F/A-18C - TPOD - AGM-65F

[Captain Orso]

F/A-18C - TPOD - AGM-65F

 

Do these play together in any way?

 

In the AV-8B this works like a dream. Us the TPOD to lock a target, uncage the IRMV, confirm target designation, rifle. It goes faster than it took me to write that.

 

In the Hornet... :mad:

 

It's the same TPOD, it's the same IR-Mavs, it's the same service branch to some extent, and in some it is exactly the same.

 

What's wrong here (and it may be just me completely)?

[Svsmokey]

Doesn't work worth spit on stable , at least the last two versions of ob have it working very well , pretty much as you describe with the Harrier .

[Captain Orso]

I'm flying only OB and occasionally it works in the Hornet. In 5 flights on got 4 missiles off -- FOUR! - against stationary T-72's on a runway.

 

In the Harrier it ALWAYS works.

[Svsmokey]

Hmmm...I practice with the "ready on the ramp" instant mission , load 4 mav-f's , a couple of mk82's and a Litening . Usually head over to Batumi to sink all those lovely ships , or north to the nearest airfield to blow up the Il-76 , the Hip , and hangars/buildings/control tower . I always unload all ordinance , although i pretty consistently get only 3 mav hits on the designated targets .

One thing that has changed is you now have to use the "undesignate" button instead of "cage/uncage" to return the pod to snowplow . Prolly correct now , as opposed to before .

Does the Harrier have a tpod Los on the hud ? That's my biggest problem with the Hornet . I'm playing with the vv slave now to try to work around it .

Edited May 23, 2020 by Svsmokey

[Pike]

I struggle getting the Mav F to lock the target designated in the tpod, even in OB.

 

 

 

At this point I just use waypoint designate and slew the Mav to that area and pick targets up manually. Or mental note the area I did designate with the tpod and then undesignate and slew the Mav to that area.

[Captain Orso]

I've recognized something new.

 

I'm guessing the procedure to to using TPOD and IRMV are as follows -- although this only works sometimes(!!) :mad:

 

Status:

DDI-L = stores (IRMV selected and ready -- IRMV is boxed and crossed out and caged))

DDI-R = TPOD, target is locked -- you must press TDC-Depress ONCE on a target to designate and lock it (target diamond appears on HUD), afterwards you may switch to a new target by slewing TDC, and pressing TDC-Depress is no longer required

SOI is DDI-R.

 

- SCS left.

- Cage/Uncage button to uncage the selected IRMV.

-- IR-Seeker head automatically slews to target selected by TPOD. If within range, IRMV will become firable (crossout is removed from boxed IRMV).

- Pickle to fire IRMV

-- Next IRMV (if any remain) is selected [newly selected IRMV is Uncaged(!!!!)). This is wrong from my understanding. You uncage a single weapon, not a class of weapon. If IRMV on pilon 7 was just fired and IRMV on pilon 1 is now selected, it can not be uncaged.

 

I believe this is how subsequent IRMV's should be fired:

 

- SCS right.

- Slew TDC to new target.

- SCS right twice to switch to point target (vehicle) mode.

- Adjust targeting aim, if necessary.

- SCS left.

- Cage/Uncage button to uncage the selected IRMV.

-- IR-Seeker head automatically slews to target selected by TPOD. If within range, IRMV will become firable (crossout is removed from boxed IRMV).

- Pickle to fire IRMV

 

Because the newly selected IRMV is marked as Uncaged, I press Cage/Uncage before moving the SOI back to the TPOD, however, when I've selected a new target and return to the IRMV page, uncaging does slew the seeker head to the new target, but the boxed IRMV NEVER becomes uncrossed and is therefore not firable :mad:

 

After re-Uncaging the IRMV, TDC-Depress -- which would be the method without TPOD targeting -- makes no difference, crossout is not removed.

 

Somewhere along the line here some status is not being set correctly (maybe the Caged/Uncaged status). I have managed to fire subsequent IRMV's a couple times after fidgeting around with it for long enough, but after a while, there's no way to tell, exactly what made the difference [rubbing a penny on your left elbow while whistling La Marseillaise and hopping on your right leg is as good a guess as any], but that can't be what is expected of virtual pilots.