reported SLAM-ER issues

FourSpeed · June 3, 2024

Hi All,

A couple weeks back I posted here about some issues I was having while trying to learn the SLAM-ER. Alas, the response was underwhelming (no offense intended to the 1 person who did respond). Given that, I conclude that there are bugs / unfinished work needed for proper functionality of the SLAM-ER weapons (at least, while using them essentially like PP JDAMs where target coordinates are entered on the ground before flight).

Specifically, I found that neither the target entries for ELEV or TERM-ANG affect anything at all. As best I can tell, Terminal Angle while showing as entered has no effect at all on the descent angle -- In my testing it always comes in at the appx same angle (~24-28 degrees PTH based on F6 view). As for elevation, regardless of what is entered, the missile always hits at whatever elevation the terrain is, at the target's Lat/Long co-ords (which, on the Caucasus map is a negative number in sea areas).

I did my testing using a custom mission (attached in the original post linked above), and I'm attaching two tracks described as follows:

In both tracks, I start on the ground, and enter target coordinates as part of my ground start procedure. In the first track (a), I launch 4 SLAM-ERs at an offshore Oil Platform with differing values for ELEV, and TERM-ANG for each missile.

In the second track (b), I do the same thing with a ground based EWR Dome as the target.

In both cases, the missiles are set for a High Profile and launched from ~appx 35,000 feet. The first pair are launched from a distance of ~90 nm, and the second pair from ~75 nm from the targets.

In both tracks, the 4 missiles are set for the appropriate target's Lat/Long co-ordinates and the ELEV and TERM-ANG values are set as follows:

1: ELEV: 2000 feet TERM-ANG: 25 degrees

2: ELEV: 1500 feet TERM-ANG: 45 degrees

3: ELEV: 500 feet TERM-ANG: 65 degrees

4: ELEV: TGT elev* TERM-ANG: 85 degrees * 100 feet for Oil Platform, 16 feet for EWR Dome

In both tracks, all missiles appear to hit very close to the same identical spots, and the descent angle is ~24-28 degrees for each.

In the case of the Oil Platform, the hits are underneath the platform despite the ELEV numbers entered (While we were lucky enough to hit a cross beam under the platform in the track, in other missions, the missiles oftentimes just splash into the water below it, missing entirely, which is quite frustrating given the effort needed to set them up).

In the case of the EWR Dome, the impact point is right at ground level where the dome is located, again, despite the varying elevations and terminal angles entered.

Hopefully, these issues can be corrected in a future patch.

Thanks in Advance,

4

SLAMER-Test_240602a.trk

SLAMER-Test_240602b.trk