How do I use HARM and Maverick correctly?

[captflyby]

I just spent 4.5 hours methodically working with the AGM-65F IR Maverick and the AGM-88C HARM missiles.

 

 

I am not sure if this is a bug, bugs or just the way they are supposed to work.

 

 

I checked threads, but found nothing similar so I am posting this.

Sorry, no "track". Don't know what it is, or where to find it.

I was in multiplayer (but same in single player), using a mission created by our Squadron, Caucuses map.

Win10, SSD, 16GIG RAM, HTC VIVE VR.

 

 

AGM-65F loads and launches fine. When it does manage to get a lock, it homes in nicely. The problem is it won't take a lock, unless you want to try about 20 times and even then, it picks what it wants to lock on to, not the pilot.

 

 

Now the AGM-65Es work like a charm, but you have to have a 2nd person lasing.

 

 

The HARM is not any better. Of the 8 HARM launched, only 2 struck any target at all, and the remaining missiles missed by a good 1/2 mile each. Not even close to any radar that they were supposed to be homing in to.

 

 

But the IR Mavericks have to have some way for the pilot to designate the target to lock on to, not just a random jump when it feels like it.

 

 

The HARMS are completely useless unless they become more accurate.

 

 

I realize this is beta. Maybe this will help someone figure this out.

 

 

This has been going on for quite some time now. Thought I'd mention it, because it doesn't look like there are any improvements in the two systems yet - at least from my usage viewpoint, over the past 4 or 5 beta patches.

 

 

Thanks.

Edited March 16, 2019 by captflyby

[delevero]

My experience is that the harms work almost perfect... IN rare cases they find it hard to hit things elevated on a hill ( i asume its something to do with a specific sam model in the game but els mostly it hit )

 

In my experience the harm hit pretty much every time if they are not shot down. I always fire the harm from above 20.000ft and in general the higher the better.

I fire in both TOO mode and SP mode and they hit very well most of the time.

 

Regarding the IR maveric F, then yes they have some problems locking from far away.. I did not notise the distance or height but yes they can be a bit tricky.

Its my impression that in the last few patches the lock became worse.

[Py]

We're going to need more information to help you, that's why a (short) track is useful.

 

When you exit the mission in single player, it goes to the screen showing all the events that happened. There are buttons on the bottom, left is EXIT, right is FLY AGAIN, middle there is SAVE TRACK and PLAY TRACK (or something similar).

 

Are you using the realistic mode for mavericks where the TDC button must be depressed to move the cursor? Or the new modified mode?

In the "unrealistic" mode you need to slew to the target then press the TDC button, it is supposed to lock just when you stop slewing but it is bugged at the moment.

You won't be able to lock things when they are far enough away that they are a tiny dot, they need to be close enough to have some size.

 

What mode were you using for HARMS? SP or TOO?

Were they missing because they fell short?

There is no range information in SP or TOO modes so you need to make sure you are high and fast enough for the missile to be in range when you fire, but it won't tell you if you re in range or not.

The higher and faster you are, the further the range is. It might take some experimentation to get a feel for how far you can launch from.

 

Hope that helps.

Edited March 16, 2019 by Py

[LeCuvier]

HARM Distance to Target?

 

I was exercising the HARM after viewing Wags' video. I experienced about 50% hit rate; and when it missed the missile usually fell short of the target.

I then started looking at the range to target via F10 view, and made sure I was within 40 nm to target before I launched. That gave me 100% hit range.

Unfortunately it seems that, when you get the "Ready" indication in the DDI, that does not mean that you're within striking range. And that's not really surprising as the system is based on passive radar which provides no range information (apart from a rough guess based on signal strngth?).

So we need to use some method to determine whether we are within range.

Using F10 is a cheat of course. In real life we would probably have some idea about where the SAMs are located. And, of course, a wasted HARM is not as bad as a lost fighter & pilot, so shoot first and think later?

The other thing is that the range depends on your altitude and speed. It would be helpful, I believe, if we had some table or chart quantifying the range based on these parameters. I haven't found any so far.

[GrEaSeLiTeNiN]

As of yesterday (latest patch) they both work fine for me. But I noticed the AGM-65F now requires a Designate (TDC Depress) to lock-up before it's ready to fire.

[Preendog]

Made me curious, so tried HARMs (SP mode, latest release version) against a blob of various Russian SAM systems. I found that simply flying toward the threat and waiting for it to fire at me was a good indication of when to shoot. Then just chill out, trashing their lock repeatedly while waiting for the HARM to hit. After a little while, 80% hit rates weren't unreasonable.

 

Noticed a lot of stumbling blocks, though.

 

-Sometimes the HARM only damages the target, and the target will die shortly after, or will need another hit.

-The RWR scope may show totally inaccurate directions for threats that you haven't been spiked by in a while (like, showing up behind you when it's actually in front). I would only shoot threats that were noticeably pinging me or locked on.

-The RWR directions are inaccurate in general. Sometimes I would think I'm aimed right at a SAM, but was actually 50 degrees off, and the HARM didn't guide. It's better to find the SAM visually (or a nearby landmark) and aim at that.

-SAMs will try to shoot down the HARM, so I would make sure they stay locked on my plane (from a safe distance).

-The HARM turns slowly, so at close range it's necessary to point it well. If you put the VV right on the target, hits are possible down to 1 mile, even Shilkas.

-If the target moves out of the HARMs seeker FOV, the HARM seems to give up and go ballistic (intended behavior?).

-At 35k, 350KIAS The HARM reliably went 40nm with decent terminal energy. At 10k, 500KIAS the effective range was only like 15 nm. Also, at long ranges the HARM glides so slowly that it's easy to shoot down, so closer is better.

-There were times when HARMs would inexplicably go stupid, or miss by a hundred yards, that I never figured out. But this happened less and less as I became more careful about release conditions.

 

Ironically, by the time I plinked most of the sites, they were out of missiles. The HARM is nice for a pop-up threat, but the best SEAD is still just drawing fire.

 

PS: HARMs do not destroy ship radars. They're pretty useless.