AIM-7 Tactics & Advice

[lee1hy]

BST aim7 not working, every aspect, even selected aspect knob

[primus_TR]

3 hours ago, lee1hy said:

BST aim7 not working, every aspect, even selected aspect knob

Be sure to keep the reticle on the target throughout the attack and remember that the target aspect/closure rate may change from the moment you press the trigger until the missile leaves the rail, which takes about 2 seconds in total. In my experience, BST shots track correctly 60% of the time. 

[Karon]

On 6/13/2024 at 4:29 AM, lee1hy said:

BST aim7 not working, every aspect, even selected aspect knob

It works. How have you calculated the speedgate? Also, it's not that you "even select", rather, you have to.

See if this helps:

 

[lee1hy]

sorry i'm bad at math 

[USA_Recon]

I've had quite a bit of success with either radar or boresight.   The main key is distance.   5nm is the sweet spot and requires patience - F and M (tested mostly vs. Mig21, Mig23 can take longer shots).  Considering MiG 21 fires at 5, I’d take my shot around  7 miles 

If you try to fire outside of this (outside of the concept of getting him defensive first), it's a low PK shot.

Edited July 20 by USA_Recon

[HawkEXO]

Flood mode for the win!

[FZG_Immel]

On 8/2/2025 at 1:17 AM, HawkEXO said:

Flood mode for the win!

indeed. especially in head on passes.

 

I only ever lock bombers attacked from the side

[primus_TR]

I use the boresight/cage mode to lock a visual contact,  which gives the most reliable lock for a sparrow shot. Locking and  maintaining lock in search mode is unreliable. It's also great that I can IFF a locked contact to make sure I'm not shooting at a friendly. Aim7Fs work nicely both up close and at range. Flood method also works great if you have selected the correct aspect/speed gate and are within 10 nm of a hot target.  

[Sandman1330]

I am pulling my hair out.

Trying to take on an AI MIG23 in a head on engagement. He gets his radar missile off every single time before I can even see him on radar. Isn't the MIG23 supposed to be the same vintage, with about the same capabilities? I feel like I'm going against a vastly superior jet with a vastly superior radar.

I've tried using jester 25nm narrow, boresight, cage/CAA. I'm 5-10K feet below my target. Nothing gets a lock, or I just get a bad lock. Missile goes stupid every time. I keep hearing about how it can be done, and I see it done in videos. But it doesn't work when I try it. 

I'm quite frustrated. I'm trying to get proficient so I can start playing some campaigns, but at this point I feel I'm just going to have no fun in a campaign I have no chance of winning.

I know the AI isn't subject to the same radar limitations as our F4 (it should be of course), but in this environment, how does one have a chance? What am I doing wrong?

Edited Tuesday at 06:30 AM by Sandman1330

[Karon]

11 hours ago, Sandman1330 said:

I am pulling my hair out.

Trying to take on an AI MIG23 in a head on engagement. He gets his radar missile off every single time before I can even see him on radar. Isn't the MIG23 supposed to be the same vintage, with about the same capabilities? I feel like I'm going against a vastly superior jet with a vastly superior radar.

I've tried using jester 25nm narrow, boresight, cage/CAA. I'm 5-10K feet below my target. Nothing gets a lock, or I just get a bad lock. Missile goes stupid every time. I keep hearing about how it can be done, and I see it done in videos. But it doesn't work when I try it. 

I'm quite frustrated. I'm trying to get proficient so I can start playing some campaigns, but at this point I feel I'm just going to have no fun in a campaign I have no chance of winning.

I know the AI isn't subject to the same radar limitations as our F4 (it should be of course), but in this environment, how does one have a chance? What am I doing wrong?

The AI is subject to none of the limitations a human has. Try lowering the AI skill level: since the AI is omniscient, the higher the skill level, the more it cheats. I have seen most realistic behaviours in Rookie or Average. Problem is, at those very low levels, the AI is even more predictable than usual. Veteran is usually what I use. I can't stand Ace: seeing old aircraft with bare bone RWRs reliably notching AIM-54/120s (dragging / manoeuvring / etc and thus thrashing the incoming ARH missile would be fine, but not at the usual 6-7 nm every single time).

Ergo, don't feel bad. Grab a good human WSO and things will get better quickly.

[Sandman1330]

On 10/28/2025 at 9:37 AM, Karon said:

The AI is subject to none of the limitations a human has. Try lowering the AI skill level: since the AI is omniscient, the higher the skill level, the more it cheats. I have seen most realistic behaviours in Rookie or Average. Problem is, at those very low levels, the AI is even more predictable than usual. Veteran is usually what I use. I can't stand Ace: seeing old aircraft with bare bone RWRs reliably notching AIM-54/120s (dragging / manoeuvring / etc and thus thrashing the incoming ARH missile would be fine, but not at the usual 6-7 nm every single time).

Ergo, don't feel bad. Grab a good human WSO and things will get better quickly.

