In the F-15C, Is "Home on Jam" also fire-and-forget?

[Spades_Neil]

I'm trying to not suck with the F-15C because, let's face it, the damn plane is OP with them SPAMRAAM-120C's. :music_whistling:

 

But on a more serious note, obviously the 120's are active radar guided... What about the AIM-7? Normally that is semi-active radar guided, so what happens when you fire on a jamming target using Home-on-Jam? Does it track the target independently, or do I need to keep the jamming target locked?

[Fri13]

I'm trying to not suck with the F-15C because, let's face it, the damn plane is OP with them SPAMRAAM-120C's. :music_whistling:

 

But on a more serious note, obviously the 120's are active radar guided... What about the AIM-7? Normally that is semi-active radar guided, so what happens when you fire on a jamming target using Home-on-Jam? Does it track the target independently, or do I need to keep the jamming target locked?

Home-On-Jam is passive so you dont need radar lock. But you need enemy to keep jamming on.

 

A clever enemy turns jamming off every now and then or turns it off after its effect range is gone, or saits to turn it on after expected launch while at distance to have effect.

[Reflected]

that's a really good question. Without being an expert I would think that the missile doesn't get "its own info", it's still provided by the plane, regardless what it is tracking - radar return or HOJ. So the missile doesn't see anything, it's just following the plane's orders "go right now, now a little left, etc..." It doesn't matter how the plane is getting this info.

 

Then again, this might be completely wrong, it's just my guess.

[probad]

aim-7 do not feature hoj capability, furthermore, hoj itself is superfluous in dcs as ecm burn-through range exceeds current missile envelopes.

 

so to answer your question, yes its fire and forget in the sense that every time you fire a missile at a jamming target you can forget about it hitting it.

Edited March 3, 2017 by probad

[Fri13]

that's a really good question. Without being an expert I would think that the missile doesn't get "its own info", it's still provided by the plane, regardless what it is tracking - radar return or HOJ. So the missile doesn't see anything, it's just following the plane's orders "go right now, now a little left, etc..." It doesn't matter how the plane is getting this info.

 

Then again, this might be completely wrong, it's just my guess.

The difference should be that HOJ missile could be launched passively, and its smaller radar should be able pick the jammer signal easier as it is stronger than echoes from platform itself.

 

But for long ranges the missile still would be launched with inertial guidance by platform information. So that requires something.

 

Old aircrafts used radar for that information, but newer like F-22 should be able use just the RWR to collect that data and launch toward target until HOJ gets enough signal to guide itself.

 

Still the HOJ is mixed as like what happens when jamming stops, or jamming starts? Missile with active seeker should be able continue using own radar.

This if there is such missile in use.

[Spades_Neil]

aim-7 do not feature hoj capability, furthermore, hoj itself is superfluous in dcs as ecm burn-through range exceeds current missile envelopes.

 

so to answer your question, yes its fire and forget in the sense that every time you fire a missile at a jamming target you can forget about it hitting it.

 

The in-game tutorial specifically says both the AIM-7 and AIM-120 are both capable of home-on-jam.

[probad]

yeah i stand corrected, aim-7 does have hoj mode. by nature of how hoj works it would be fire and forget.

 

you are still guaranteed to never hit anything with a sparrow hoj launch though.

[Fri13]

yeah i stand corrected, aim-7 does have hoj mode. by nature of how hoj works it would be fire and forget.

 

you are still guaranteed to never hit anything with a sparrow hoj launch though.

Still any missile ain't likely going to hit unless it is IR seeker and target is afterburning.

 

You can just roll in toward target launching missiles at you, laughing and get to airquake knife fight.

 

So HOJ should actually have a more changes as it doesn't try to intercept you but fly straight at you like a IR missile.

[Frostie]

HOJ in DCS self guides with pure pursuit, SARH and ARH only give a warning at the active stage whether you are locking with radar or not. An ARH doesn't require radar lock to complete the kill a SARH does as without it there will be an extremely low Pk.

HOJ is very dangerous for high jamming targets.

Edited March 3, 2017 by Frostie

[probad]

the problem is not about hoj, but rather the oversimplified ewar environment in dcs.

[blkspade]

Although the behavior seems inconsistent, I have noticed a tendency for SARH missile to keep tracking a jamming target fired after burn through with the lock being dropped by the launching platform.