What in Lock-On is fiction and what is not?

[Alexrey]

I remember reading something about lock-on before I got it, and one of the things it said was that some of the technology used in it had not been used in real life yet. Does anyone know what's real and what isn't in LOMAC/LOFC?

 

One thing I find hard to believe is how, in air-to-ground mode, your targets have a diamond around them to mark where they are. Surely that can't be real?

 

Another thing is the Russian MFD in NAV mode. Do you really get a nice image of your way points and the surrounding airports like that?

 

And what about the little dot that appears on the HUD when you are locked on to a bogey (gimbal I think) to help keep it within your radar's limits? Is that used in real life?

[britgliderpilot]

I remember reading something about lock-on before I got it, and one of the things it said was that some of the technology used in it had not been used in real life yet. Does anyone know what's real and what isn't in LOMAC/LOFC?

 

One thing I find hard to believe is how, in air-to-ground mode, your targets have a diamond around them to mark where they are. Surely that can't be real?

 

Another thing is the Russian MFD in NAV mode. Do you really get a nice image of your way points and the surrounding airports like that?

 

And what about the little dot that appears on the HUD when you are locked on to a bogey (gimbal I think) to help keep it within your radar's limits? Is that used in real life?

 

The diamond target marker is very much real - although not quite as cool and slick as Lomac makes out.

 

If a target's position is known, then it can be input into the nav system and the HUD can point you to it. That's relatively old tech. So's the A-10 system of using an off-platform laser to designate the target, with a sensor on the aircraft that can detect that and highlight it on the HUD.

 

However, cycling between a range of moving targets isn't realistic for these aircraft. To be able to do that, either the aircraft has to keep track of all those targets via an on-board sensor (not doable), or the the target speeds and courses have to be known in advance (not doable).

 

The current/near future state would be a real-time datalink to a surveillance aircraft or UAV.

This would allow you to cycle between moving targets. Proper God Mode stuff.

 

 

The Russian MFD does show waypoints and airports. And again, that's 1980's technology.

Modern GPS displays can give you much, much information more than that.

 

Lomac doesn't model the Russian MFD quite the way it should be at the moment, but give it a few years . . .

 

 

The gimbal marker is true to life, and a vital part of the F-pole technique.

 

 

The references to technology in Lomac that's not being used IRL is probably a reference to some of the aircraft that are in the game, but not yet in service.

 

Plenty of Russian aircraft (the Su34, Ka50, and Ka52 are some prime examples) exist only as prototypes or single-digit production runs, but are still in the game. Makes missions a bit more interesting, and as long as Lomac is a hypothetical time frame (which it is), then it's not too unreasonable.

[Vekkinho]

In fact, russian MFD from MiG-29 (9.12 and 9.13) and Su-27 Flanker B is far more complex and multifunctional than the one presented in LOFC.

[Odin_Norway]

The diamond target marker is very much real - although not quite as cool and slick as Lomac makes out.

 

If a target's position is known, then it can be input into the nav system and the HUD can point you to it. That's relatively old tech. So's the A-10 system of using an off-platform laser to designate the target, with a sensor on the aircraft that can detect that and highlight it on the HUD.

 

However, cycling between a range of moving targets isn't realistic for these aircraft. To be able to do that, either the aircraft has to keep track of all those targets via an on-board sensor (not doable), or the the target speeds and courses have to be known in advance (not doable).

 

What I do in my head to act as this is real is that I imagine there some rangers on the ground acting as fac and when I cycle through I imagine that I radioed them to move their laserdesignator to another vehicle :thumbup: he he he

[Brit_Radar_Dude]

Kh-41 missile on Su-33 is fiction. Russian navy had wanted it but it never happened, no money......

[monotwix]

What I do in my head to act as this is real is that I imagine there some rangers on the ground acting as fac and when I cycle through I imagine that I radioed them to move their laserdesignator to another vehicle :thumbup: he he he

 

Would you say surreal on the ground level?:)

[Odin_Norway]

lol, I didn't want to move this thread off topic, but yes I see your point :)

[Alexrey]

Hey how do you cycle between bomb targets? I always just follow the order that the targets are given to me.

 

Are there any other things that are fiction in LO?

[Odin_Norway]

Hey how do you cycle between bomb targets? I always just follow the order that the targets are given to me.

 

Use the tilde key ~ (left of your keyboard 1) same as cycling waypoints i NAV-mode

[Brit_Radar_Dude]

What Odin said (but your country keyboard may have it different, you might have to figure out what key it is).

 

One further thing regarding moving the target indicator is that it can get possibly confusing if you have multiple targets depending on how the Mission designer set them up.

 

If you set up some vehicles or ships in a group then the Mission Editor treats that group as a single item when you use the TARGET button.

 

Why am I telling you this? Well, when you are flying the mission and you have a group targeted then if you kill the 1st in the group, the diamond will move to the next in the group etc until all destroyed then moves to next TARGET'ed unit/group. If there are multiple targets in a mission, you can swap the diamond between them by pressing ' key (depends on your keyboard - anyway it is the same key that swaps airfields when you are in nav return mode).

But remembering what I said earlier about a group of vehicles being regarded as one target, then if you had two groups designated as targets, it will swap between the 1st in each group. you can't move the diamond along the column of vehicles. Doesn't stop you bombing them, but the diamond will always point to 1st in the group.

 

This can be kinda confusing until you get used to it.