It's unfortunate that I'm going to have to park my attempts to learn and fly a great module because the DCS AI cheats and I'm not interested in playing it in multiplayer. I mean, doesn't that sound ridiculous? State of DCS unfortunately.

I fear what the experience would be like trying to make it through a challenging campaign with the DCS AI in this omniscient state. It’s too bad such an amazingly detailed module is handicapped by the rudimentary AI.

Edited Thursday at 02:47 AM by Sandman1330

[Tvrdi]

My experience with Sparrow Fs are solid. With older I struggle online, specially since its often low and close. Yes, I tried boreside and 5nm cage/CAA mode and its hit and miss, mostly miss. First of all Jester is an i*iot, IDing phantoms as enemies often, secondly boresigh 25nm mode doesnt lock or detect a thing down low even with all aspect modes tested (nose should work best headone, but doesnt). Cage 5nm mode does lock but often lock drops or locks ground clutter. Sparrows fired with interlink off sometimes works but also mixed results. The procedure with 5nm boresight is pressing cage button then nosewheel (when on target) or telling jester to lock. But that doesnt work well on the deck since it often locks "something" on teh ground.

Edited yesterday at 10:19 AM by Tvrdi

[Raven (Elysian Angel)]

Won’t proximity to the ground render any pulse radar effectively useless, regardless of operating mode?

[Zabuzard]

Yeah, those complains are all valid complains to the radar but not so much to Jester. A real WSO wont perform much better in these situations either. Need to adjust your expectations regarding that radar a bit.

[Sandman1330]

I found that the setup on my practice mission was giving me a hard time. I was eastbound from the coast in Caucuses while the enemy planes were coming westbound, so they had the mountains behind them. Jester was able to detect them in lookup but never able to get a stable lock.

I then tried in Marianas over water and was able to consistently detect and lock at enough range to get the first shot. It became almost easy.

Which has me wondering, why so bad on Caucuses? The mountains were a good 100 miles behind the bandit, and I was locking in a lookup situation with the bandit at 25k and me around 17-20k. Under those conditions should it not be just as effective as over water?

Edited 18 hours ago by Sandman1330

[Zabuzard]

I found that the setup on my practice mission was giving me a hard time. I was eastbound from the coast in Caucuses while the enemy planes were coming westbound, so they had the mountains behind them. Jester was able to detect them in lookup but never able to get a stable lock.
I then tried in Marianas over water and was able to consistently detect and lock at enough range to get the first shot. It became almost easy.
Which has me wondering, why so bad on Caucuses? The mountains were a good 100 miles behind the bandit, and I was locking in a lookup situation with the bandit at 25k and me around 17-20k. Under those conditions should it not be just as effective as over water?

Hard to guess without track but there is still plenty of energy going down on the ground, the radar isnt "pointy", you will get returns from almost everywhere, with different strength. Look at the terrain that had the same distance than the bandits, eventhough they arent close to each other the bandit will end up within that clutter because its at the same distance.
Add gain-control into the mix and it becomes really hard to work with it.

[Sandman1330]

13 minutes ago, Zabuzard said:

Hard to guess without track but there is still plenty of energy going down on the ground, the radar isnt "pointy", you will get returns from almost everywhere, with different strength. Look at the terrain that had the same distance than the bandits, eventhough they arent close to each other the bandit will end up within that clutter because its at the same distance.
Add gain-control into the mix and it becomes really hard to work with it.

I really don't think so. Here's a couple videos displaying the situation. One over caucuses - it's impossible to get a reliable lock, even with a 10,000ft lookup and over flat terrain. The mountains are very far back and I'm looking up at a blue sky. Despite significant clutter on the screen Jester finds the target, but cannot get a reliable lock that would allow for a shot.

In this one, I'm over water. Instant and easy lock, even looking down.

 

I understand in look down situations there should be clutter and it should be a challenge to get a lock. But with a significant look up? And Jester can see the target, he just can't get a reliable lock. Something seems off.

[Zabuzard]

Well, you just said it yourself. There is a lot of clutter on the screen and the bandit is right in it. That clutter is from the terrain that is at the same distance to you than the bandit is, from the radar energy pointing downwards, as the radar does emit in pretty much all directions, its not a laser beam.

Jester doesnt really play any role in the actual lock quality, he just hits the trigger while the cursor is over the bandit. Its the radar that performs the lock and in this case it locks side lobes because your bandit is right between clutter.

(Also make sure you do not move much when attempting the lock, as the cursor needs to lead the target to compensate for the movement between sweeps)

[Karon]

On 10/30/2025 at 1:42 AM, Sandman1330 said:

It's unfortunate that I'm going to have to park my attempts to learn and fly a great module because the DCS AI cheats and I'm not interested in playing it in multiplayer. I mean, doesn't that sound ridiculous? State of DCS unfortunately.

I fear what the experience would be like trying to make it through a challenging campaign with the DCS AI in this omniscient state. It’s too bad such an amazingly detailed module is handicapped by the rudimentary AI.

