Question regarding AG weapons internal alignment

[sirrah]

I was wondering: When powering up AG weapons that require internal alignment (e.g.: JDAM's, MAV's), in the AV8B for instance, the weapon alignment process stops when switching to another weapon station. Am I correct that this isn't the case with the Viper? Will weapon alignment continue in the background when switching to another weapon station?

 

So, as an example:

I have JDAM's and MAV's loaded on my aircraft; When I add power to the JDAM (start its alignment), then switch directly to the MAV and add power to that weapon, will the JDAM continue to align while I have the MAV station selected?

 

[RyanR]

Two different weapons systems, really.

Just turn JDAM's "on".... they'll be happy when you need them. The sensors on the plane get the GPS coords, and then send that to the weapon. The bomb now knows where it is and where it needs to go.

Mavericks care nothing about GPS coords. They technically don't even care about what any of the onboard sensors tell them. They're optical. They chase an optical target that you tell them. You absolutely have to boresight them to the targeting pod, which ultimately also aligns them to the HUD to make them easier to target when things get hectic.

So, yes, turn on the weapons, and they will do what they need to do in the background. Just remember that Mavericks need boresighting when they come up.

-Ryan 

[sirrah]

3 hours ago, RyanR said:

Two different weapons systems, really.

Just turn JDAM's "on".... they'll be happy when you need them. The sensors on the plane get the GPS coords, and then send that to the weapon. The bomb now knows where it is and where it needs to go.

Mavericks care nothing about GPS coords. They technically don't even care about what any of the onboard sensors tell them. They're optical. They chase an optical target that you tell them. You absolutely have to boresight them to the targeting pod, which ultimately also aligns them to the HUD to make them easier to target when things get hectic.

So, yes, turn on the weapons, and they will do what they need to do in the background. Just remember that Mavericks need boresighting when they come up.

-Ryan 

Sorry, of course you are right. Mavericks don't have/need internal INS alignment, but they do need time to get "ready".

 

But I understand that in the Viper, these processes keep continuing, even when another station is selected. Quite convenient

 

[Hatman335]

On 6/30/2024 at 10:35 PM, sirrah said:

Sorry, of course you are right. Mavericks don't have/need internal INS alignment, but they do need time to get "ready".

 

The Mavericks absolutely have an internal gyro that needs electrical power to spin up and hold the seeker at a given angle and to stabilize it.

[sirrah]

9 hours ago, Hatman335 said:

The Mavericks absolutely have an internal gyro that needs electrical power to spin up and hold the seeker at a given angle and to stabilize it.

But those gyro's don't need several minutes to "align", do they?

Don't they just spin up almost instantaneously when electrical power is added?

[Tholozor]

The imagers need to be cooled down as well (this goes for both Imaging Infrared and Charged-Coupled Device seekers).

Edited July 4, 2024 by Tholozor

[Hatman335]

14 hours ago, sirrah said:

But those gyro's don't need several minutes to "align", do they?

 

No, they don't align to true north like an INS, but but they also need a given amount of time to reach operating speeds. 3 minutes is a typical value.

[sirrah]

1 hour ago, Hatman335 said:

No, they don't align to true north like an INS, but but they also need a given amount of time to reach operating speeds. 3 minutes is a typical value.

Ah ok

I thought the 3 (I actually thought 2) minutes were only needed to cool the IR seeker head