Dogfight altitude

[JZF]

Good morning,

How can I know the altitude of the enemy aircraft flying the F-18C in a dogfight without the help of AWACS?

Thanks

[Tusky]

hace 3 horas, JZF dijo:

Good morning,

How can I know the altitude of the enemy aircraft flying the F-18C in a dogfight without the help of AWACS?

Thanks

If it's a dogfight, you are close to the target and within visual range and you should use your eyes. Keeping sight is the difficult part though...

[JZF]

Well, how can I know the altitude of the enemy aircraft flying the F-18C in BVR without the help of AWACS?

Thanks

 

[TheFreshPrince]

Search for the target on radar and it will tell you when you move the TDC cursor above the target and lock it, it's the small number right of it 

[LeCuvier]

18 hours ago, TheFreshPrince said:

Search for the target on radar and it will tell you when you move the TDC cursor above the target and lock it, it's the small number right of it 

That's certainly correct, but the tough part in BVR is to find and lock the target if you don't have any info about your target's location.

[Tusky]

hace 20 minutos, LeCuvier dijo:

That's certainly correct, but the tough part in BVR is to find and lock the target if you don't have any info about your target's location.

Unfortunately, without AWACS or datalink you have to rely on your onboard sensors (with all ther limitations) and your eyes. As simple as that...

Generally, you should know in advance the general direction the adversaries are coming from so that you prepare accordingly (bearing, radar range, radar elevation, etc)

Edited March 24, 2023 by Tusky

[skywalker22]

15 minutes ago, LeCuvier said:

That's certainly correct, but the tough part in BVR is to find and lock the target if you don't have any info about your target's location.

As he said, move you TDC cursor up and down, and maybe reduce the search scan with radar azimuth and elevation bar scan, to narrow down the probability of "time to find" the contact. Personaly I would use azimuth of 40deg (or less) and max number of elevatiuon (8 bars if oyu are not sure where to look for).

[TheFreshPrince]

RWR usually gives you the direction of the threat, so you know where to point the radar. In BVR this is easy, in WVR this might be too late. If you're facing someone who has his radar off, but he knows where you are, then you're screwed in any plane. But there's no magical info about bandits without a radar, be it by AWACS, donors or your own radar. Even the flanker has no info about altitude, speed, etc. without the radar or datalink.

[falcon_120]

There is a very easy way in the hornet, or at least one it works for me in difficult situations with the enemy close by.

1-In the central MFD open up the SA page

2-Click on sensors > make sure to highlight RWR, with this selected you will see the rough direction of the enemy in the top of the radar page even if you dont see it or your radar is silent.

3-Go TDC up long (>1.5 sg) to activate SPOT mode

4-Move your TDC to the general azimuth of the RWR indications of your radar and play with your radar elevation every 2 seconds until you find it.

If you dont want to go SPOT mode you can just go 20/40 degree 6 BAR scan and do the same, biasing the search within the azimuth of the RWR nails.

Is that clear? I can do a short video to show, when i'm back at home at the end of the weekend.

 

Additional tip: If you suspect to be close to merge distance there are 2 modes that work wonderfull, 1st one is GUN ACQ in the direcction of the RWR contact and pitching up and down. 2nd one is WACQ autoacquisition and going TDC depress to be able to move your scan radar around. You will find anything within 10nm in a couple of seconds,

[JZF]

Ok, a video will help more,

Thank you

[falcon_120]

 

Hello JZF,

I was not able to prepare a video as i will be away from my computer more than i thought. Although i leave you here 2 YT tutorialssthat will help you understand what i described in my post:

• Setting up Sensor/RWR to show on the radar page (starts at 11:42): 

• Using WACQ/Spot mode: 

 

I hope that helps

[JZF]

Ok, thank you!