[A-4E Community Mod] - Guides And Tutorials Only

[Saab-FAN]

As there are already numerous requests in the two threads of the A-4E on how to employ weapons, I think it's a good idea to have a thread to collect information on this topic.

 

So, anyone who has found out something, please post it here - For example how to do a dive-bombing attack, or how to employ the AGM-62 Walleye.

Or how to enable the RWR / where it is at :)

 

So far, I've flown the Skyhawk only a few minutes, using the Shrikes with rather limited success (they track, but tend to fly too low), so I can't add a lot of information, but as a start, I'll quote the post by Merker who has some good links in it about the radar, and basics like take off:

 

(...)

 

Tutorials

Introduction and Startup and Takeoff

 

Carrier Operations

 

Air to Air Combat

 

Air to Ground Radar

 

Air to Ground Weapons

Coming Soon!

[raelias]

Looking to know how the Refueling pod works

[Tirak]

Looking to know how the Refueling pod works

 

 

It does not.

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately we were never able to get it to work. Might be possible in the future, but for now its just there to be there.

[AG-51_Razor]

I would like to know how to operate the radio and TACAN. I have been able to change the frequency for the UHF comm radio and I see that I can change the TACAN channels from 1 thru 9 but that is about it. I can't even bring up the comms menu while in the air. R Alt + \ doesn't do it for me and I can't get the Stennis to answer when I call to request takeoff while on the deck.

 

 

I seem to recall Merker saying that air to air refueling was one of those tasks that they couldn't make happen due to the radio not working. Is that the case here?

[Stealth_HR]

The radio isn't implemented, so A2AR isn't operational yet.

 

As for the TACAN, poke around the channel dial. There are actually two wheels nested in each other and you can easily select a two-digit TACAN code - I tested it yesterday using Kobuleti (67X). The only thing I wasn't able to find is the X/Y selector, but it's in the X position by default and the TACAN needle is correctly tracking the emitter as I circle the airfield.

[ebabil]

i want to know weapon deployements

mk-82, shrike, walleye, can you help?

[thrustvector]

can we use the shrike yet for sead missions?

[ebabil]

i beleive somebody said he could launch shrike yesterday

[thrustvector]

ah ok cool, do you know the correct procedure?

[ebabil]

nope, i just asked above how to :)

[Dingo_Bob]

ah ok cool, do you know the correct procedure?

 

from reddit,

 

[–]callmepartario 6 points 10 hours ago

they'll target the radar-emitting systems on the ground - the basic operation is you want to lob one like a softball - i've had the best success by aiming up 5 degrees or so from about 2000 feet - somewhere about 1.5-2.5 miles away of the target site.

 

once the radar pings the missile, it'll aim itself as best it can, as it run out of fuel - the rest is up to the fin motor guidance. they don't have a fantastic success rate, but it's enough to get a SAM site down a good portion of the time.

[thrustvector]

cheers bob, sorry for keeping on, but is radar set to a/g mode or the scan?

[twiss2k]

Ive been testing the AGM45 today and have just launched towards radar it to see. Seemed to work, but not massively accurate. Took 2 shots to take out a SAM radar.

Theres no tone, apparently theres a tone volume knob for it but havent spotted it yet.

[ebabil]

is walleye really launchable?

[some1]

Guys, really, at least read the Release post. Half of the questions in this thread are about items that are explicitly listed as not functioning.

 

Non-Functioning Systems

 

Radio

In-flight refueling

Buddy-Refueling

Walleye Guided Missiles

[Saab-FAN]

I hope the Walleye can be added later.

From what I read online, it was in service during Desert Storm and was deployed by F/A-18s.

My guess why it's not implemented (yet, hopefully): The TV-Feed from the bomb to the radar-monitor in the cockpit.

 

Now some observations on the AGM-45B Shrike:

I've just fired several test-shots against a Fan-Song, Flat Face and SR-P19. When launched from about 8 miles in the direction of the SAMs (max deviation about 3° left or right) and at a 5° upwards angle from an altitude of about 7000 feet, the missiles track their targets pretty reliably.

