Follow up on AGM65D boresight alignment

[spidierox]

Hey guys, 

I was wondering if someone could tell me how this is done in RL. I am not talking about the process - that is described well in the manual - but more like where do you align in the mission overall process :

- is there a specific spot on the airbase where you can use object to align ?
- is it done in the arming area when taxiing out ?
- is it done in the hangar ?
- is it often done in the air (difficult to imagine that you boresight in your AO especially in a hot run in to target).

And as a follow up: 

How would you incorporate that in your mission design with the ME? Simply put an abject so you can align (lock) onto ?

If someone has an inside on that please let me know (any link is also appreciated)

Many thanks for the help/exlainations

Spidierox

 

[RyanR]

In the air. A-10 pilots would sometimes use other A-10's, per an article on the internet.... somewhere. While ground boresighting kinda works in DCS, IRL Mavericks drift during takeoff and when pulling G's. 

IRL, I'm sure pilots are briefed on suitable places to boresight (a town, for example). In DCS, this gets tricky since Mavericks may not "grab onto" a static map object, so that would effectively break the mission. In the ME, it would be best to build a little area near a town to boresight on the way to the AO.

-Ryan

[Furiz]

Much easier to boresight in the air, 

you can lock Maverick onto something first then slew your TGP on the same target and hit boresight.

[spidierox]

Thanks for the answers !

[void68]

It's not that easy: You always should BS on a distant object due to parallax. If you want to have a match at 8nm, you should BS at 8nm. Do a BS at 1nm and you will have a large displacement at 10nm!

 

[spidierox]

Yes I found that the hardway so for ATP and Maverick I both use narrow zoom.

I wait around 7-8 nm lock target with ATP then lock same target with maverick seeker and click boresight.

The thing what worried me was I don't like to do that in the Area of operations especially not with AAA and 7-8 nm is pretty close.
So that was the reason for asking the question is there a special place on the airfield where they can set up the boresight alignment. Also when seeing (alot of) video's this is not mentioned - as far as I can recall - on how to do it (Ward carroll, Mover, Gonky, ...)

 

[void68]

Am 14.8.2025 um 12:24 schrieb spidierox:

The thing what worried me was I don't like to do that in the Area of operations especially not with AAA and 7-8 nm is pretty close.

Every high contrast signature should work, so hot on a cold environment for IR and bright on a dark environment for TV (and vice versa), be it a vehicle, a building, a tree. As you easily lose focus it's best to look for an isolated entity. You can cheat on this by hitting <active pause> which gives you enough time to hit the ideal range - not in MP though. Yes, BSighting might be a bit tricky as you usually operate above the cloud layer (with no sight on ground structures) and during climb you got enough other tasks to do.

 

While you are in hot you can do BS, as it's not that important . Just do a lock / handoff with the TGP and adjust the Maverick (as it's misaligned) for another lock. When both targets are identical hit "BS" and then just fire / ripple, so the next 1-2 Maves on that rack are aligned now. Just look for an isolated, easy to identify unit you need no TGP for under usual conditions. I'd call that "boresighting on the fly". As long as it's a suspicious dot on enemy ground you need no TGP.

Edited 2 hours ago by void68

[RyanR]

We usually circle back to the base and boresight on something at the airfield. On your way outbound, try to find something with the TGP. At 20-25 miles out, reverse and start trying to get the MAV's locked on to boresight as soon as the seeker will "grab" it.

In the past, getting one missile per wing (so, two total) boresighted was all that it took to set up all 6 missiles. I haven't had a ton of experience with Mavericks since the latest patch fixed the issues that popped up with the ATP release. I still haven't had much luck with auto handoff, but I always use the TGP and a markpoint to get situated. 

-Ryan