can't find commonality for when I can fire Sparrow.

[Gunfreak]

I lock a target. And I get parameters quickly and can fire.

I can redo the mission. Lock the target but can't fire.

Even when Jester counts down. It won't let me fire.

[Ramstein]

is Heat switch on?

[Gunfreak]

30 minutes ago, Ramstein said:

is Heat switch on?

Nope radar.

I can fly straight at the enemy. Some times the ring expands and I can fire. 

Then I fly the same mission and enemy flies straight at me and the ring never expands and I never get within launch parameters before the enemy wizzes past my canopy.

[Buzzer1977]

Same here. I have a track (see file attached) with these AIM-7 issues.
Problems:
1) I have a lock, but can't fire. (No, the center tank is already jettisoned or i still have the two AIM-7 in the back)
2) I can fly directly behind a behemoth sized Tu-160 and can't get a lock.

Different, but same problem with AIM-9:
3) Sometimes i can only fire the first AIM-9 Sidewinder, the second one is somehow stuck

P.s. I'm aware of the " I am encountering weird behavior, like some weapons not working", but i don't have any external mods installed.
 

the 

AIM-7problems.trk

[IronMike]

2 hours ago, Gunfreak said:

Nope radar.

I can fly straight at the enemy. Some times the ring expands and I can fire. 

Then I fly the same mission and enemy flies straight at me and the ring never expands and I never get within launch parameters before the enemy wizzes past my canopy.

Sounds like a bad lock, as in having locked sidelobes or ground clutter. If Jester does not realize the bad lock himself, tell him to unlock and lock again. Look down situations in general increase the possibility of a bad lock.

[Gunfreak]

15 minutes ago, IronMike said:

Sounds like a bad lock, as in having locked sidelobes or ground clutter. If Jester does not realize the bad lock himself, tell him to unlock and lock again. Look down situations in general increase the possibility of a bad lock.

I can understand it in one situation (just 6500 feet) but I first had this happen at 27 000 feet. Even I in the front clearly see each individual enemy aircraft retrun. On the radar scope its just pure black background and the green tiny bars of the enemy aircraft.

[IronMike]

3 minutes ago, Gunfreak said:

I can understand it in one situation (just 6500 feet) but I first had this happen at 27 000 feet. Even I in the front clearly see each individual enemy aircraft retrun. On the radar scope its just pure black background and the green tiny bars of the enemy aircraft.

Locking the target with a sidelobe is still possible in such a situation. And CAA can always lock spurious returns.

[Gunfreak]

26 minutes ago, IronMike said:

Locking the target with a sidelobe is still possible in such a situation. And CAA can always lock spurious returns.

So if I have a target bearing down on me at less than 15nm and I can't shoot/get shoot cue, the lock is bogus?  The AI seem to open fire at 15+nm at times. 

[HB_Painter]

Hey thanks for your reports! Yeah if you can't get a shoot cue its mostly due to having a bad lock. A small tipp of mine would be to lock in HEAT mode as this centers the CAA search pattern and has a lower chance of locking sidelobes so the "checklist" would be HEAT selected -> Cage mode -> CAA Mode -> Acquire lock -> select Radar again and fire
Edit: Here is also the manual link for CAA maybe that explains a bit more background stuff: https://f4.manuals.heatblur.se/stores/air_to_air/acm_modes.html#computer-automatic-acquisition-mode-caa
 

Edited May 27, 2024 by HB_Painter