AWACS metric or imperial?

[QuiGon]

I got a bit confused today when following AWACS calls in a MiG-21. Are AWACS calls always in imperial units, even if you are on the russian side in a russian plane with a russian AWACS? I haven't really thought about that so far and just assuemd they will give me metric indications under such circumstances, but they seemed strange to me so i wonder.

[ruddy122]

The American AWACS gives your BRA and Picture Calls in NM and FT

 

The MiG-21 used in the MiG-21 Campaign is associated with USA hence the Dodge Call Sign.

 

Unfortunately it means you need to convert to KM and Meters to set up the radar and fly to intercept.

 

Conversions are as follows

 

1 KM = 0.54 NM

 

1 Meter = 3.28 ft

 

So my quick mental math conversion is to take the US AWACS distance call and divide it in half to get approximate range in KM and divide AWACS altitude call by 3 to get approximate height in meters

 

Hope this helps

[QuiGon]

Yeah, it was a campaign mission where it come across. So that means the unit system which will be used by AWACS depends on the country which the AWACS belongs to?

[ruddy122]

Quick update the conversions are right but I did the math backwards

 

1 NM = 1.852 KM

 

So the quick conversion is multiply the distance by 2 for a rough approximation of distance in Km and divide the altitude in feet by three to get approximate altitude in meters

 

Sorry for the mix up

 

Cheers

[ruddy122]

That I'm not sure I think it depends if you use the A-50 or the E-3 for the AWACS mission

[Luzifer]

So my quick mental math conversion is to take the US AWACS distance call and divide it in half to get approximate range in KM and divide AWACS altitude call by 3 to get approximate height in meters

 

The standard formula for mental feet to meters conversion is to divide by ten then multiply by three. It's much more accurate and no harder.

 

30000 feet = 9144 m

30000 / 3 = 10000

30000 / 10 * 3 = 9000

[ruddy122]

Thanks for the mental conversion to meters.

 

Is there a similar conversion for NM to KM or is multiplying NM * 2 the best estimate

 

Thanks

[roob]

The standard formula for mental feet to meters conversion is to divide by ten then multiply by three. It's much more accurate and no harder.

 

30000 feet = 9144 m

30000 / 3 = 10000

30000 / 10 * 3 = 9000

 

Is there a mental guide for nm?

[Luzifer]

I looked and for nm it appears to be simply "times 2 subtract 10%".

 

So for 1 nm you get 1.8 km (2 - 0.2) where the correct conversion would be 1.852 km. It's only ~3% short whereas simply "times 2" is 8% too long.