AIM-120 for the Hornet

[GGTharos]

2sec/nm head-on, 3 on the beam, 4 tail-chase ... and now your pitbull counter is in your head, you just need a clock to hack ;)

 

I mean, a pitbull counter will be great. In the meantime I'm just gonna enjoy seeing what the 120B can do from the Hornet, or practicing my carrier technique. The rest will come in due time. In the meantime, there's plenty of meat in the existing F-18 module to digest and learn to keep most of us busy for a long time.

[animaal]

Plenty of interesting points on this thread.

 

 

 

When choosing loadout, is there any advantage to choosing a Sparrow over an AIM120? In real life, I would guess that the Sparrow is lighter and cheaper. In DCS, is there a significant weight difference, or ability to make tight turns, or any other reason somebody might choose the Sparrow?

[DarksydeRob]

Plenty of interesting points on this thread.

 

 

 

When choosing loadout, is there any advantage to choosing a Sparrow over an AIM120? In real life, I would guess that the Sparrow is lighter and cheaper. In DCS, is there a significant weight difference, or ability to make tight turns, or any other reason somebody might choose the Sparrow?

 

 

There is no reason to use Aim-7s. If you can use 120s, use 120s.

[Delareon]

Hm i just tried it once but i shoot one at a Bear and i cant see any advantage over an Aim-7 (in current version).

I had to go pretty close to the Bear until i get the "Shoot" in the HUD.

Shouldnt the 120 be an BVR Weapon?

 

I will do a few tests and hopefully i did something wrong on my first try.

Any other experiences with actual BVR kills?

 

Oh and just a note to the whining about Updates, ED is doing a great job on this. Constantly providing meaningfull updates.

I bought the Harrier too and the F-18 is in a far superior Development Stage even if you compare the Day 1 F-18 with the current Harrier.

Edited August 2, 2018 by Delareon

[Raven (Elysian Angel)]

In real life, I would guess that the Sparrow is lighter and cheaper.

It's the other way around actually: The AIM120 is about a third lighter than the Sparrow (335lbs vs 520lbs).

The reason the US Navy still uses the AIM-7P is because of supply I reckon: they still have a lot of them, so why not use them until they run out of them?

I'd image in practice, the AIM-7P is still more than good enough to meet realistic operational requirements.

Edited August 2, 2018 by Elysian Angel

[gekoiq]

In very limited testing (1v1 head on, excellent MiG29 @25k' and .9 Mach) I'm getting solid "SHOOT" at ~22-23NM with the 120b and I've had good success launching at 15-16nm with about a 60-70% hit rate. Significantly higher success than I had with the sparrow even when launching at much shorter range (only felt reasonably good about a sparrow shot at 7-8nm)

 

So I'm quite happy for now, I still hope ED does an overhaul on the missile drag model, and it looks like they are already working on proportional navigation, so I'm optimistic. Happy to have the 120b as it is for now, still a big step up.

[animaal]

It's the other way around actually: The AIM120 is about a third lighter than the Sparrow (335lbs vs 520lbs).

 

 

There is no reason to use Aim-7s. If you can use 120s, use 120s.

 

 

Thanks! I'm going to spend a bit of time this evening changing the loadout on my practice missions :D

[Biggus]

In very limited testing (1v1 head on, excellent MiG29 @25k' and .9 Mach) I'm getting solid "SHOOT" at ~22-23NM with the 120b and I've had good success launching at 15-16nm with about a 60-70% hit rate. Significantly higher success than I had with the sparrow even when launching at much shorter range (only felt reasonably good about a sparrow shot at 7-8nm)

 

 

I've been doing something similar against a Blinder, but with a height advantage. In one experiment, with a closing speed of roughly 1300kn I fired one at 30nm with no cue, was able to get 'shoot' cue at 27nm and had the flashing NEZ cue at 14nm where I fired twice. The NEZ shots reached the Blinder around 10sec before the first two shots did. The shot taken from just outside the 'shoot' cue was probably a 25% chance of hitting him, but the second shot would likely have been a kill shot had the third and fourth missiles not hit him first.

 

 

I wasn't entirely sold on them when I first tried them at low level, but now I'm somewhat in love.

[Eldur]

If you want an example of what a bad follow up on module is, try the M2000c which wasn’t capable of refueling its external fuel tanks from January 2018 until last month. Thanks razbam.

