dvw Posted February 24, 2020 Share Posted February 24, 2020 Hi Everyone, I had a couple of questions regarding the Laser and its functionality aboard the KA-50. I have seen a number of posts relating to the laser and it failing due to overuse (heating). Some people say that it just gets too hot due to antiquated Soviet coolants, others say there are a certain amount of times (measured at 300 Seconds) you can even fire the laser. I have also seen that you must allow it to cool down for 30 minutes or simply do a fullstop shutdown and repair the aircraft. There seems to be a lot of differing opinions on the functionality and of the laser and I was wondering if anyone could clarify how to avoid burning it out, and how to actually use it properly and the sort of 'Truth' about the KA-50's laser. I was also wondering if the laser may be altered in the upcoming Black Shark 3 module as one would expect the Russians to have improved their coolants in the years following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Many Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dvw Posted February 24, 2020 Author Share Posted February 24, 2020 Hi Could you explain? I have the Hornet but have not flown it in a year or so. Any clarification on the KA-50 laser would also be much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fri13 Posted February 24, 2020 Share Posted February 24, 2020 It's not implemented just in Ka-50. F-18 has the same feature. You mean the Litening II pod? I have never read here in years that anyone would have ever burned the laser in the A-10C, it is like perfect laser designator with perfect distance with perfect pinpoint accuracy and no problems at all for any kind tasks. IMHO the targeting pods should get huge overhaul in overall. As those should be constantly jittering off, requiring you to keep reticles on target and simply govern the whole system. What DCS is requiring is a real 16x16 pixel contrast detection system so you can lock those systems on anything that just generates enough contrast. If there is not much contrast then targeting wanders off easily, while strong contrast with clean surrounding makes possible to have a better situation, but not so great as scene comparison that counts for everything. i7-8700k, 32GB 2666Mhz DDR4, 2x 2080S SLI 8GB, Oculus Rift S. i7-8700k, 16GB 2666Mhz DDR4, 1080Ti 11GB, 27" 4K, 65" HDR 4K. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tippis Posted February 24, 2020 Share Posted February 24, 2020 IMHO the targeting pods should get huge overhaul in overall. As those should be constantly jittering off, requiring you to keep reticles on target and simply govern the whole system. What DCS is requiring is a real 16x16 pixel contrast detection system so you can lock those systems on anything that just generates enough contrast. If there is not much contrast then targeting wanders off easily, while strong contrast with clean surrounding makes possible to have a better situation, but not so great as scene comparison that counts for everything. The WMD7 for the Jeff is a much more interesting (and probably accurate) representation, so we're getting there… ❧ ❧ Inside you are two wolves. One cannot land; the other shoots friendlies. You are a Goon. ❧ ❧ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roth Posted February 24, 2020 Share Posted February 24, 2020 Laser rangefinder operation mode for one flight, series: Each serie consists of 16 cycles of 10 seconds with 5 sec interval between the cycles. 5 Interval between the series, min: 30 pg 454 of the manual Everyone I train, I tell to hit the fire extinguisher and repair after each flight. It is rare but if you are using your laser range finding a lot during a flight you could loose it on your 2nd flight so best just get in the habit of repairing. Nothing worse than RTB cause laser burned out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grodlund Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 Proceedure: 1. Always, ALWAYS wait for the cooldown timer on your HUD to reach zero before re-lasing or firing another shot. 2. Switch you laser off untill you really need it for ranging or firing. Dont keep it on when scanning. 3. For even longer service life, hit the RESET button after a missile impact, and count down the reminding timer in your head, before re-lasing (as the laser stays on a couple of seconds after impact) If you use your laser smart, and only when needed, it will have a lot longer serivce life, than you can stay alert and fit for fight in the pit. Good luck "Your pumping days are over, Megatron!" -Optimus Prime "This calls for a very special blend of psychology and extreme violence" -Vyvian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lt_RAzOr_957 Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 I mean the Litening II pod, but the problem is that in DCS the pod doesn't work same for some reason. Attached at F-18, laser will burnout, but when