Maverick question

[AUS_Heracles]

Hi All,

 

I have a question which may be stupid haha.

 

I fly on multiple modules usually A10C, and Hornet but I guess this is related to all the modules that use mavericks aswell.

 

The mavericks I'm asking about are non laser guided mavericks.

If I acquire a lock and then launch a maverick to a target using point track on A10C or a lock using GMT on the hornet and the target starts to move or was a moving target to begin with will the maverick follow the target or will it hit the area where the target was when the maverick was launched?

 

Thank you,

John.

 

[Mud]

In reality at least ,it should track moving targets I believe as it locks on to a contrast.
To be honest I have never tried this in DCS however

[Dannyvandelft]

Hi All,
 
I have a question which may be stupid haha.
 
I fly on multiple modules usually A10C, and Hornet but I guess this is related to all the modules that use mavericks aswell.
 
The mavericks I'm asking about are non laser guided mavericks.
If I acquire a lock and then launch a maverick to a target using point track on A10C or a lock using GMT on the hornet and the target starts to move or was a moving target to begin with will the maverick follow the target or will it hit the area where the target was when the maverick was launched?
 
Thank you,
John.
 

Point track will follow a moving target. Area track will lock onto a static object/area.

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[Py]

Point/area track from a TGP or GMT radar lock are just used to direct the maverick seeker to look in the right place, the maverick must lock with it's own seeker before it can launch (based on image contrast except in force correlate mode), and then will follow the target by itself even if it moves.

So you can fire several mavericks at different targets in one pass, even on a moving convoy.

 

It's possible that the lock will flip to another nearby target in flight eg if your targeted tank drives close to another tank though.

[RodBorza]

16 minutes ago, Py said:

Point/area track from a TGP or GMT radar lock are just used to direct the maverick seeker to look in the right place, the maverick must lock with it's own seeker before it can launch (based on image contrast except in force correlate mode), and then will follow the target by itself even if it moves.

So you can fire several mavericks at different targets in one pass, even on a moving convoy.

 

It's possible that the lock will flip to another nearby target in flight eg if your targeted tank drives close to another tank though.

TGP point track will track the target prior to launch and the Mav seeker will follow. Once launched, it will keep following the target all the way to impact. TV and IR Mavs are guided by contrast, so a (relatively slow) moving target over a field or a road should not present a problem to the missile seeker. Most of the situations are similar to these, so you should not have any problem doing that.

 

Regarding the cluttered tanks... well, it can happen.

Let's analyse two different situations: a typical, standard DCS convoy moving along a road. They are fairly spaced, so if you launch two Mavericks, they will follow their respective targets and will hit (that's the beauty of Mavs, they are that reliable).

 

The second situation would be if the same convoy, once attacked, spreads to both sides of the road. Sometimes, one vehicle can be very close to another, and they randomly move once they are attacked. It can happen that mid flight of the Maverick, the target that is locked pass behind a building or another tank. Then, the Maverick would get confused and either lock to another vehicle close by the original target, or lose track entirely. But it is a very rare occurrence.

 

Here's a video, from another life, a looong time ago where I demonstrated a Mav attack on a moving target:

 

 

Edited October 12, 2021 by RodBorza

[jaylw314]

POINT track is a mode that is ONLY relevant to the TGP, not the Maverick seeker head.

 

Once the Maverick seeker head is locked on the MAV page, it should, in theory, follow a moving target all the way through launch and impact.  In practice, that's not always a guarantee, but you're just as likely to lock the Maverick on the wrong target accidentally in the first place.

 

POINT track on the TGP is helpful if you're using it to cue the Maverick seeker head.  The TGP will not follow a moving target unless it's in POINT track mode (and only from certain angles).  As long as it does, you can slave the Maverick seeker head to follow, but the Maverick is not actually locked on in that case.  You still need to switch to the MAV page and press TMS up short to attempt to lock the seeker head on target.  If you do not do this, the Maverick will not launch, you'll get a "no lock launch inhibit" warning.

[ASAP]

The point track mode is just what the TGP is doing and is completly independent of the AGM-65. The Maverick seeker head will still needs to be locked onto the target. Slaving all to SPI doesn't do that. The targeting pod and the maverick seeker head don't really communicate with eachother that way. When you slave all to SPI the jet is essentially going to tell every sensor to look at the coordinates of your SPI. Both the TGP and missile aren't really "locking" onto an object like a radar would, they are tracking on areas of high contrast on an image. The slave all to SPI command is just there to get the missile looking in the right vicinity.

If you slave all to SPI before you roll in on the target you will still need to make Mavericks SOI, find the target on the MAV video, go to narrow field of view and lock the maverick onto it. You'll know the maverick is locked when the crosshairs "bound" on the target, they should close in around it. Once you've done all that you need to make sure the cross isn't flashing (making sure its near the center of the maverick screen helps). Once you have a steady cross you can rifle it off. The maverick doesn't really care if the target is moving or not.