedures depending on whether IFR or VFR and depending on where you're arriving from or going to. It could be as complex as a SID or IFR approach or as simple as a visual reporting point to sequence you into/out of the traffic pattern. For instance, Nellis AFB has a bunch of VFR departure and arrival procedures to use depending on the runway in use, which range you're going to and whether you have live ordnance or not. An example is the Stryk recovery when coming from the Western NTTR ranges. You would check in with Nellis Approach and they would clear you for the arrival procedure and then you likely wouldn't talk to them again until they passed you off to tower. You would be expected to follow the ground track and the altitude restrictions with no comms necessary. The procedure would take you to a point to line up on the respective runway typically for initial. Usually, these points would be programmed into the WP Nav route but the fighter crews would also know the visual references to follow as well. There are even specific recoveries for A-10s since their speed differential with the fast movers can cause conflicts. For those that are interested, google Nellis AFB Instruction 11-250 to see how this works IRL.

You have the option of "SLAVE" or "BORE" on the SMS. If you want the Aim-9 to slave to the radar or the HMCS, then select slave. In both cases though, you have to uncage the seeker to get the missile to track after pickle.

That's very cool, thanks!

JDAM does not use Bang-Bang guidance.

For those that want the official source: https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a404426.pdf Distribution/Availability Statement Approved for public release, distribution unlimited

Ding!

Hi all, I've been offline for about a month (traveling) and now trying to catch up on where the F-16 is since I last saw it. Is there a resource somewhere that has a consolidated list of updates and where the aircraft is at present? I'm finding it not only daunting but actually confusing to try to go through all the forum threads, ED updates, etc to attempt to find out what's changed and what is still WIP since I last saw it. I'm not sure if it exists, but it would be really cool if there was a spreadsheet or something where each main platform (F-16, F-18, A-10, etc) had the status of each system and subsystem listed with a status such as: In Open Beta release in Stable Release WIP progress (with rough %) Not started Not Planned Etc Anything like this exist anywhere? If not, maybe that will be a project for a rainy day......

Exactly! Unless your entire NAV system was down and you were IMC - calling tower and asking for a vector to the runway on a clear day would get you laughed out of the Squadron.

That is exactly the opposite of how its supposed to be done. Faster is better, up the weapon carriage limits.

Yep, I understand that. The issue is the Wingmen don't seem to follow ME when I go to a different freq.

Thanks, I thought I was doing something wrong in setting the tankers up or something.

Hi Yoda, no worries. All good on the weathervane definition. However, it is incorrect that modern tactical jets from about 2005ish don't have a means to measure or input the winds for other than release altitude so it can give the weapons computer better data to adjust the release point. See my thread over on the DCS 2.5 forum for a discussion on wind models. https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=257983 Yes, very early bombing computers with early INS could only measure the wind at release - so the bomb solution assumes a constant 40 kt wind for instance from release all the way to the surface, which is not ever going to happen. Then later they added algorithms to measure the winds at release and then extrapolate those winds to the surface using a wind decay formula of some sort - as the norm is the winds typically decrease as you get lower in altitude. But even that was found to be seriously lacking - as the winds never follow some standard pattern. You can have light winds at 15K and 30kts on the surface. You can have winds 90-180 deg different directions between release and the ground. So the engineers built better wind model programs to attempt to account for this either through the ability of the pilot to manually input the forecast winds in the TGT area or have the computer auto capture them as it flies through various altitudes. Or both. Usually both. Again, I cannot say with certainty that the Hornet or the Viper has the ability to either manually input winds at various altitudes or have the jets computer auto capture them as it climbs or descends - but other contemporary jets such as the A-10C and the Strike Eagle absolutely have that ability. So it would greatly surprise me if either of the aforementioned jets did not have the same capability. And I still somewhat disagree that in all cases the bomb is having to fight its way upwind the entire way. If the bombing computer is doing its job, the jet is going to release upwind of the target and the bomb will fall downwind towards the TGT - either ballistically if the laser is off, or on a direct LOS path to the target if the laser is on and the seeker head sees it. But in both cases the bomb is already UPWIND of the target. Unless something is really screwed up at release, the bomb doesn't cross over the target to the other side and then have to swim back upstream. It just doesn't work that way. Even if you drop the weapon in a direct HW, yes in this case it will have to fight its way upwind - but the jet should compensate for that by dropping it much closer to the target than in a no wind situation and the combo of vectors will still have the weapon arrive at the target. So yes in this one case its fighting its way upwind, but that release point has already (in theory) been compensated for in the release point IF it has good wind data and the GBU won't have to expend as much energy as it would if the wind was not accounted for correctly. But even despite all these Gucci advanced wind models - nothing is ever perfect or steady. So the mantra is: "IF POSSIBLE, NEVER DROP WITH A HW OR XW". Its the "if possible" that always bites you.

I'm running into a weird thing recently with the Viper that I never had a problem with in the Hornet or A-10. Whenever I switch radios to the tanker or to AWACs, the wingman won't go over with me - on either UHF or VHF. If I send him commands such as change formation, etc while on those other freqs - no response. I have to go back to the original freq we took off on to get him to respond. I've even programmed the various agencies into the radio preset menu in the mission edit window and still no joy. In addition, I've built several single player ME's with a Tanker track to go refuel on the way into or out of a target or engagement and the command to send the wingman to the tanker in the comm menu is not there. In both the flight or wingman "GO TO...." command menu, the option to "Go to the tanker" menu command is not there. But I never had an issue with that in the other modules. I simply cannot get the wingman to tank. One final comm issue not related to AI wingman.... how do I change the radio using the preset channels?? I toggle over the preset channel, the rocker sw up or down to select the preset channel, hit enter after selecting something like CH 5 and it just flashes but never actually changes the radio freq. I have to manually punch in the numbers each time. It obviously user error, but it's driving me crazy!

Is there a link to this "Battle Book" somewhere? Sounds useful. Thanks.

Ah ha, very cool. Thanks. So its a manually entered profile like I described above. Does the LASTE have the ability to capture winds, or only through manual entry? What if the winds are not entered into the profile. What does the A-10C use to calculate weapons releases? It would be interesting to see what the F-16 and F/A-18 have as well.

That's a valid point. It's often difficult to keep up with the status of every update, every WIP, etc. You have to sift through a lot of posts on a constant basis to know what finished and what not. A thought is to perhaps have a single document as a sticky at the top of each module forum in a table format that lists the current status of each main system and subsystem. For instance, maybe something like a spreadsheet that would list the main systems like flight model, Skins, engine, TPOD, A/A RDR, A/G RDR, weapons, etc. This way we can have a single one stop status overview place to go. It may stop a lot of the constant questions about where a particular system is. I'm sure the Project managers at ED are working to something like this already. It wouldn't be hard to post a watered down version of the project status. Just a thought