 

Let me just give you one of 4 letters which is the first one: V

 

Erm, wait, I can give you the cherry on top of it with some nice links:

Su-27 FFB trim issue

Release of the Su-27 AFM

 

Spoiler alert

 

 

It's not been fixed yet, though absolutely fundamental for anyone using a FFB stick

Su-33 has the same problem

And to a lesser extent so does the F-15C, which's autopilot and TO trim just do absolutely nothing if (FFB.present && FFB.active)

 

All's been reported immediately, but the bug report threads are sunk in the archives meanwhile

 

I even do remember SiThSpAwN aka NineLine replying in one of my bug reports "Can't reproduce, closed." He used and still uses a TM WH, no FFB there, of course he wasn't able to reproduce unless he maybe still has a FFB stick somewhere in the cupboard which he wouldn't normally use anymore for whatever reason. Not meant to be offending in any way here, just my observation. Can wait another 3.5+ years if necessary, but may the wait will be over when MAC is out

 

I know those devices aren't availabe for ages and understand that might put any FFB issues way back on priority lists since most of us do not use it. The last FFB stick to hit the market was the Logitech G940 HOTAS in 2009 and you couldn't get it in retail stores anymore just two years later. The king though still is the Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback 2 that hit the shelves 18 years ago - bought mine in 2003 though, it still does it's job today

 

 

To conclude this, there might be some issue anywhere that hasn't been fixed for ages literally, even at ED's site. But it all comes down to priority and even the best and hardest working minds can sometimes just forget things. Can't blame them. And in my case, I can disable FFB in the sim for the modules affected and run SimFFB instead to get a basic spring at least.

 

I think RAZBAM does a good job throwing updates at us though and they said they'd be going to put some effort in both the M2kC as well as the Harrier before bringing the next module.

 

Can't argue about ED. Updates every two weeks are just brilliant

 

There is no reason to use Aim-7s. If you can use 120s, use 120s.

 

There still is one. You don't want friendly fire in a furball. But you can always throw in a sparrow with a nice STT lock that doesn't go pitbull on your mates.

Edited August 2, 2018 by Eldur

[Dispatch]

Did everyone get this Aim-120?

I was on last night, no update

showed no Aim-120 in the Load out options for A-A missiles.

 

 

maybe today?

Is there a way to check for updates in the Sim?

or is it automatic when loading?

 

 

Thanks Guys

[mvsgas]

Which version are you using? Only the open beta was updated.

[Dispatch]

I believe I have the open beta,

F-18 is only open beta at this time, or is it?

 

 

thanx again

[Nick_17]

The Hornet is available in the stable and the beta branch. You can check your version number in the main menu (bottom right corner) and compare it with the numbers here: http://updates.digitalcombatsimulator.com/

[Dispatch]

Copy that

I have the Stable version, that is weird, it must have changed over to stable.

I only downloaded the open beta, the program runs from the open beta folder.

thanx again guys

[carss]

One thing is that you can fire it, another does it hit anything:smilewink:

 

So, did you hit the target?

 

 

Well it's kinda like the Russian missiles where you can't fire unless you lock something

[oldpop]

got 2 Mig 29 kills. shot at 12nm and 10nm!

[The_Pharoah]

Just confirming the AIM120B should be active seeking right so fire-and-forget?

[backspace340]

Just confirming the AIM120B should be active seeking right so fire-and-forget?

 

Yes but only after a certain point (where it goes 'pitbull' and then uses it's own radar) - within 10nm you should be okay to cancel the lock almost straight away, further out it involves some trial and error and guesstimation. We'll obviously have a pitbull counter at some point (probably by the end of August).

[Nealius]

Is Husky modeled in DCS, or do we only get Pitbull?

[Nosferatuwhisky 1-1]

Did everyone get this Aim-120?

I was on last night, no update

showed no Aim-120 in the Load out options for A-A missiles.

 

 

maybe today?

Is there a way to check for updates in the Sim?

or is it automatic when loading?

 

 

Thanks Guys

 

Yeah go to your start menu>Eagle Dynamics>update open beta or stable, whichever you've got

[backspace340]

The new OB update adds in the double launchers and C's (and apparently cockpit symbology so assuming the pitbull counter but not checked), that means we can now carry 10 AMRAAMs:

 

[alt10k]

Now also C variant.

[Knock-Knock]

Looks like the Hornet got all its teeth now :)

 

[StandingCow]

Ehhh, I wouldn't say all it's teeth... still need missing radar modes.

[Hog_No32]

Does anybody know what variant of the AIM-120C we‘re getting for the Hornet? C-4/5/6/7?