Elevation in a CAS 9-Line

[Charles Darwin]

Might be dumb question..but why is the target's elevation important in a 9 line CAS request?

[Mule]

Was going to ask the same question. Beat me to it.:)

[MTFDarkEagle]

When you are punching in the information in the CDU directly, it might be important :D

[Eddie]

You need to know in order to plan your attack properly. If you carry out weapon deliveries "by the book" it's an important factor, but if you don't then it isn't.

 

For example, if you will loose 4000 feet to carry out your HADB mk82 attack, you dont want to decend below 6000 ft due to MANPADS and the target elev is 1400ft then you know you need to start you attack from at least 11400ft. This is especially important in mountainous areas.

 

In the A-10C terrain elevation can be taken from the DTC database, but that isn't the case for all aircraft.

[Sarge55]

Not dumb at all.

 

Another reason is it makes it easier to figure out the min. altitude to fly to avoid AAA and SAMs in and around the target.

 

Sniped...

[jazjar]

Eddie. which book do you speak of? Seriously.

[Eddie]

There are many. Some are available to the public, some are not. Have a look for paulrkiii's docs posted on these forums. They are publicly released version of the docs used by the 25th and are based on the real world A-10 docs.

 

Beyond that there are many books written by pilots telling their stories from combat and most have a lot of detail.

[Charles Darwin]

oh well that makes a ton of sense..thanks!

[aces_full85]

When you are punching in the information in the CDU directly, it might be important :D

 

It might not be the correct RL prodecure, but I've never entered the target elevation when creating a waypoint for a target. Even if the field is blank, the CDU will always plop a WP right on ground level.

[jazjar]

waypoints can be created as mathematical 3d points in the sky, just go fly a gow mission and see.

[Evil.Bonsai]

Not sure about offset, but using MGRS, every time I enter it into the cdu it pops up with elevation automatically. I write the elev. down and compare what they're telling over 9-line vs what pops up. If they're not close, I start to recheck everything. I don't think I've seen anything over 25ft of difference, unless I did something wrong.

[jazjar]

Wow- the CDU is more of a smartass than I am :)

[Olgerd]

Might be dumb question..but why is the target's elevation important in a 9 line CAS request?

 

Without target elevation your bombing sight will be inaccurate. If DTSAS is operating properly you should not care about it as DTSAS determines elevation automatically. It is called DTS elevation.

 

Once DTSAS is failed, or is off map, or simply is turned off, you will have to enter target elevation manually into a waypoint, and then to set it as steerpoint to get bombing sight operating properly. This is called HOT elevation. The elevation also can be edited via UFC by DATA switch when HOT elevation is the currently selected elevation mode.

 

Sometimes DTS elevation works incorrectly. Typical example is mountainous terrain. It this case it is practicable to select HOT elevation option and then to set your target waypoint as steerpoint.

Edited November 16, 2011 by Olgerd

[Mule]

Many thanks.