FLOOD with the AWG-9

[Xl-45]

Hi,

I would like to know if it's possible to fake fox-1 launches using flood mode, and as far as i can tell, you can do that in the F-15.

I know that firing Sparrows in Boresight activates the flood antenna, but is it possible to activate it without firing any missiles ?

[Badger1-1]

AFAIK as soon as you open the ACM Cover it should be in flood mode but @Bremspropellerknows for sure

Edited August 4, 2022 by Badger1-1

[bies]

Maybe by changing Normal to Bore button befow the HUD.

[AH_Solid_Snake]

As I recall flipping up the ACM cover forces BRST mode anyway.

[Naquaii]

The AWG-9 does not initiate flood illumination until you launch a missile regardless. So no, not possible to fake it.

[Xl-45]

40 minutes ago, Naquaii said:

The AWG-9 does not initiate flood illumination until you launch a missile regardless. So no, not possible to fake it.

Thanks !

[Spurts]

17 hours ago, Naquaii said:

The AWG-9 does not initiate flood illumination until you launch a missile regardless. So no, not possible to fake it.

I'm still a little lost on how flood is initiated.  Could you help me out there?  Thanks in advance Naquaii

[Sideburns]

1 hour ago, Spurts said:

I'm still a little lost on how flood is initiated.  Could you help me out there?  Thanks in advance Naquaii

Have you tried reading the manual? http://www.heatblur.se/F-14Manual/weapons.html#launch-modes

[Spurts]

2 hours ago, Sideburns said:

Have you tried reading the manual? http://www.heatblur.se/F-14Manual/weapons.html#launch-modes

I did.  It's not clear.  I see that if I lose lock it goes to flood, and the "boresight" mode uses flood, but I am not seeing how to use boresight and I am confused why the image appears to be a VSL "medium" 

Oh I see, there is a button near the Master Arm that switches it.  

[Xl-45]

31 minutes ago, Spurts said:

I did.  It's not clear.  I see that if I lose lock it goes to flood, and the "boresight" mode uses flood, but I am not seeing how to use boresight and I am confused why the image appears to be a VSL "medium" 

Oh I see, there is a button near the Master Arm that switches it.  

I might be wrong, here is what i understood : if you lose the lock after firing a Sparrow, let it be in PD-STT or P-STT, the radar will automatically turn on the flood antenna, and it will be working on the pattern that's described in the manual.

After losing the lock, if you are inside 10 nm in relation to your target, and put the target inside the scan area of the flood antenna, your Sparrow will be redirected to it.

However, if the target is further away than 10 nm, or if you want to be able to make a crank while guiding your missile, you can lock the target in PD-STT / P-STT (as an example, it works well with PAL). But the Sparrow surely needs to be inside the gimbal limits of the AWG-9 ?

The "Boresight" (BRSIT) use-case is if you need to fire an AIM-7 without any kind of lock (PD-STT / P-STT), this can be useful if you can't get a STT lock on a target but want to save a few seconds by firing first then guiding the missile with the flood antenna, exactly like when you lose a lock after firing.

The flood antenna will only activate after firing a Sparrow and losing lock / firing without a lock in BRSIT, thus it's not possible to fake FOX-1 launches without firing any missiles.
However, it's still possible to fake it by firing a sparrow first (the target's RWR will indicate a missile launch), then releasing the PD-STT/P-STT lock (getting the target out of the FLOOD area if the target is within 10 nm, or if the target is beyond 10 nm, by simply getting out of PD-STT/P-STT. That'll silence the target's RWR. Then, you can lock the target again, to make it think that you've lauched a second missile, and so on.

[draconus]

Would Master Arm Test mode change anything if it was implemented?

[Naquaii]

Like you guys have mentioned the flood is used if an STT track is dropped and the antenna doesn't know where to point the illuminator. In ACM it's also used when you don't have an STT the same as when you manually select boresight. Having the radar slaved to the TCS also allows the TCS to guide the illuminator.

And yeah, the flood pattern is similar but not exactly the same as VSL. The flood antenna does not generate a perfect circle.

Edited August 6, 2022 by Naquaii