steelrfan85 Posted May 3, 2020 Posted May 3, 2020 I have my bombs selected and fuses selected. I have my bomb fall line with the diamond so I can select a target on the ground. When I hit the PAL button like it says to, it does not designate. I am set to A/G and master arm is on. Any thoughts? I can move the VSL HI and Low fine, it just wont designate.
Spiceman Posted May 3, 2020 Posted May 3, 2020 You may not be in a good position, I.e. within 8 miles or so of what you’re trying to designate, and not too shallow. It’s important to understand what is happening when you designate a target. The Tomcat has no memory. It has no terrain database. It sees the terrain in real time in A/G mode by putting the AWG-9 into 10NM pulse, freezing the antenna, and using it to paint the ground. It’s using radar range and antenna pointing angle, along with the INS, to calculate where the ground is. When you slew, you’re moving the radar antenna up and down, and when the radar has a good return, the diamond will stop flashing and you can designate. Play with that a little bit and let us know if that helps. Former USN Avionics Tech VF-41 86-90, 93-95 VF-101 90-93 Heatblur Tomcat SME I9-9900K | Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Ultra | 32GB DDR4 3200 | Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe | RTX 2070 Super | TM Throttle | VPC Warbird Base TM F-18 Stick
steelrfan85 Posted May 3, 2020 Author Posted May 3, 2020 I have been between 5-7 miles. Do I have to be farther out than 8nm? I was in about 5 degrees descent.
Spiceman Posted May 3, 2020 Posted May 3, 2020 No you probably just need to be a little closer. Drive towards the area you want to designate and eventually the diamond will go steady. Then you can designate. Former USN Avionics Tech VF-41 86-90, 93-95 VF-101 90-93 Heatblur Tomcat SME I9-9900K | Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Ultra | 32GB DDR4 3200 | Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe | RTX 2070 Super | TM Throttle | VPC Warbird Base TM F-18 Stick
steelrfan85 Posted May 3, 2020 Author Posted May 3, 2020 What do you mean by steady. The diamond isn’t flashing if that is what you are referring to
Spiceman Posted May 3, 2020 Posted May 3, 2020 (edited) Once the diamond stops flashing, you should be able to designate with the same action you use to go to PAL in A/A. When designated, the diamond should become ground stabilized, and that will be the computed target point when in CMPTR/TGT bombing mode. Edited May 3, 2020 by Spiceman 1 Former USN Avionics Tech VF-41 86-90, 93-95 VF-101 90-93 Heatblur Tomcat SME I9-9900K | Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Ultra | 32GB DDR4 3200 | Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe | RTX 2070 Super | TM Throttle | VPC Warbird Base TM F-18 Stick
steelrfan85 Posted May 4, 2020 Author Posted May 4, 2020 That’s what I thought to, but it never does.
Bearfoot Posted May 4, 2020 Posted May 4, 2020 Try it on some different patches of ground / terrain. CMPTR/TGT aka CCRP is my favorite mode when delivering GBU's, and it's the one I use most of the time when I do A2G (which, admittedly, is only 10-15% of the time). But even so, I find it can be finicky to get a lock. "It" here meaning not just the system, but my (still learning) skill + system challenges. Probably more skilled people have it down without issue. In practice missions, I've sometimes had to make 3 passes before I get a lock. I need a steady flight, good terrain marks, etc. etc.
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