tws question... bugs and things

[DukeAngus]

i have been having issues with upgrading  track targets to system targets, once i have 1 or more system targets bugged.  i  have to unbug the target(s) and upgrade the new track target(s) to system targets and then rebug them all. a couple of questions, unbugging a target while a missile is on its way, will that drop the datalink connection? is the method of operation correct?

Edited February 6, 2023 by DukeAngus
clarification

[razo+r]

By upgrading track, do you mean step through them? TMS Right will do just that. With TMS right you switch to the next target if you have more than 1 target bugged.

[_SteelFalcon_]

If you already have 1 system target and you want to upgrade a track target to a system target, so need to move the cursor over the track target you want to upgrade and press tms up on it. Once you already have a system target, tms right will bug the closest system target  to launch weapons on it.

[GrEaSeLiTeNiN]

For my own reference, I have it down as this...

[DukeAngus]

@_SteelFalcon_i love your thumbnail of the f-16 scooter! TWS

first off thank you everyone reading this and the ones that took time to answer my question(s). it might help with clarification if you took a look at the f-16 manual.  (it can get confusing talking about all the different types of target tracks.) on page 239 the Track while scan section starts and it has pictures of what all the different target tracks look like.

what i am trying to find out, if this is how it is currently working for me is the correct way the FCR  is working or if something is going on with my setup and i need to try to figure out what's going on. i have not been flying the f-16 in tws mode very much and just the other day i started setting up scenarios in the mission editor with up to 6 different bandits that i have to take  on in a short amount of time. i thought in the f-16 when i used to press tms right, the fcr would bug the different types of tracked targets on the fcr to bug them. it has been a little bit and i have been flying different planes lately.   i  experience this in the caucus map and the syrian maps because those are the only two i use.

@razo+rwhen i say "upgrade(d)(ing) target tracks" i am talking about anywhere in the process of turning a target from a track target, into a bugged target.

when the target(s) first appear on the Fire Control Radar (fcr) page on the mfd, it is a solid square with a line facing whatever way it is flying. the fcr lets you TMS up short on a track target, to become a system target. when you TMS up or TMS right on a system target it turns into a bugged target.

this example i am about to explain how the fcr works for me all the time.  lets say three search targets turn into track targets pop up on my fcr all at the same time. if i turn one target track into a system track and then i bug it, if i try to upgrade any of the track targets to system targets the fcr wont let me. before i can turn any other of the track targets into system tracks and bug them, i first have to unbug the system track(s) i bugged. once i unbug the first bugged target, then i am able to upgrade the other track targets that i want to into system tracks. once all the track targets are in a system track i can then pick one system track to bug with TMS up or you can let the fcr pick that system track to bug first by using TMS right and then from there i can use TMS right to cycle through the all the system targets i have on the fcr page.

from the paragraph above is that how the f-16 fcr is supposed to operate?

thank you

[_SteelFalcon_]

Yeah that sounds about right, that‘s how it seems to be in dcs. You cannot promote tracks if you have a bugged target. If you „un-bug“ the target, it‘ll just be a system track and while you leave that one as it is, you can now upgrade other track targets to system targets. Once you‘re happy with how many system targets you have, tms right will bug the closest one and repeaded presses of tms right will cycle through the available system targets.

[DukeAngus]

thanks i am just trying to confirm because in the manual it does not explicitly state you have to unbug. im  thinking that i have never really ran into this scenario because in the past i would "If no System Targets have yet been designated, pressing TMS Right upgrades all Track Targets to System Targets" pg 240 f-16 manual. im more of an stt guy.

next question is, if you have a missile in the air that has not gone pitbull and you have to unbug  a target  to upgrade more target tracks because they are coming fast a furiously, does that sever the datalink connection between me and the missile? i tried it a could of times with non-maneuvering targets and the missile whacked them. but i dont really count that because i could be the missile going to the last know coordinates deal.

Edited February 6, 2023 by DukeAngus

[Aquorys]

2 hours ago, DukeAngus said:

unbug  a target  to upgrade more target tracks because they are coming fast a furiously, does that sever the datalink connection between me and the missile?

Bugging another target does not cause the FCR to stop sending updates to the missile, provided the radar is still able to track the other targets that have missiles in flight, which essentially means that your new bugged target cannot be completely out of the azimuth and/or elevation that the missile target is at, because the bugged target is prioritized by the FCR.

Also, upgrading more targets does not cause existing targets to vanish, unless the maximum number of tracks is exceeded. In that case, the lowest priority track is dropped.

Whether that is all actually implemented in DCS might be a different question though, but what I can say from my experience is that you can normally engage one target, then acquire a track on another one, engage that target too, and both missiles will track (at least in TWS).