DCS: F/A-18C Mini-Updates

[BIGNEWY]

COMING SOON

In this DCS: F/A-18C video, we’ll look at new features coming to the datalink capabilities of our F/A-18C. As many of you already now, data linked flight members are limited to the same four-ship group as set in the Mission Editor. With this update, it will now be based on Source Track Numbers, or STN. This will allow you to set aircraft outside a group to your Team of aircraft 1 to 4 and even change this while in a mission. You can also set up to eight donors. Let’s get started.

Let’s start in the Mission Editor to see how we now set up the F/A-18’s datalink. When selecting an F/A-18C Airplane Group, you will now have an additional tab called datalinks. We’ve also added some new functionality to the Aircraft Additional Properties tab that we’ll look at first.

Along the bottom, we now have three new items under Datalink. The Voice Callsign Label, Voice Callsign Number, and STN are identifiers used when setting up the network. You will probably want to set the Voice Label and Voice Callsign Number to match each aircraft’s callsign. It’s important that each STN be unique within a Fighter Channel and the STN must be entered as an octal, i.e., only values of 0 to 7 are valid.

The Tactical Net Datalink, TNDL, tab as two sub-tabs, one for Settings and one for Network. Your Voice Callsign will be auto-populated here and everything else cannot be edited at this time except the Transmit Power.

The Network sub-tab is the meat of setting up the network. The top portion lists up to four Team members that can exchange data and target assignments over the datalink. Although these can be assigned in the Mission Editor, they can also be edited while in flight using the Situational Awareness, or SA, page. We’ll examine this a bit later. Along the left side of the team member number that is auto assigned. To the right of that is the Pilot Name and to the right of that is the Voice Callsign Label and Voice Callsign Number that we discussed earlier. Next is the member’s STN number. The rightmost column can be selected to remove a member from the Team.

If you have open Member slots in the Team list, you can add an entire Group or add an individual aircraft.

Below the Team Member list is the Donor list that can have up to eight aircraft. Like the Members list, each row displays an aircraft with its Member number, Pilot Name, Callsign, STN, and delete option. Also like the Members, you can add Groups and individual units to the list.

What is also very important to note is that any aircraft with a TNDL STN can be added to the Member or Donor network, not just other F/A-18s.

We’ll get in the air now and look at this in action.

Looking at the SA page, you can see that I have my three Team members off my right wing, four F/A-18 donors off my left wing, and four Viper donors ahead of me. I also see four other F-16s that are not assigned to my team or donor list. Remember that team members will have an alphanumeric letter and donors will have a dot on the left side of the icon. We can place the TDC over a contract and see it’s information in the bottom, right corner.

Using the SA page,  I can remove and add participants to my Team and Donor lists. For example, we’ll place the TDC over one of the F/A-18 donors and we can see that it is a donor. By selecting the DONOR label, I can remove it as a donor. I can now place the TDC over the second F-16 flight and select DONOR to assign that aircraft as a donor participant. You can do this with all networked aircraft, and it allows you to dynamically configure your network during a mission.

I hope you enjoyed this explanation of expanded datalink functionality for the F/A-18  and recognize it as a major advancement for DCS in general.

[BIGNEWY]

COMING SOON

In this short DCS: F/A-18C video, we’ll discuss the Terrain Avoidance, or TA, radar mode. This is the last primary radar mode of our F/A-18C. 

In the August DCS update, we plan to add Multi-Sensor Integration, or MSI, AWACS surveillance track files that can be set as an L&S or DT2 without the radar transmitting. This will allow stealthy target engagements with AIM-9 and AIM-120. This will be the subject of a later video.

Terrain Avoidance, not to be confused with more modern automatic ground avoidance systems, displays two altitude clearance planes on the AG radar format page. The format displays three colors based on the terrain elevation ahead and is restricted by radar shadows. It’s enabled from the air-to-ground radar mode options, TA.

