How to use laser maverick with TGP

[Elidji]

Hello everyone,

I can't use the maverick with my TGP because each time I select the lmav it stops my TGP.

And when I select first the LMAV and then the TGP it shutdown and deselect the LMAV.

I try to follow the Chuck's guide and youtube guides but it does not react the same when I am in the plane.

What am I missing ?

[Gunnar81]

This is correct for the Harrier, its systems only allows 1 video feed to be displayed at any given time. So the procedure if you are self lasing is to make sure you designate and fire your laser in the TGP screen then switch to LMAV. You should see the seeker track across the HUD and find the laser spot if everything is done right.

[DimSim]

I too am trying to figure out reliable instructions for LMAV and on screen indicators.

I *think* the important points are

1) Wait 30 - 90? seconds when selecting LMAV weapon for it to get ready.

2) Uncage LMAV.

If you switch to lMAV screen, which is just a blank screen with code and X symbol, I think it can say RDY, otherwise you can't tell if it's ready or not as it's not shown on the weapon page like IRMAV.

When uncaged, the X on the top of HUD should start scanning left to right, otherwise you can't tell if it's uncaged.

Perhaps someone else can share reliable steps and on screen indicators?

[Ramsay]

1 hour ago, DimSim said:

Perhaps someone else can share reliable steps and on screen indicators?

IIRC (after the 1st launch) at times the 2nd LMav may indicate it's operational (HUD and MFD show a scanning X), but won't detect a laser spot until the 2nd LMav is caged/uncaged again.
It seems like a bug were the cockpit/HUD can retain the "ready" status of the 1st LMav fired, while the 2nd LMav is still caged (cycling the cage/uncage button avoids this).

https://forum.dcs.world/topic/332066-various-struggles-with-mavs-and-lmav/?do=findComment&comment=5274529

 

Edited February 10, 2024 by Ramsay

[deephack]

 

[DimSim]

Having no luck with self lasing LMAVs today.

I realize the MAV screen and TPOD screen can't both be visible at the same time. However every time I prepare a target on TPOD and select MAV from stores the laser turns off, TPOD HOTAS mode is canceled and MAV starts a fresh count down from STBY. Once MAV is RDY, the cycle starts again as switching to TPOD deselects MAV weapon!

It is impossible to follow the instructions from the video above as the behavior is different in the game. While the TPOD and MAV pages have always conflicted, I don't recall the MAV weapon being deselected like this. Perhaps this is the bug Ramsey mentions?

Edited March 1, 2024 by DimSim

[deephack]

That's not the process I follow in the video. I first select the mavericks, wait for them to time out and then do my targetting with the pod. Usually I wouldn't bother bringing up the maverick video for the E2 model as you get a hud indicator for the seeker position anyway. I would just designate with the tpod, fire the laser and then uncage the maverick.

[Ramsay]

On 3/1/2024 at 10:24 AM, DimSim said:

Perhaps this is the bug Ramsey mentions?

Not, exactly - IIRC I've always been able to fire the first E2 Laser Maverick, it's the follow Maverick that can have issues i.e.

2nd E2 Laser Maverick appears to have "good" HUD and MFD lock symbology (but it's likely a residual system state from the 1st missile fired)

Although the 2nd E2 Laser Maverick's X is steady on both the HUD and MFD, the MFD is missing the LMav's "crosshairs"

Cycling the Maverick cage/uncage button fixes the missing MFD LMAV symbology and allows the 2nd LMav to be fired successfully

These screenshots were taken over a year ago and AFAIK nothing has changed re: Maverick behaviour.
 

Note: In this case a JTAC "lase" was provided by a CTLD autolase script and YMMV when using the TPOD to self lase.

Edited March 2, 2024 by Ramsay

[DimSim]

Thanks for the replies.

I'm having no trouble with LSS/LST from other laser sources. All issues relate to self-lasing.

Reading the OP's post again, his behavior matches mine:

1) Selecting MAV from stores or EHSD cancels TPOD lasing and TPOD HOTAS mode. It also restarts the 30sec count down each time.

2) Selecting TPOD from MFD button or SSS double click de-selects MAV as active weapon.

So there is no way to both self lase and uncage fire the MAV.

(Unrelated I think, my original issue from earlier post turned out to be that I needed to DESG before MAV can seek laser. Just designating the waypoint near target is fine, and then move the TDC to not be locked was the missing step for that issue. Chuck's guide misses this step and the official manual is almost devoid of information about weapons.)

EDIT: It appears all the missions I'm having trouble with arm the player craft with AGM-65E, not the E2/L variant. I'm guessing this is the cause and those missions need to be updated to support self lase?

Edited March 2, 2024 by DimSim

[Ramsay]

10 hours ago, DimSim said:

It appears all the missions I'm having trouble with arm the player craft with AGM-65E, not the E2/L variant. I'm guessing this is the cause and those missions need to be updated to support self lase?

TL;DR:

Correct, the mission loadouts need to be updated to carry the E2/L version.

Detail:

The AGM-65E cannot be self lased and represents an "earlier" Harrier software/missile combination which could not lase from the launching aircraft.

The AV-8B's E2/L variant in DCS represents a newer software/hardware combination (perhaps ~2012 when the centre pylon was wired to accept the TPOD?) that could self lase i.e. switching from TPOD to LMav E2/L didn't switch off the TPOD's laser.

On 7/7/2021 at 12:29 AM, RAZBAM_ELMO said:

The AGM-65E will have its implementation improved with the addition of limitations linked to the TPOD integration. The TPOD video can’t be displayed at the same time as the Maverick video, this is true for the AGM-65F and the AGM-65E. Since when the TPOD is not displayed, the HOTAS controls reverts to its default settings and the AGM-65 is a lock-on before launch (LOBL) type of weapon, the missile can’t be guided by the launching aircraft. The AGM-65E2 goes around this limitation because it can be uncaged and launched from the TPOD page, or the TPOD video can be switched to the MAV video momentarily. We will also implement a particularity of the E2 that it can lock on the TPOD laser source if the laser is fired before the missile is uncaged and the TPOD is loaded on station 4

https://forum.dcs.world/topic/276694-announcement-regarding-agm-65-maverick-loads/

See Chuck's AV-8B Guide Part 10 "Weapons & Armament" (page 227 and section 2.8, etc.) for more detail of how to employ the AGM-65E and AGM-65E2 variants in DCS.

https://chucksguides.com/aircraft/dcs/av-8b/

Edited March 2, 2024 by Ramsay