Looking for some help with Air to Air in Viggen

[philstyle]

I have some questions in this video (at the end) about Air-to-Air combat in the Viggen.

Hopefully some of the veterans can help me out.

 

See from 13:18 in the video:

 

[Skyracer]

I would say that you are to close.

[Tj1376]

Looking for some help with Air to Air in Viggen

 

I am not an A2A expert by any stretch of the imagination.

 

1) You were in a high g turn with way more speed than your opponent and the missile couldn't turn in on the target in time. It "veered" after it had past the target and lost the heat source. If you have a tacview of this battle it would be neat to look at. To see if the missile did in fact "veer" after it past the target.

 

2) again. High g turn, I think the missile couldn't turn in on the target and "veered" after it past the target and lost the heat source. This could also just be bad luck...

 

In those high g turns, try to lead your target. When you are behind them (like #2) try to wait for the turn to die down just a bit before firing.

 

Just my two cents. Take it for what it's worth.

 

Good luck

 

TJ

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[carcinomic]

Slow down a bit, let your opponent stop turning so hard or wait for a second for them to change direction. Another suggestion is to "lead in" to your missile release, in other words aim slightly for where your opponent is heading, at the limits to which you can still get missile release tone.

 

In general firing air to air is best when not in a turn, but the rules of engagement do not dictate this always being the case! One nice way to help is by using object labels-- it lets you know the exact distance for optimal weapons release based on how you fly your plane, in what kind of circumstance, etc.

[Capn kamikaze]

Even though the AIM-9 is a dogfight missile, it benefits a lot from launching from low g and timing it so that the targets motion across its flight path is as small as possible, you have to help the missile (all missiles) do their job, so either a low g tail shot, or head on shot if the missile has an all aspect seeker, but even if it does, the seeker will always perform better in the rear aspect.

 

You can lead a little, but remember the seeker only has a small FOV, and using the F-15 as an example, if you steer to the dot with the AIM-9 it can actually cause a miss because the seeker is towards its limits to begin with, and if it's a radar lock rather than a seeker head lock it can be beyond it, so you'd be firing off into the empty sky in front of the target, which may well lead to a miss if the targets flight path changes, the same problem can occur with an overly lead shot without a radar like the F-15's, such as the Viggens radar which won't provide any steering information anyway, so it's much more of a guestimate.

 

The main thing is, choose your shot carefully, low g, and only moderate if any lead, and it can be beneficial to let it lag in tail chase IRL as far as the seeker is concerned, as the missile will turn to have a more tail on aspect to the target, and therefore have a much better IR signature, whether that works in DCS is another matter, but it may be worth considering.