Purpose of Bomb parameters etc

[Alfredson007]

What is the purpose for setting the bomb parameters like fuze type, fall type etc? Why the flight computer cannot put some defaults in, like mechanical fuze since it knows the type of the bomb? What is the purpose of selecting the fuze, even if it is off the bomb detonates...?

[lemoen]

You are supposed to set them before you use them, this is another safety layer to avoid dropping live bombs where you don't want them i.e. imagine they were armed and you pull too hard over the airfield, they come off and land somewhere and exploded. Needing to set the fuses before use avoids this from happening.

[Frederf]

The programs are delivery programs. Computers don't put in values, people do. On a desktop computer in the squadron area the data cartridge is programmed and carried out to the jet. Rarely the weapons might be manually programmed in the cockpit.

 

DCS should be doing that data cartridge preparation for you since it doesn't allow you to do it yourself. The programs would be stored and retrieved normally without requiring cockpit editing. In the absence of cartridge data the airplane would have defaults, probably the none setting, but these would be rarely seen as cartridge data would be used almost always (and the jet wouldn't know stores at all so those would have to be punched in too).

 

If you wanted Prog1 Electric N, FreeFall and Prog2 Mechanical N/T, HighDrag then you would do all that on the data cartridge programming laptop before you ever touched the airplane.

[Alfredson007]

Interesting stuff Frederf, thanks

[Mad_Max2]

These settings will be of more use as more munitions become available. Trusty Mk 82s don't require too much setup, but GBU's and CBU's will have some options you'll want to set.

 

 

Also remember that the fusing can be a tool to use to your advantage. For example, worried about being in the blast area? set it to tail to give a delay. The options are there to give you complete control over what you want to do, not to hinder you.

 

 

In terms of when this would be done in real life, idk. I'm inclined to believe those who say it would be done before ever entering the plane, and cater to the specific mission (with the option to change manually, in plane, if needed). In DCS, however, I don't see being able to pre-program profiles to a data cartridge prior to the mission. Maybe in the ME some day.

[Papa Spardy]

Just because it is a mk82 doesn't mean it's gonna have a mechanical nose fuse. There is all types of options when it comes to fuzing and fins.

[Frederf]

Navy uses electronic fuzes on the ship, much safer.

 

You're not picking what the bomb has. You're picking how the airplane interacts with the weapon. Notice that this isn't inventorying weapons in the DSMS like in the A-10C where you're telling it down to the model of item what the fuze is.

 

If the F/A-18-20 has a "know everything about the bomb" digital stores inventory. It's somewhere else.

[HawkDCS]

Are these profiles something the pilot even sets or is it up to ground crew?

 

Can the Nose Tail fuses be selected on the fly or delays? Or is this set by ground crew?

[fitness88]

There are 5 bomb program options. I see they're reset to the default programs with each flight. Is there a way using a .lua file to save previous programs for later use?

[fencible]

The bomb parameters are useful. Here is how I use some of the bomb parameter settings:

Suppose I want to make a low level bombing run with my F18C against a known target in a copse of trees. They probably have AAA defences in there.

 

I select 8 or 10 Mk82 retarded bombs and plan a level release at 500 knots from 230 feet altitude for surprise.

 

Before take-off, I open the 'stores' page and select the Mk82s.

I select program 5 with the preset Manual mode.

I select 'Nose' fuse because 'Tail' is not yet available. 'Tail' would be better, since the bombs will fall through tree cover.

I select 'Delay1' fusing because the bombs may hit branches in the trees and I want them to explode after they get through the trees.

I select 'Ret' for 'retarded' so that the bomb retardation devices will open after release and give me enough time to clear the radius of the bomb blasts. If I selected the other option, the retardation devices would stay closed, falling much faster, and my plane would be damaged by the explosions of my own bombs. Yes, I have learned this the hard way.

I select the Utc button and then on the up-front control panel I set number of bombs to drop with each button press. I plan two passes at about 90 degrees to each other to get good coverage on the target area, so I set this number at 4 or 5 (half my load with each press).

I set the interval between bombs to 90 feet to spread out the destruction.

I set 'Reticle' (HUD aiming reticle) to 78 mils, which I know from experimenting will hit or come very close to my aim point from 250 feet at 500 knots level (if I get my speed and altitude correct at release time).

 

Now I am set up for my low-level high speed attack. I just need to select A/G attack mode and set the safety switch off as I approach the target area. I do this well in advance since I will not want to be looking down in the cockpit when on my run at 250 feet and 500 knots.

 

The above settings will allow me to appear over the target with surprise, a split second after the sound of my jet is heard. If I approach from a covered direction there will be no chance of ground fire from the target area and I will be out of sight immediately after release. This is a very effective technique against AAA, if properly executed.

Edited June 26, 2018 by fencible

[QuiGon]

What is the purpose for setting the bomb parameters like fuze type, fall type etc? Why the flight computer cannot put some defaults in, like mechanical fuze since it knows the type of the bomb? What is the purpose of selecting the fuze, even if it is off the bomb detonates...?

Wait, the bomb does detonate even if no fuze is set? That doesn't sound right :huh:

[Frederf]

Are these profiles something the pilot even sets or is it up to ground crew?

 

Not airplane crew. They are in charge of the mechanical health of the airplane. This would be some "mission planning cell" of the squadron that really understands weaponeering and best practices. It's probably some senior squadron pilots and some non-flying technical specialists. Since it's the Navy they probably are more self reliant with less extra people than AF.

 

It looks like the inventory data is set either by physical switches or some external data connection through a panel on the outside of the airplane. It doesn't look like the jet's concept of what it has on can be done through cockpit data entry.

