[MISSING TRACK FILE] TWS with Link16

[Wicked.-]

I’m finding that I have the same problem in the Viper I have in the Hornet regarding contacts transmitted through Link16. While trying to lock a contact on my FCR, I slew the cursor over it, dial in what I believe is the correct elevation and then TMS right twice to bug it. Sometimes it works but many times I end up bugging a friendly that is 10 or 15 degrees off azimuth.

From flying the 18 I’m accustomed to this behavior even with RWS. Typically in the 18 the radar is looking at a different altitude so I will use the SA page to find the altitude by slewing the cursor over the same contact. Once I see the altitude, I dial it in and then the radar sees it and I can lock it.

With the Viper that doesn’t seem to work even when I know the altitude, distance and aspect of the target. Anyone else have this issue? Right now, Link16 is causing me more problems than simply using the IFF and RWS which are damn good.

[metzger]

Shouldn't you use TMS up to bug and TMS right to update all contacts from track to system ?

[Datajack]

I think this is happening because you are only seeing the datalink (red) contact on the FCR. You can only lock when you get an actual return on your radar. You will see a white dot over the red contact. Hope this helps.

 

You can use TMS up for an STT lock, but its better to use TMS Right as this will cycle the lock between all system tracks and you can fire AIM-120s at multiple targets this way.

Edited November 29, 2019 by Datajack

[Wags]

A track or video would help diagnose where you are going wrong.

 

Thanks

[Wicked.-]

I think this is happening because you are only seeing the datalink (red) contact on the FCR. You can only lock when you get an actual return on your radar. You will see a white dot over the red contact. Hope this helps.

 

You can use TMS up for an STT lock, but its better to use TMS Right as this will cycle the lock between all system tracks and you can fire AIM-120s at multiple targets this way.

 

This answers my question. The problem I’m having is the time it takes to get a radar return in TWS as opposed to RWS. I tend to go head down and stay there waiting for the white dot to appear because I’ve been watching the red Link16 contact for a while (a while being relative to 10-15 seconds) Putting real world accuracy and fidelity aside, it’s simply easier to gain SA on radar by hitting TMS left for IFF when in RWS. If they don’t turn green they’re almost certainly a hostile contact which I’ll verify again once they’re locked. It’s rare that I pick up multiple tracks with TWS that I can bug and step. I’m assuming that is because of contacts having differing aspects and altitudes. The current implementation of Link16 is less useful to me than IFF simply because it clutters the FCR with information I can’t immediately use. Don’t get me wrong though, I’m damn glad to have it and experiment with it as we’re still EA. Also, my previous sim experience with Link16/datalink was a bit more canned than ED’s Viper. Simply a learning curve.

Edited November 30, 2019 by Wicked.-

[Wicked.-]

I’ll post track files tomorrow. Thanks for looking into it!