Some facts related to TARPS and ideas for mission builders

[Tomcatter87]

Hey there fellow Tomcatters,

with the new, cosmetic TARPS pod, I'm trying out some things how we can include it into our missions. Until we have a working pod, here's some ideas - and some facts I have collected from various podcasts and the NATOPS. If you spot a mistake, feel free to point it out - I'd also like to see your ideas for the peeping tomcats

The first camera, the KS-87B, was either pointed directly downwards or at an forward oblique angle of 16 degrees down. This could be changed in-flight, however this took 16 seconds, so I don't think it was practical to change the mount position during one run on the same target. The ideal altitude for the KS-87B was above 750 feet because of the fixed focal distance. The field of view was 41 degrees (horizontal as well as vertical). This makes it pretty much a normal lens, comparable to a 50mm lens on a 35mm camera. When used in the forward oblique position, the KS-87B could be used to provide "pilot’s view flightpath tracing and ship surveillance photography", according to the NATOPS.

The second, panoramic camera KA-99 was the camera the pod was built around. It took pictures spanning from horizon to horizon (180 degrees horizontal field of view and 28 degrees vertical). However, if external tanks were carried, they blocked the view from about 25 degrees on the right side and 17 degrees on the left (since the pod was located on the right station). The KA-99 camera was, among other things, used in situations where it was deemed too risky to directly overfly the target. It was able to automatically focus down to 500 feet AGL.

Sometimes the KA-99 was replaced by the KS−153A that utilized lenses with greater focal lengths. Those could be programmed to any desired depression angles, typically 27 left oblique, vertical or 31° right oblique, and was used to capture stand-off imagery.

The third camera was an AN/AAD-5 infrared scanner, used for night operations and as a mission trace for daylight recon flights. Couldnt find out much about it, but it seems it had reasonable resolution for the era. Here's an example:

Now what to do with those facts? Using those data and trigonometry (in my case, I let GPT 4.0 handle the latter part because I'm not a numbers guy ), we are now able to play around with trigger zones for pseudo-TARPS missions. Let's say, for example, we want to take TARPS photos of a coastline. It's defended, so we want to use the KA-99 and fly parallel to the coastline. We carry tanks, so our camera only works below 17 degrees on the left side. Using these parameters, I can now ask GPT for a table that tells us which minimum altitude we have to fly at in order to get the coastline into the picture. I chose meters because the DCS trigger uses meters, too.

Distance to target (left side) in nautical miles                                                      Minimum Altitude AGL in meters, rounded
1                                                                                                                                            1027
2                                                                                                                                            2055
3                                                                                                                                            3082
4                                                                                                                                            4110

Here's what I would do now: Create some square trigger zones, each is 1 nm broad and goes parallel to the coastline. I set a trigger (for example, set a flag value) if the player enters this zone AND flies above the mentioned minimum altitude. This way, the target would be in the line of sight of the KA-99. If you want to be more precise, you might also set conditions which heading the player's aircraft should have, so we can't just head straight to the coast to trigger the conditions.

 

Another example for the KS-87B camera, this time a bit more simplified: We are tasked to photograph ships. In order to get a good enough resolution, we have to fly at 3000 feet AGL. The camera is tilted 16 degrees down, so the distance for taking a picture with the ship in the center would be 9979 feet. Now we can create a circular trigger zone with a radius of 9979 feet. Whenever the unit (our TARPS cat) enters the moving trigger zone at 3000ish feet AGL, we can trigger a flag.

Example No. 3: The most simple trigger. We create a moving trigger zone condition with our TARPS-Tomcat in the centre and a unit we want to photograph that has to be inside the moving trigger. The second condition is a flight level of more that 500 feet (152 meters) AGL. If those two criterias are met, we can trigger a flag, assuming the KA-99 would have had the unit in sight.
I'm not sure though if we can use square trigger zones as moving or just the circular ones, maybe someone can clarify this? A square zone would be better, of course. If we have a stationary target, we can just create a static square trigger zone, it's even easier.

Then, at the end of the mission, we can show some black and white screenshots we (as mission creators) have prepared, using the "show picture to coalition" function.

I know it's a complicated way to implement TARPS, but I've done some nice missions with it now. Running through the Beka valley at angels 3 with AAA and MANPADs shooting at you, while you're trying to get pictures, can be lots of fun.

Anyway, just wanted to hear your approaches of how to use the pseudo TARPS pod, maybe you have some ideas as well?

Edited January 4, 2024 by Tomcatter87

[RustBelt]

Good thinking. Since TARPS is so no feedback in the jet, your method works basically as well as the way it actually worked. Fly the plan, run the pod, come home and see what it saw. 
 

Only down side is no “you took a picture of nothing” instances when you don’t nail the flight plan.