Tactical reason NOT to activate IFF?

[Ohioflyer15]

Hello friends. Is there a tactical advantage to NOT running IFF?

 

I'm spooling up on multiplayer and accidentally killed a teammate returning from an objective tonight. Night mission, everyone was flying out in the teens (long haul), and this flight of two were flying opposite direction, sub 5,000 feet, passing at 2-2:30.

 

They were both returning constant unknown/ambi IFF interrogations while the rest of the screen was green friendlies. I thought they were bandits that squirted through, running for an objective behind us. I rolled in behind them and :doh:

 

Obviously I botched that one, but why not run IFF? Especially when passing other friendlies while headed home? Did I myself have settings wrong? I just turn it on usually and it seems to work...Thx still learning

[Yoshua]

IFF should always be on. No reason to have it off when flying.

 

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[Harker]

It's more their fault than yours. They should have their IFF on. If they were not marked as friendly by another datalink participant (I'm going to assume that you were in a datalink-capable aircraft), VID wasn't possible because it was dark and they didn't communicate the fact that their IFF is off to anyone through the chat or voice comms, there's only so much you can do in short notice if you don't have a human AWACS or mission commander etc to clear it with them first.

 

The only other thing you could've done is go behind them and use NCTR if you were flying the Hornet, to determine their aircraft type. But then again, this is DCS and sometimes both sides have access to the same aircraft for some reason, so that too might've been unreliable.

 

The only reason I can think that someone would deliberately turn their IFF off is to hide/confuse friendly forces. Which these guys managed to achieve.

[Ourorborus]

Iff and EMCON

 

IFF needs to be turned off in accordance with the EMCON state, like any transmitter. IFF responses will provide bearing information to any enemy able to receive. If you have the ability to interrogate, then it can give you range and bearing information.

 

For example, a simple TCAS unit can be purchased for a few thousand dollars, which will give range and bearing on any mode 3/3C transponders within range. It doesn't take much to modify these to operate mode 2 or 4.

 

So yes the threat picture will determine the EMCON state which may require IFF to be turned to standby. (You don't turn it off because they take a little time to warm up.)

 

On a side note, on most transponders, you should switch it to standby to change codes.

[TAW_Blaze]

In DCS there is no downside, you should have it on. IRL is a different story.

[CBStu]

In DCS there is no downside' date=' you should have it on. IRL is a different story.[/quote']

So based on this comment, you would say the dead guy was at fault rather than the OP?

[Ourorborus]

To clarify, I was referring to IRL. I don't think any sim would actively simulate that kind of detail.

[bear.is.flying]

To add, IRL there are also designated safe lanes (specific routes, air speeds, and altitudes) for aircraft to return from enemy lines who suffered damage, or for whatever reason, their radios and IFF are inoperable.

 

Brevity code: RIDER—A bogey that is conforming to safe passage routing, airspeed, or altitude procedures.

[Kang]

So based on this comment, you would say the dead guy was at fault rather than the OP?

I don't think one can decide on any blame about this so easily. At least in my opinion too much depends on the state of the world, as in what kind of server and what kind of mission were they running at?

 

We can establish, though, that in DCS there is no known downside to enabling IFF and one should generally do so.

[CBStu]

I don't think one can decide on any blame about this so easily. At least in my opinion too much depends on the state of the world, as in what kind of server and what kind of mission were they running at?

 

We can establish, though, that in DCS there is no known downside to enabling IFF and one should generally do so.

Thanks. I was curious because (I only fly in SP) a month or so ago I killed a friendly by accident and there was some message when I exited that mission. I think I was busted to a private or something. I haven't learned about IFF yet so was reading this thread.

[Notso]

The tactical use of IFF in RL is way more complicated than what is being described above or how DCS appears to implement it. First of all, when someone says "IFF", the question is: Which one? Depending on the ROE and the level of the conflict - the rules could be to have ALL the modes and codes ON (M1, 2, 3, C and 4) or have them all OFF. For instance, in a low level threat conflict like Afghanistan right now, with no air threat and civilian airliners and cargo mixed in with combat aircraft - everyone is going to squawk all modes and codes at all times. In a very high threat, neer peer conflict with say US vs China or Russia - there will be much more strict EMCON procedures and likely all modes except M4 will be turned off crossing the friendly line outbound and then turned on approaching friendly airspace so you aren't mistakenly shot down by other fighters or friendly air defense. Mode 4 is encrypted for this reason.

 

What I don't know yet is how does DCS implement IFF interrogation. When you press the IFF interrogate button in the cockpit, what modes and codes is it interrogating? Is it Mode 4 only or is it customizable like it is IRL? The ATO/ACO will specify the codes to squawk for each day. Do MP "wars" even use ATO's?

[Kang]

As far as I can tell the implementation in DCS is rather simple. Basically, if IFF and Mode 4 is on, you will turn up as friendly, if it isn't you'll be ambiguous; entering of codes is purely cosmetic and doesn't really change the result.

[Notso]

As far as I can tell the implementation in DCS is rather simple. Basically, if IFF and Mode 4 is on, you will turn up as friendly, if it isn't you'll be ambiguous; entering of codes is purely cosmetic and doesn't really change the result.

 

That's sort of what I thought. Thanks!