BRA Direction v. Bearing

[Tusker]

It took me a while to figure out that the BRA calls are actually 'compass directions' and not 'compass bearings'.

 

In the maritime parlance a 'bearing' is some number of degrees 'off of the ship's heading'. So a bearing of 90 degrees is always off the starboard beam...REGARDLESS what direction the ship is heading in. A bearing of 0 degrees is dead ahead, etc.

 

BRA calls from AWACS seem to be 'a compass direction" from me to the threat/target. So if I get a BRA of 90 for 20, that seems to indicate that the target is 20 degrees magnetic (or true?) from me at 20 NM. Is that how it's interpreted?

 

eric

[KlarSnow]

BRA in DCS from the auto awacs is usually in true heading, so will be close for NATO aircraft that have MAG displayed in the HUD/displays, but right on for russian aircraft that use true predominantly.

 

BRA is always Bearing Range Altitude.

Bearing from you to the target, turn to whatever number they told you in your HUD/HSI/whatever and you are now pointed directly at the target

Range from you to the target, for NATO aircraft (IE they are talking in english) it should be in Nautical miles, for Russian aircraft (talking in russian) it should be in kilometers.

Altitude, again for NATO aircraft, (speaking in english) it should be in feet for Russian it should be in meters.

 

So in your example, if your current heading was 270 and you are in a hornet, you get the bra call you just heard 090 for 20, then the contact they told you about is 20 nautical miles directly behind you (plus or minus the few degrees difference of mag vs true) so turn to put 090 in the top of your hud, and you are now pointing straight at the contact they just told you about.

[Swift.]

Tusker, you are thinking of relative bearing (090 is starboard). The bearing from BRA is an absolute bearing.

[Robin_Hood]

And it (as well as Bullseye calls) should be magnetic, although I believe it is currently not the case in DCS.

[Ziptie]

If you would like to test for sure - you can change the heading from Magnetic to True, via the HSI for the Hornet. For the Caucasus map, there is a -6* variance, for NTTR I believe it is -12* variance, and Persian Gulf is -2* . I might be off a few degrees there, but close if not spot on.

 

 

Cheers,

 

Don (callsign Ziptie)

[F1GHTS-ON]

Always struck me as strange that real world GCI controllers used magnetic rather than true in the last 20 years or so with their Bearing calls. Does anyone know if this is just a legacy issue from the "old & bold" who had to do it to 1960's generation of jets that still drove around on Magnetic headings? And how on earth does everyone cope when conducting Flag exercises up in Alaska or Northern Canada where the Mag variation is seriously out of phase with True......my brain hurting now so I'll stop typing :)

[Flamin_Squirrel]

Everyone (at least in the west) still flies magnetic.

 

It has the advantage that you can always crosscheck your primary navigation system with a compass.

Edited January 7, 2020 by Flamin_Squirrel

[will-]

you'll find out that things moving at mach 1 change direction fast. so those BRA calls have a high chance to be incorrect if your in a merge, close or taking your time finding targets.