When the aircraft is in level flight or climbing, the radar will scan the terrain ahead to determine which terrain is near or above the aircraft’s current altitude. Terrain ahead that is above the aircraft’s current altitude is displayed in bright green. Terrain that is within 500 feet below the aircraft’s current altitude is displayed at a lower-intensity green, and elevation ahead that greater than 500 feet below the aircraft is black. Note that terrain ahead in a radar shadow will also display as black.

If the aircraft is in a descending flight path, however; the radar antenna will depress along with the Velocity Vector in the HUD. The radar color scheme remains the same, but this will ensure the pilot can see which terrain will obstruct the flight path when descending toward the surface.

The display has a fixed azimuth of 70-degrees and range selections of only 5 and 10 nm. The minimum range displayed is 1.6 nm.

To the left and right of the terrain returns are static wedges that allow you to adjust brightness and contrast.

While certainly not as useful as other radar modes, this can be a useful feature when flying low at night or in bad weather to avoid a controlled flight into terrain.


 

NOTE 1: The Iraq map was used for this video.

NOTE 2: Please keep on topic to the subject of this video. I cannot comment on 3rd party products.

NOTE  3: The F-16 in real-life and DCS has no such mode. But a similar mode is also coming to the AH-64D.

[NineLine]

In the next DCS update, the F/A-18 will be getting a new DTC feature: RWR Reprogramming.

The F/A-18 ALR-67 radar warning receiver (RWR) can only display 16 radar symbols on the DDI/AMPCD EW display or Azimuth Indicator; unless the LIMIT button is enabled on the ALR-67 control panel, which limits the display to 6 radar symbols. With these display limitations, the RWR automatically prioritizes these threats to ensure the most relevant radar threats are presented to the pilot. Up until this point, the F/A-18 RWR prioritized threats based on three tiers, with each subsequent tier out-weighed by the tier listed above it:

1. Threat Lethality - All radars that are detected to be in a "Launch" mode in which the radar is likely guiding a missile are of a higher priority for display than those radars that are only in "Tracking" or "Search" modes; and all radars that are in a "Tracking" mode are of a high priority for display than those radars that are only in "Search" mode.
2. Threat Type - The type of radar is prioritized according to the threat table uploaded to the RWR software. Those that are higher in the table are prioritized for display over those below it.
3. Signal Strength - The strength of a radar's signal is weighted against others of the same radar type. If two radars of the same type are detected, the stronger signal will be prioritized for display over the weaker signal.

These tiers of prioritization remain un-changed with this new DTC feature, but now players and mission makers have direct control over tier 2 and can reprogram the threat tables to suit the mission or their individual preferences.

The F/A-18 RWR is reprogrammed by accessing the Threat Tables/Countermeasures (ALR-67) partition of the DTC and selecting the DIS TYPE tab. Five independent threat tables may be uploaded at once: NORM, AI, AAA, UNK, and FRND; and may be selected from within the cockpit at any time using the DIS TYPE knob on the ALR-67 control panel. Each individual radar type can be moved up or down in the displayed table using the arrow buttons along the right side of the table itself.

The Display checkbox determines which threats are actually programmed into the RWR database. If any of these boxes are un-checked, the RWR will not be programmed to recognize these radar types. In this example, only the friendly coalition is equipped with Patriot SAM batteries, so that radar is un-checked to de-clutter that friendly radar type from the RWR display.

The FRIEND checkbox determines which radar types are classified as friendly by the F/A-18's avionics. This not only affects the symbol presentation on the DDI/AMPCD EW display, but it also determines which AI threats (airborne radars) may be decluttered from the SA and ATTK RDR displays, depending on the FRIEND setting below PB 8 on the SENSORS sub-level of the SA display.

The ASPJ XMIT checkbox determines which radar types are jammed by the F/A-18's onboard self-protection jammer if those radar types are detected to be in "Track" or "Launch" modes. This may be useful to focus your electronic attacks against specific threat types or to avoid shutting down your own FCR due to the ASPJ is transmitting when it would not be ideal.

These threat tables are uploaded along with the CMDS programs by pressing the ALR-67 PB on the MUMI display.