Setting expected range to target...

[m1tp2king]

hi, so I am learning to play Flaming Cliffs 3, SU-27.

in the manual it says I have to set the expected range to target?

how do I know the range to target (and the elevation) ?

the manual says Awacs will inform me?

is that how its done? what if there is no Awacs in the mission?

please let me know how you experienced players of SU-27 work with this.

many thanks.

[razo+r]

either you are scanning and set the range by yourself

 

or

 

the AWACS will tell you the BRA

 

or

 

You have bandits on your display indicated via datalink

[m1tp2king]

what do you mean, scanning and set the range yourself?

I have to keep changing the setting until I see something?

that could take a very long time, with so many distances and elevations?

Plus, datalink... what does that mean?

I am new at this so please be patient with me.

many thanks.

[razo+r]

You can set it for example to 100km and let it sit there and scan.

 

once you picked up an contact, you can adjust the range to see that contact better.

 

the distance is for scanning at a high range, if you need to have a better vision/sa for one/some bandits close to you, adjust the range.

 

for elevation, if you are low, set it the way, so that it scans forward and up, on medium altitude, change it from time to time from low-med to med-high.

 

If the AWACS or a friendly plane has a bandit on his radar, he will use datalink to monitor the position of that contact on your display. Here's how the US DL 16 works and what it is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Link_16

[DarkFire]

hi, so I am learning to play Flaming Cliffs 3, SU-27.

in the manual it says I have to set the expected range to target?

how do I know the range to target (and the elevation) ?

the manual says Awacs will inform me?

is that how its done? what if there is no Awacs in the mission?

please let me know how you experienced players of SU-27 work with this.

many thanks.

 

The basic Su-27S that we have in DCS World was designed to work with AWACS and/or EWR. Although the Su-27 was designed to be fully capable of autonomous operation for e.g. escort missions, for air defence and interception missions it was designed to operate always with the assistance of ground controlled intercept (GCI).

 

Soviet doctrine was that an interceptor's radar would only be used to lock on to a bandit for final engagement and missile guidance, with EWR or AWACS guiding the interceptor pilot in to position. Hence, the ability to set expected range-to-target and expected target elevation to ensure maximum chance of locking on to a designated intercept target.

 

For situations where you do not have any AWACS or EWR support, you have the ability to adjust the scan zone of your radar by adjusting the vertical elevation. Note that adjusting the expected target range does not change the output power of your radar, simply the distance at which the center of the radar cone points at the set altitude. If you imagine a cone with the center pointed at a specified place in 3D space, with the center point being controlled by the settings you use for expected target altitude & expected target range.

 

Although very old by now, these youtube videos offer some good explanations of how the N-001 radar works on the DCS Su-27:

 

Part 1:

 

Part 2:

 

I'd also strongly recommend watching Ironhand's training videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU1LW888jCR6IZ7crfdZxDg

 

This thread also contains some very useful discussion on radar use: https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=140032

 

 

On the subject of the data link: if you have AWACS and/or EWR support, your head-down-display will show you a top-down view of the battle space around you with all friendly & enemy contact data sent to your aircraft via the data link. If you do not have AWACS or EWR support but you have AI wingmen, your HDD will display contacts from your radar and information on contacts that have been detected by your wingmen.

 

Pay attention to your HDD: along with your radar and SPo-15 radar warning receiver it will be one of the best sources of situational awareness for you. The symbology of the HDD unfortunately isn't all that intuitive so I'd suggest reading this thread for more information:

 

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=160144

 

Hope this all helps. Keep working on it: it's all very confusing at first but when you get the hang of it and become confident in radar manipulation (which you will in time) you'll get a great sense of satisfaction.

[Frostie]

Don't get too hung up on expected range it's not so critical, you're best leaving expected range at default 10 until you become more accustomed with how best to manipulate it in conjuction with elevation. Expected range doesn't alter anything other than fine tune the elevation angle. The only benefit of this is for you to accurately pick areas of interest in the sky which allows you to create an optimal scanning pattern technique. The range at which you see contacts is unaffected by this setting.

[Svend_Dellepude]

As Frostie said, just leave it and use the hud indicator as a visual reference for where your radar is looking.

It's just one more parameter to slow you down and you dont really need it.