AGM-45 Shrike not tracking

[Lone_Hawk_13]

Hey everyone, I'm trying to learn the AGM-45 but can't seem to get it to track in loft or direct. I read a post that says there is a bug that is stopping it from working but I can't find out other information. I did manage to get the mk 37 to work on a SA2 on single player but not multilayer. Any help would be great, thanks.

[DSplayer]

13 minutes ago, Lone_Hawk_13 said:

Hey everyone, I'm trying to learn the AGM-45 but can't seem to get it to track in loft or direct. I read a post that says there is a bug that is stopping it from working but I can't find out other information. I did manage to get the mk 37 to work on a SA2 on single player but not multilayer. Any help would be great, thanks.

The F-4's manual has a great resource with the seeker heads that track and provide tone for each SAM radar in-game (https://f4.manuals.heatblur.se/stores/air_to_ground/missiles/shrike.html#seeker-heads).

In terms of MP performance, you kind of have to be sure the SAM site is illuminating the rough area where the missile is traveling or else it won't track due to the lack of DCS sidelobe modelling.

[Lone_Hawk_13]

12 hours ago, DSplayer said:

The F-4's manual has a great resource with the seeker heads that track and provide tone for each SAM radar in-game (https://f4.manuals.heatblur.se/stores/air_to_ground/missiles/shrike.html#seeker-heads).

In terms of MP performance, you kind of have to be sure the SAM site is illuminating the rough area where the missile is traveling or else it won't track due to the lack of DCS sidelobe modelling.

I tried the mk 49 mod 1 against the SA 2,3 & 6 in direct and loft at different ranges following the wrcs and non of them would track. When I did loft they would be vertical looking at the target but the fins wouldn't move and they would hit within a out 50m fwd or aft of the sam. I did the same with the mk37 and it worked.

[av8orDave]

There are multiple threads on this, most with conflicting information, and no seeming consensus on what works/doesn’t work. I’ve been using the “hope for the best” method. It’s kind of frustrating. If you want to get super-confused, breeze through the pinned thread titled something to the effect of “Klarsnow’s AGM-45 Guide”.

[DSplayer]

3 hours ago, Lone_Hawk_13 said:

I tried the mk 49 mod 1 against the SA 2,3 & 6 in direct and loft at different ranges following the wrcs and non of them would track. When I did loft they would be vertical looking at the target but the fins wouldn't move and they would hit within a out 50m fwd or aft of the sam. I did the same with the mk37 and it worked.

Considering what's happening, I believe you're targeting the Flat Face search radar (listed as FF in the tables) that can be used by SA-2, SA-3, and SA-5 sites. This radar can only be targeted by the Mk37. 

If you're trying to target the SA-2 Fan Song tracking radar, you have a choice of Mk 22, Mk 25, and Mk 50 (these seekers provide tone and needles and track against the SA-2 TR).

Track radars would have to illuminate the general region where the Shrike is flying.

The radars in the parentheses on the tables provide tone and needles as well as track, while the ones that only have the radar listed without the parentheses track without tone and needles. In practice, the ones where the missiles don't provide tone and needles should be ignored when trying to target a SAM site. I listed them in case people would like to know why the missile tracked some target they weren't intending to hit.

 

Feel free to post a short singleplayer track if you're having trouble.

 

2 hours ago, av8orDave said:

There are multiple threads on this, most with conflicting information, and no seeming consensus on what works/doesn’t work. I’ve been using the “hope for the best” method. It’s kind of frustrating. If you want to get super-confused, breeze through the pinned thread titled something to the effect of “Klarsnow’s AGM-45 Guide”.

Unfortunately, the Shrike is very much WIP, and that will cause things like that to happen.

Edited April 24 by DSplayer

[thodre]

On 4/24/2025 at 3:50 AM, DSplayer said:

Considering what's happening, I believe you're targeting the Flat Face search radar (listed as FF in the tables) that can be used by SA-2, SA-3, and SA-5 sites. This radar can only be targeted by the Mk37. 

Nope. Mk49 tracks the 'low blow' just fine. This was in loft mode.

germany.trk

Edited April 26 by thodre

[DSplayer]

On 4/26/2025 at 1:15 AM, thodre said:

Nope. Mk49 tracks the 'low blow' just fine. This was in loft mode.

germany.trk 12.48 MB · 0 downloads

Yep, the Mk49 does track the SA-6's TR just fine. I sort of poorly worded it, but I was discussing how and why the Mk37 was able to track all 3 SAM sites (SA-2, 3, and 6) in their experience but using the Mk49 variants couldn't track all 3 sites (Mk37 is able to track all 3 sites' search radars but the Mk49s are only able to track all 3 sites' track radars).