TGP FLIR and IR Pointer.

[Knives]

Hello,

 

In a night CAS mission with JTAC, I can see the IR Pointer illuminating the Target with Night vision HMD.

 

But, why I can not see it with the TGP FLIR mode?

[Tholozor]

Night vision is not the same as infrared (thermal) vision. They're operating in different wavelengths.

[noisy_lightning]

For example the TGP has two lasers, the target laser and the mark laser. You have to switch in the DDI.

 

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[Knives]

Got it. So IR Pointer and FLIR optics are working on different wavelength.

 

So basically, Smoke is used to mark targets at daylight and IR Pointer at night.

 

What I'm missing right now is TGP Pointer on the HUD so we can point the TGP to where the target is painted by IR for better identification.

[Tholozor]

The Hornet does not have a line-of-sight in the HUD for the TGP, but eventually we'll have the ability to slave the TGP line-of-sight to the velocity vector and use that to aim the pod. Also remember that there is a difference between an IR pointer and a laser designator, so if a target is being designated at night, it should probably also be lased with a designator for laser-spot-search or for weapon guidance.

Edited March 8, 2020 by Tholozor

[Knives]

The current JTAC currently implemented, would choose the designator or pointer depending on the weapon. And it would not emmit both IR and Laser.

 

Smoke or IR Pointer for cannon, IR MAV and general bombs. While laser designator for LGB and laser MAV.

[Notso]

Just so there is no confusion, the Laser designator and the IR marker are both lasers but are in a different wavelength and power band. The Laser designator is a much higher power laser that is NOT eye-safe and is used for ranging and weapons guidance. It is invisible to the naked eye and the IR target pod. There are some special sensors that can see a laser designator, but nothing that is modeled in DCS. The IR Marker is visible only through night vision goggles or Low Light TV cameras (which are not currently modeled in DCS to my knowledge). The IR marker, as the name implies, is used only for visual (NVG) marking of a target at night. It cannot be used for any sort of weapon guidance. Think of the IR marker as exactly like a handheld visible laser you might use in a classroom to put a red dot on something to point something out, except that the IR marker is invisible to the naked eye because its in the near IR spectrum - somewhere between visible light and the true IR spectrum that the TGP operates in.

 

A laser spot tracker (LST) searches for a high power Laser designator band on a specific PRF. For instance, if a JTAC or another aircraft is lasing a target and you want to find that spot - you can use the LST function to search for the specific PRF and then lock onto it. But you never “see” the laser itself, just the HUD or TGP indications of where the spot is.

Edited March 9, 2020 by Notso

[QuiGon]

There are some special sensors that can see a laser designator, but nothing that is modeled in DCS.

LST does see the laser designator (its reflection to be precise). There is just no visualization for the pilot.

[Notso]

LST does see the laser designator (its reflection to be precise). There is just no visualization for the pilot.

 

Yes, I said that in my 2nd paragraph about LST. The only visualization is the symbology that shows where the laser spot is supposed to be.

 

I was referring to other sensors that can actually “see” a laser designator so that the pilot can actually view the raw laser spot reflected on the target.