I feel you. Well, if anything, you can tinker and adjust the AI a bit. It's not great, but better than nothing. For my campaign, I randomised several parameters, such as skill (not the in-game random, that would drag the nonsensical Ace level), but also the reaction to threat and the reaction times. Since it's set in the mid-70s in non USSR/NATO countries, tech and maintenance are what they are. For this reason, some of them won't even defend from missiles. It's not great as this cuts off IR missiles as well, but it's randomised.

Again, lots of compromises, but the result is interesting, especially when your flight is jumped on by 7-8 MiG-21PF all behaving differently. Moreover, even the AI can be jumped on as well.

[Sandman1330]

2 hours ago, Zabuzard said:

Well, you just said it yourself. There is a lot of clutter on the screen and the bandit is right in it. That clutter is from the terrain that is at the same distance to you than the bandit is, from the radar energy pointing downwards, as the radar does emit in pretty much all directions, its not a laser beam.

Jester doesnt really play any role in the actual lock quality, he just hits the trigger while the cursor is over the bandit. Its the radar that performs the lock and in this case it locks side lobes because your bandit is right between clutter.

(Also make sure you do not move much when attempting the lock, as the cursor needs to lead the target to compensate for the movement between sweeps)

 

My point being there shouldn’t be so much clutter when in a look up situation over flat terrain. And an STT beam is very narrow. Clutter in search is understandable, my issue is jester (or the radar I guess) cannot get a reliable STT lock in a look up situation over flat terrain where ground clutter should be minimal to non existent.

Edited 10 hours ago by Sandman1330

[Ivandrov]

3 hours ago, Sandman1330 said:

My point being there shouldn’t be so much clutter when in a look up situation over flat terrain. And an STT beam is very narrow. Clutter in search is understandable, my issue is jester (or the radar I guess) cannot get a reliable STT lock in a look up situation over flat terrain where ground clutter should be minimal to non existent.

It's been a little bit, but estimating the angles here based on your videos, Your antenna should be pointing about 2.2 degrees up. The coverage of the beam with Jester's usual settings is 3.7. So part of your radar beam is still going below horizon.

That's just the mainlobe we care about of course, sidelobes are probably responsible for all the clutter near the target. Combined with Jester having to turn up the Gain a lot because of the intercept geometry against a tiny Mig-21.

False locks happen all the time in the Phantom, doesn't matter that STT is a "narrow beam." (It actually isn't, it's subject to sidelobes just like it is in search.) The radar still needs to figure out which radar echo you are trying to go for and fails frequently in cluttered conditions with such a weak return. (I can't even really see it myself in the video.)

Worth noting in the Tomcat, the Main Lobe Clutter Filter doesn't shut off on it's own until the antenna angle is above 3 degrees. That's what I generally consider a look-up situation.

Edited 8 hours ago by Ivandrov

[Zabuzard]

Lemme drop this here just to show how much it is "not a laser beam" (sorry for the low quality, im on mobile. its from the radar video on the Heatblur YT channel)


Pay attention to the "circular waves" around the main beam, especially the ones pointing down. Those are the sidelobes, they hit the terrain below you, reflect back and the system picks up their returns. Returns are displayed completely unfiltered based on distance on the screen, so they mix with your bandit.
Also worth noting that the strongest sidelobe is going almost straight done, which gives you the so called "altitude line", any contact with a distance equalling your altitude is essentially impossible to lock.

When a lock is commanded, the radar somehow has to know what you want to lock. And it has no idea what an actual target is, or what is just clutter. It more or less goes for whatever the cursor sits on. So if the target is sitting right between other returns, its very easy for the system to just lock one of the many other returns in the direct vicinity.

[Karon]

8 hours ago, Sandman1330 said:

My point being there shouldn’t be so much clutter when in a look up situation over flat terrain. And an STT beam is very narrow. Clutter in search is understandable, my issue is jester (or the radar I guess) cannot get a reliable STT lock in a look up situation over flat terrain where ground clutter should be minimal to non existent.

As others and Mr Zab have said, it is a bit more complicated than that. STT, when established, is indeed powerful and focused on the target. However, to get there, you need to deal with the monstrosity that the thing that Zab posted is. Radar emissions, although often represented as a cone, are nowhere near as clean.

Personally, I'd take a nice negative offset, even 10-15k lower, point the antenna up (depending on the range, it'd be at least 2° upwards), and start working on the gain whilst constantly increasing the elevation. Alternatively, if the target is high enough and the pilot sees contrails, we go pure pursuit, stab off and the target should be clearly visible in the centre of the scope. Then, grab a lock, and take it from there. Alternatively, radar on stand by, and use the AI GCI to work the geometry until you are in an advantageous position. Although terrible, it is somewhat doable.
Btw, ED please, drop the ATC thing and prioritise the AIC/GCI. We can live pretending that airfields are unmanned, but controllers are very important for all aircraft, especially ante modern datalink.