STT lock on landed airplane?

[cesarferrolho]

Should that be possible? An STT lock that is maintained long after the target has landed?

[Despayre]

I wouldn't think so.

How long is "long"?

[scommander2]

It is a good question.

My case is that a moving plane is on the field, and I am able to "lock" it with the sidewinder tone since it is an infrared seeker within the certain range.

I need to try for the plan has landed case. 

 

Edited Wednesday at 03:53 PM by scommander2

[Ivandrov]

2 hours ago, cesarferrolho said:

Should that be possible? An STT lock that is maintained long after the target has landed?

Yes, it is possible. You can lock onto completely still ships out on the water as well.

Edited Wednesday at 05:50 PM by Ivandrov

[cesarferrolho]

2 hours ago, Despayre said:

I wouldn't think so.

How long is "long"?

at least 3 minutes after it landed, i still had a lock. I Launched one Aim-54 before and another after he landed, both failed to hit

Edited Wednesday at 06:09 PM by cesarferrolho

[RustBelt]

It should not work with PD-STT definitely. 
 

if it’s reflective enough, maybe with the right background in P-STT, but ground clutter should really make it unlikely. 
 

You will certainly miss with a Phoenix in P-STT. 

[cesarferrolho]

8 hours ago, RustBelt said:

It should not work with PD-STT definitely. 
 

if it’s reflective enough, maybe with the right background in P-STT, but ground clutter should really make it unlikely. 
 

You will certainly miss with a Phoenix in P-STT. 

I assume Jester did not go to P-STT, i got the lock at around 60nm or so, the target was an il-78 tanker, the lock remained steady and accurate several minutes after it landed.

[Ivandrov]

7 hours ago, cesarferrolho said:

I assume Jester did not go to P-STT, i got the lock at around 60nm or so, the target was an il-78 tanker, the lock remained steady and accurate several minutes after it landed.

An IL-78 you can definitely maintain lock on, it's a huge and highly reflective target conpared to ground clutter and there is no MLC filter when STT'ed. So, it not moving is not an issue.

Edited Thursday at 03:58 PM by Ivandrov

[3000 Black Jets of Allah]

On 8/7/2025 at 11:54 PM, Ivandrov said:

An IL-78 you can definitely maintain lock on, it's a huge and highly reflective target conpared to ground clutter and there is no MLC filter when STT'ed. So, it not moving is not an issue.

There is definitely an MLC filter when STT'd, the only way to not have one is to be in a look-up scenario or get the RIO to turn it off.

[Ivandrov]

 

44 minutes ago, 3000 Black Jets of Allah said:

There is definitely an MLC filter when STT'd, the only way to not have one is to be in a look-up scenario or get the RIO to turn it off.

There is not. There was a very specific patch note about this a while back. The AWG-9 will transition to using a range gate and/or speed gate when STT'ed.

Apr 8 2022

Edited 20 hours ago by Ivandrov

[3000 Black Jets of Allah]

8 minutes ago, Ivandrov said:

There is not. There was a very specific patch note about this a while back. The AWG-9 will transition to using speedgates when STT'ed.

Well <profanity>, the more you know, found the patch notes from 2022 and you're right. Must have just been placebo or a coincidence whenever I've flipped MLC to OUT while supporting sparrows.