attached to A-10C it will not. Well IF ist modelled wich i dont know it would make a Little more sense if the hornet is flying faster all the time during the usage of the laser wich warms it up more but that might be not modelled at all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wizard1393 Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 What DCS is requiring is a real 16x16 pixel contrast detection system so you can lock those systems on anything that just generates enough contrast. If there is not much contrast then targeting wanders off easily, while strong contrast with clean surrounding makes possible to have a better situation, but not so great as scene comparison that counts for everything. Agreed. And this with the new proper FLIR rendering system. Right now I don't think any TGP actually looks at contrast. It will only lock on to a DCS "unit" if you're looking at it. Not a tree or a building. Light has an impact though for the Shkval system as it won't lock on to anything when it gets too dark in the evening or early morning. GPU: PALIT NVIDIA RTX 3080 10GB | CPU: Intel Core i7-9700K @ 4,9GHz | RAM: 64GB DDR4 3000MHz VR: HP Reverb G2 | HOTAS: TM Warthog Throttle and Stick OS: Windows 10 22H2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuiGon Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 Proceedure: 1. Always, ALWAYS wait for the cooldown timer on your HUD to reach zero before re-lasing or firing another shot. 2. Switch you laser off untill you really need it for ranging or firing. Dont keep it on when scanning. 3. For even longer service life, hit the RESET button after a missile impact, and count down the reminding timer in your head, before re-lasing (as the laser stays on a couple of seconds after impact) If you use your laser smart, and only when needed, it will have a lot longer serivce life, than you can stay alert and fit for fight in the pit. Good luck This! That's exactly how you avoid laser burnout in the Ka-50! You mean the Litening II pod? I have never read here in years that anyone would have ever burned the laser in the A-10C, it is like perfect laser designator with perfect distance with perfect pinpoint accuracy and no problems at all for any kind tasks. ED implemented laser burnout for the A-10C in 2018. Since then it can happen that the laser burns out when overused and stops working. I've only had this happen to me during buddy lasing operations with prolonged lasing times. Intel i7-12700K @ 8x5GHz+4x3.8GHz + 32 GB DDR5 RAM + Nvidia Geforce RTX 2080 (8 GB VRAM) + M.2 SSD + Windows 10 64Bit DCS Panavia Tornado (IDS) really needs to be a thing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dvw Posted February 25, 2020 Author Share Posted February 25, 2020 Thanks for the info on the KA-50, it is much appreciated! I was wondering if there was also a good procedure to follow when using the laser for datalink/navigation functions like setting ingress points etc? This is my sort of go to manual for everything KA-50 laser, not sure how good of a source it is. https://lyndiman.com/2013/07/30/notam-ka-50-black-shark-shkval-laser-burnout/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viciam1 Posted June 21, 2023 Share Posted June 21, 2023 On 2/25/2020 at 1:01 AM, Grodlund said: Proceedure: 1. Always, ALWAYS wait for the cooldown timer on your HUD to reach zero before re-lasing or firing another shot. 2. Switch you laser off untill you really need it for ranging or firing. Dont keep it on when scanning. 3. For even longer service life, hit the RESET button after a missile impact, and count down the reminding timer in your head, before re-lasing (as the laser stays on a couple of seconds after impact) If you use your laser smart, and only when needed, it will have a lot longer serivce life, than you can stay alert and fit for fight in the pit. Good luck Hi do you need to hold laser reset down or just a quick click? Also in the bs3...i am not getting the countdown timer on the hud? On 2/25/2020 at 1:01 AM, Grodlund said: Proceedure: 1. Always, ALWAYS wait for the cooldown timer on your HUD to reach zero before re-lasing or firing another shot. 2. Switch you laser off untill you really need it for ranging or firing. Dont keep it on when scanning. 3. For even longer service life, hit the RESET button after a missile impact, and count down the reminding timer in your head, before re-lasing (as the laser stays on a couple of seconds after impact) If you use your laser smart, and only when needed, it will have a lot longer serivce life, than you can stay alert and fit for fight in the pit. Good luck Hi do you need to hold laser reset down or just a quick click? Also in the bs3...i am not getting the countdown timer on the hud? and when does the laser stop firing? When I press uncage after having destroyed a target? Or when i slew the shkval? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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