Their flight-profile is a bit strange, though: They first curve downwards but then pull up again once they find a radar-source.

I had to poke the SAM-Site beforehand though, or the missiles wouldn't track at all, regardless of how they were fired.

So they only seem to work against fully alert SAMs.

 

I also noted that the missiles tend to follow the radar-beam of rotating radar-antennas, causing them to veer off to the left or right when approaching the antenna. Something the original Shrike was apparently notorious of (Wikipedia states that Vietnamese SAM-Crews just pointed their radars to the side to cause the missile to "follow the beam", not the source, and then turn their radars off - Result: The missile smashed somewhere in the jungle). So a good tactic seems to be to fire two shrikes 5 to 10 seconds apart in the same direction, to increase chances of hitting.

Out of the 4 missiles I fired, 2 made direct hits, 1 made a near miss (close enough to destroy the Fan-Song), and one missed after doing a last minute course-correction to the right as the radar-antenna of the SR P-19 rotated to the right (from the viewpoint of the missile). All missiles had acquired targets and tracked them btw.

 

I wasn't able to get any tone from the missiles and after carefully looking through the entire cockpit, I'm pretty sure that if there's some kind of RWR in the A-4E, it's purely audio-based, unless the Radar-Monitor is one of the first examples of an MFD :)

Edited November 19, 2018 by Saab-FAN

[yeldraw]

Wheel brakes

 

How can I program the brakes to my rudder pedals? When I try, the toe brakes on the rudder pedals do not accept the input in the settings

[TechRoss]

How can I program the brakes to my rudder pedals? When I try, the toe brakes on the rudder pedals do not accept the input in the settings

 

I read that the devs said they would add a axis for the brakes so hopefully soon. (Don't remember if it was on this forum or Reddit)

[TechRoss]

Does the auto pilot work in this jet yet?

 

I have tried toggling the assigned buttons and pressing the assigned keys but it never seems to go into a auto pilot mode. The cockpit switches for the auto pilot don't seem to be clicky ones so I am not sure if it is not implemented yet or if I am doing it wrong.

[ebabil]

tried a/p first day and it was working. both alt hold and hdg

[Scotch75]

And the rudimentary nav computer is awesome too. Put in the destination lat - long, then fly the needle, quite accurate.

 

Cheers!

[Nealius]

How do you get the nav computer working? I tried flipping the nav/tacan switch, but could only get tacan working.

[Scotch75]

How do you get the nav computer working? I tried flipping the nav/tacan switch, but could only get tacan working.

At work at the moment, if a remember correctly there are 2 black rotary knobs near the nav computer. As soon as electric power is supplied turn the master to STBY, it will take a couple of minutes to warm up. Once warmed up, turn it to LAND or SEA as appropriate. Put in your dest lat/long and mag ver if you know it (may not be modelled, but its not that big in PG). Once airborne turn the other switch to D1. Flick the toggle (right of the HSI) up to NAV COMP. The needle will give you the heading like an ADF but you also get distance in nautical miles. Gets me well within visual range (tested on PG with smoked targets).

 

Again, only going from memory after a couple of hours flying around today but hopefully it will give you the general gist.

 

Cheers!

[Bad Idea Hat]

This may be known by many of you, but for those who don't, the Skyhawk has select-a-flap.

 

 

If you've flown one of the McDonnell-Douglas civilian airliners, you've heard of this. By using the "down/up else stop" option for flaps, you can set your flaps to whatever angle you like.

 

 

This isn't as helpful for quick up and down in a quick, heads-up situation, but it gives you the option of whatever degree flaps you want.

[Zad Fnark]

I've been struggling getting the armament to work. It looks like for the rockets, you need to turn the guns off and user the "trigger" to do it.

 

 

I've dropped bombs, but am not quite sure what triggers that yet. Maybe the two rotary knobs at the bottom to set quantities and gaps between bombs.

 

 

It looks like the station knobs are pushed "in" to activate.