IR Pointer visible in TGP?

[SharpeXB]

There's an OSB on the upper right that switches from LSR to IR but I've never seen the IR pointer in the TGP. Are you supposed to? I can only see it with NVGs

[PFunk1606688187]

Well I don't see why you would since IR is in the infrared spectrum and the TGP only has Thermal and Visible light modes.

[Yurgon]

SharpeXB, good question! :thumbup:

 

Well I don't see why you would since IR is in the infrared spectrum and the TGP only has Thermal and Visible light modes.

 

Well...

 

Infrared thermography (IRT), thermal imaging, and thermal video are examples of infrared imaging science.

 

The fact that one is an infrared emission and the other a thermal imaging sensor would seem to indicate that the sensor should, in principle, be able to pick up the emission, shouldn't it?

 

So, coming back to the original question, does anyone know if it does pick it up in RL?

 

And if it doesn't, is it because of different wavelengths?

Edited August 8, 2015 by Yurgon
Typo

[PFunk1606688187]

In principle its all just different types of emissions in different spectrums. What a given sensor can see is calibrated for a given spectrum. While there is lots of overlap there's no guarantee that a camera designed to see thermal signatures from tanks is going to see a laser pointer.

[SharpeXB]

Aha. It's on p 331 of the FM. The IR pointer here in this case is a designator, not the one that the JTAC on the ground is using. Not sure what the difference is between using the laser vs the IR is though.

[Wrecking Crew]

No, the Pointer is not visible in the TGP -- you can only see it with NVGs. It is a lot of fun on night missions with multiple players. One pilot can act as a designator and point out a target or suspicious area.

 

A ground JTAC or Tactical Commander in Combined Arms can also use their IR Pointer at night to designate for pilots. The Pointer is range-limited, to about 4,000 m I think. At this limit the beam just stops, but it is still pointing to the target.

 

The Laser, OTOH, is used to guide GBU-10s and -12s. Another pilot or ground guy can lase a target for your bombs. I recommend that the ground guy give you the coordinates to enter into your CDU and that you approach the target from the same direction as the ground guy's laser direction, and you should be able to drop and hit the target.

 

WC

[Hansolo]

The Pointer is range-limited, to about 4,000 m I think. At this limit the beam just stops, but it is still pointing to the target.

We did a night mission with human JTAC/FAC(A) not too long ago and unless my memory fails me the range limit seem to be the same app. 8nm limitation the laser have.

 

Cheers

Hans

[Kaiza]

 

And if it doesn't, is it because of different wavelengths?

 

Yep

[AlphaOneSix]

That's peculiar about the range limitation. The IZLIDs I've used in the past mounted on machine guns have a range of around 50 kilometers. Seems odd that a targeting pod would have such a weak laser pointer. In the real world, I've had A-10s "sparkle" for us before, but I have to admit it was only from a range of about 3 miles, but it was like the finger of God pointing down from the heavens.

[Wrecking Crew]

It is the IR Pointer that I was referring to. Of the two, IR Pointer and Laser, the Laser is often mentioned when meaning the IR Pointer.

 

 

WC

[Demongornot]

The TGP himself can see the laser, that's why he have a function to seek for laser pointer, but the sensor that look for IR laser is apparently not part of the optical feature that show image feedback to the pilot.

So the TGP can see laser yes, but not the pilot cause the TGP can't directly show it since he look the pointer with another sensor than the one show on the MFCD.

 

And as it have been point out, the visual sensor that give visual feedback probably operate at another frequency than the IR laser, the IR spectrum is way wider than the visual spectrum as you can see it here :

 

 

And its hard for humans to realise that since human eyes can only see the limited visible spectrum and the human brain is accustom to this, its like trying to imagine 4 dimension's objects !

But this seam logic that the visual part of the TGP and the laser don't operate on the same frequency, imagine if rather than being able to see the target, your view was jammed by the laser in the middle of the screen !

 

And don't forget that in plus of the targeting laser the TGP also use another (I don't think he use the same) laser for measuring distance that's you also can't see !

 

Not sure about the following but...

Night Vision probably don't really see the laser itself but probably sub frequency of it after he collide with the air particles and anyway we can't see a beam of light except if it is aim at us, we can only see its reflection on the gas/liquid he pass trough or the surface he reflect on.

Since NVG are ultra sensitive they can probably pick a wide frequency over visible spectrum and pick sub frequency of the laser and what it cause to the air it pass trough, when air particles absorbs IR light photons they gain energy and probably emit light frequency that can be pick by the NVG in return...

TGP himself is not that sensitive on a wide frequency band, he is made to have visible or thermal through IR and probably try to avoid being polluted by other IR frequency than thermal radiations, so he probably filter the laser in fact, active with a simple filter (software or special glass) or by having a sensor that is limited to a certain range, but this is only a theory.

[RIFLE_JTAC_TRAINING]

Both are lasers.

 

IR can not be seen in the TGP. It is used to MARK targets, rope aircraft to get visual friendlies etc.

 

What everyone refers to as laser is the laser target designator. It can mark ( tgp can also see the laser mark as has been indicated bt others). And of course guide laser guided weapons to the target such as gbu- 12/10/16/49 and 54 but not limited to.

 

63

[Mike5560]

IR frequency band is a broad sprectrum of wavelengths which includes both the "IR pointer" which can be seen on NVGs but not on the TGP at ~800 nanometers, as well as the designator wavelength at 1064 nanometers, which can only be seen by the TGP on LSS or a laser munition itself.

 

The term "thermal" can be misleading as the IR spectrum include a vast swath of wavelengths with different properties, but it is within the IR spectrum.

[schroedi]

Is it correct to see the whole beam or shouldn't only the point where the beam hits an object should be visible? (when there is no dust in the air)

You can't see a light beam too, you only see the object enlightend which the light is pointing at.

[AlphaOneSix]

The fewer particulates/vapor in the air, the less visible the beam would be...although I have never in my life seen air so clear that you couldn't still see the beam, at least faintly.