 

Can the Nose Tail fuses be selected on the fly or delays? Or is this set by ground crew?

 

What's on the weapon is what it is. There are the mechanical fuze solenoids which can be selectively pulled nose, tail, both, neither and that can allow some in flight selection of behavior. Navy electronic bomb fuzing and the modern programmable fuzes have some level of electronic settings that can be set beyond pinA/pinB/neither/both.

 

M904/M905 mechanical and old Mk 376 electric are very pre-set. FMU-139 can be either mechanical or electrical. When used as a mechanical it is pre-set but it can do a trick where it senses high drag or low drag by accelerometer to choose between two arming values. When hooked up to Navy equipment the -139 is electrical and can have cockpit-selectable arming times but fixed action. The FMU-152 is practically USB connected by how much access to settings on the fly you have. It's much newer.

 

There are 5 bomb program options. I see they're reset to the default programs with each flight. Is there a way using a .lua file to save previous programs for later use?

 

Probably with some crazy script that is able to read the sim values and write to your hard drive but it sounds advanced. Much simpler would be to find the lua that handles the default profile parameters and populate those 5 programs with your favorite all purpose selection.

 

Wait, the bomb does detonate even if no fuze is set? That doesn't sound right :huh:

 

Maybe modeling is not so sophisticated yet. You'd think that if you set no fuze interaction on that profile that the bomb would be released without any mechanical or electrical fuzing interaction and would dud.

[Alfredson007]

Wait, the bomb does detonate even if no fuze is set? That doesn't sound right :huh:

 

Yeah i once tested that and it indeed detonated. Probably a bug

[pete_auau]

Are these profiles something the pilot even sets or is it up to ground crew?

 

Can the Nose Tail fuses be selected on the fly or delays? Or is this set by ground crew?

 

 

mechanical fuses are set by ground crew, which have different time settings, instant, or delays when the bomb is dropped the lanyard is with drawn from the fuse, which allows the vane to spin when the time is reached the bomb is armed

[fitness88]

What's on the weapon is what it is. There are the mechanical fuze solenoids which can be selectively pulled nose, tail, both, neither and that can allow some in flight selection of behavior. Navy electronic bomb fuzing and the modern programmable fuzes have some level of electronic settings that can be set beyond pinA/pinB/neither/both.

 

M904/M905 mechanical and old Mk 376 electric are very pre-set. FMU-139 can be either mechanical or electrical. When used as a mechanical it is pre-set but it can do a trick where it senses high drag or low drag by accelerometer to choose between two arming values. When hooked up to Navy equipment the -139 is electrical and can have cockpit-selectable arming times but fixed action. The FMU-152 is practically USB connected by how much access to settings on the fly you have. It's much newer.

 

 

 

Probably with some crazy script that is able to read the sim values and write to your hard drive but it sounds advanced. Much simpler would be to find the lua that handles the default profile parameters and populate those 5 programs with your favorite all purpose selection.

 

 

 

 

Maybe modeling is not so sophisticated yet. You'd think that if you set no fuze interaction on that profile that the bomb would be released without any mechanical or electrical fuzing interaction and would dud.

 

 

This is exactly what I'm suggesting.

[RShackleford]

The programs are delivery programs. Computers don't put in values, people do. On a desktop computer in the squadron area the data cartridge is programmed and carried out to the jet. Rarely the weapons might be manually programmed in the cockpit.

 

DCS should be doing that data cartridge preparation for you since it doesn't allow you to do it yourself. The programs would be stored and retrieved normally without requiring cockpit editing. In the absence of cartridge data the airplane would have defaults, probably the none setting, but these would be rarely seen as cartridge data would be used almost always (and the jet wouldn't know stores at all so those would have to be punched in too).

 

If you wanted Prog1 Electric N, FreeFall and Prog2 Mechanical N/T, HighDrag then you would do all that on the data cartridge programming laptop before you ever touched the airplane.

 

Do hornets not have cockpit selectable fuzing? Air Force GP bombs and LGBs are all mechanical so you set the fuze settings on the ground with a screwdriver then set nose, tail, or nose/tail in the cockpit to set which solenoids pull arming wires when you drop them (useful for high drag bombs when you want to drop them low drag.) It's doesn't pull any arming wires when you jettison, so the bombs come off without exploding. All the JDAMs have the FMU-152 fuze that give cockpit selectable options like arm time, delay for explosion (useful for dynamic targeting/CAS when you want the bomb to explode in the first floor of a larger building or want to select it for instantaneous on small buildings), and you can turn the proximity sensor on or off. JDAMs also self-identify to the jet because the bombs are sending data to the jet, whereas GPs and GBU-12s etc you have to tell the jet what is on the station. Another great JDAM feature is you can setup impact angle and velocity so the bomb tells the jet when you are in the zone to drop for those parameters. You can preload the programs into the data cartridges but everything is also cockpit selectable.

[Frederf]

For mechanical fuzes the extent of your interaction with them is if you pull the "hand grenade pin" on the nose, tail, neither, both.

 

FMU-139 when interacted with electrically (USN) you can pick between three arming times but penetration delay is as set on the ground physically.

 

FMU-152 has a robust data interface and I think you can set every parameter from the cockpit.

 

Radio proximity devices are usually piggyback addons to the normal detonation fuze and can be chosen mechanically or electrically even in situations of primitive equipment.

 

Drag devices have to be physical (mechanical) and can be set up to deploy on any release, on the same wire as the detonation fuze(s), or on a separate wire which chooses only the drag device.

 

JDAM the weapon itself has a 1766 interface where you can set up a host of options but I'm not sure if that was an option in Lot 20. That's separate from fuzing though.