Visual Reference for Laser Designation?

[Ultra]

This might be a simple question... but when using LGB's, is there any visual reference you can get or activate that shows you where/what the laser is designating. Or do you just approximate and use comms + visuals to pick where to place your target cross.

 

 

P.S. not sure if any of you guys remember me, but I'm just getting back into DCS after a 3 year hiatus. Wow, what strides this game has made in that time. Very exciting, and I'm glad to be back! :)

[Frederf]

The NATO standard combat laser designator is at 1,064nm wavelength, invisible to the human eye and most night vision devices. It is possible that the designator will also have a ~850nm IR pointer laser beam which can be seen by night vision also pointing at the target.

 

Otherwise other means are needed to identify where and when (radio, etc.).

[Ultra]

Thanks Frederf.

Right, the laser itself is invisible. I guess I was hoping for a HUD symbol or something :D . Do you know approx. how far off you can be with the designation point from say about 10k-15k altitude or in other words: how much the bomb can correct itself?

[Frederf]

Maybe maximum 1/2nm for very early seeker acquisition and fast-high bomb. For that low 1,000-2,000' cross range maybe? The biggest danger is late acquisition because bomb is level attitude and cannot see laser. A dive delivery or designation to a point closer than target helps the laser seen early.

[Ultra]

That gives me a pretty good idea. Thanks.

[S_Froggy]

There is no indication of where the laser is designating.

That's why the ground JTAC ou aircraft marking the target has to give coordinates to enter in INS to have a drop point.

[Ultra]

There is no indication of where the laser is designating.

That's why the ground JTAC ou aircraft marking the target has to give coordinates to enter in INS to have a drop point.

 

Can that INS way point be placed as a ground marker on HUD or only a flyover point? The coordinates can be very precise correct? I did a little conversion and got 18.5 meters for the every finest digit of Lat (.01") that can be put in the INS, right?

[S_Froggy]

The goal is to have a reference to conduct a CCRP run.

[jojo]

Can that INS way point be placed as a ground marker on HUD or only a flyover point? The coordinates can be very precise correct? I did a little conversion and got 18.5 meters for the every finest digit of Lat (.01") that can be put in the INS, right?

 

Yes, that's right. However it should be enough to "attack" the waypoint with laser guided bomb.

 

IRL you may need to plan an Initial Point to "visually" update the INS before attack (drift rate is about 1Nm/h).

However, given that the INS update procedure isn't right currently, I don't bother with it.

[Ultra]

Gotcha.

 

Can a waypoint be created as a reference point on the ground on HUD or just a flyover point to translate to a guess point on the ground?

[jojo]

You can do "mark point", by fly over for sure, HUD designation I don't know. I would have to check.

 

But I don't understand what you mean by "guess point" ?

[Ultra]

Actually nevermind, I think I got confused lol. So if you set up an INS waypoint on the laser coordinates, then you don't need to use the AG designate command since it's already designated in INS? I think that's where I got confused. You're essentially just doing a standard INS CCRP bombing but the laser is guiding it in?

[jojo]

Actually nevermind, I think I got confused lol. So if you set up an INS waypoint on the laser coordinates, then you don't need to use the AG designate command since it's already designated in INS? I think that's where I got confused. You're essentially just doing a standard INS CCRP bombing but the laser is guiding it in?

 

No. CCRP is quite a misleading word here.

 

The INS hasn't been assessed as accurate enough to perform "blind" bombing on INS coordinates*.

 

So don't be confused by the waypoint.

The waypoint isn't used by the waypoint system. It isn't mandatory to attack.

The waypoint is just an help to visually find the target.

They you have to designate it with the HUD (TAS = radar ranging, RS = Radio Altimeter "ranging"), and only then the weapon system know where is the position of the target relatively to the aircraft.

 

* The exception to the rule is CCRP + IP (PI selection on PCA, BAD data fed into PCN).

But this is because you have to visually designate the IP, which is like an INS update for the bombing run.

[jojo]

Overall, from Mirage's point of view, dropping a GBU-12 isn't different from a Mk-82.

You should find what you need in the manual, then you will always find someone here to answer your questions if any.

 

The manual has just been updated and is representative of current module's state.

If you updated DCS World yesterday you will find it in "DCS/mod/aircraft/M-2000C/doc" folder, or GoogleDrive link to download in the dedicated thread. :thumbup:

[Ultra]

Ok, I understand that. Thanks for the help.