Problem with Mav on Forced Correlate.

[Wolfie]

Hey guys, I was trying to shoot a mav on FC today, and I did it, but before the mav could reach the target, it exploded! :doh:

 

It was around a 20km shot ( which is why I used FC from 20,000ft MSL to make it more like a bomb ) and was an AGM-65K. Is this realistic? Or a bug?

Sucks, because the missle looked like it was going to make it and glide all the way in. Manual lists it as having a MAX range of 24k. About the only way you can deal with a HAWK and still avoid MANPADS.

[GGTharos]

Sounds like your missile flew past its operational time limit. FC is not meant for attacking SAM stations at long range; it is meant for attacking large structures, such a buildings, or features within those structures specifically, such as targeting a particular window (or a cave in a mountain, or a very slowly moving ship, etc).

 

In RL, the only way to use the maverick at its maximum distance is probably with man-in-the-loop hardware, ie. a data-link.

 

From the A-10, you should not expect usage ranges of greater than about 6nm.

Edited May 17, 2012 by GGTharos

[Wolfie]

So, is operational time limit a sim thing, or real life? And can it be changed? Because the missile did look like it was going to make it to the target. And can the missile actually go 23km MAX distance if launched from height in RL? i.e. 20,000 MSL. It may not be kosher to do this, but I'm wondering if this can actually be done in RL, as it would be effective against something delicate like a small search radar.

 

And yeah, the mav usually won't track in normal mode till about 7km away. I'm just trying to take a wild arrow shot with a big bomb.

Edited May 17, 2012 by Wolfie

[GGTharos]

In this case, sim. In real life, you'd likely not be able to lock a target at all at that distance, so you'd never launch it that far anyway.

 

The missile can go its max range of 27nm (40km or so) if launched at 40000' and Mach 0.9, IIRC (the speed might be higher). In other words, not if it's launched from the hog.

But that's just max kinematic range - ie. it can fly that far, but without a data-link it won't hit anything that's useful for you to hit.

 

In RL you wouldn't send a Hog to attack an operating SAM like this. You'd send in a wild-weasel.

The only case of Hogs being sent after radar targets was in Montenegro or Kosovo, IIRC - the location may have actually been different - and those were surveillance radar assets hiding in the woods. In other words, they weren't about to shoot exploding rocket bottles at anyone.

 

Find another way to deal with the SAMs. If you have a MERAD or HIRAD to deal with, aproach them at low altitude. If you are worried about the SHORAD, that's too bad - their job is to push you into the SHORAD zone.

 

So, is operational time limit a sim thing, or real life?

And can it be changed? Because the missile did look like it was going to make it to the target. And can the missile actually go 23km MAX distance if launched from height in RL? i.e. 20,000 MSL. It may not be kosher to do this, but I'm wondering if this can actually be done in RL, as it would be effective against something delicate like a small search radar.

 

And yeah, the mav usually won't track in normal mode till about 7km away. I'm just trying to take a wild arrow shot with a big bomb.

Edited May 17, 2012 by GGTharos

[MagnumHB]

Hey guys, I was trying to shoot a mav on FC today, and I did it, but before the mav could reach the target, it exploded!

Ensure that you are within the DLZ before firing.

 

From the A-10, you should not expect usage ranges of greater than about 6nm.

In-sim, you can easily launch at 9-10 nm with force correlate if you have enough altitude (20k+ feet), authentic or not.

Edited May 17, 2012 by MagnumHB

[Wolfie]

Hmm, ok. So it looks like the mav's FM needs some major tweaking (Cause it was gonna make it to target at 20km!) Does FC "lock" on anything? It looks like it just tries to shoot like an arrow at a certain area, so is there really any range limit to the "lock" in FC? Does it eventually pick something to lock on to? In an emergency situation, an inaccurate hit with a larger mav (G or K) might do the job. It seems to me, the real problem here is the mav is traveling waaaayyyy farther than its supposed to be able to at certain speed and height.

Edited May 17, 2012 by Wolfie

[Wolfie]

it is meant for attacking large structures, such a buildings, or features within those structures specifically, such as targeting a particular window (or a cave in a mountain, or a very slowly moving ship, etc).

 

I'm reading your post here again, and it seems your targeting something as specific as a window. So is this like an "area" lock, where the missile really is locking on to something? And if so, would the missile in FC have to have something digitally sharp enough to lock on to? In other words, can it or can it not lock on to something like a blurry house 20km away, cause it is in game with FC. In game, its seems to just lock on to anything, no matter how blurry or far away, ground, trees, radars, whatever.

Edited May 17, 2012 by Wolfie

[xxJohnxx]

As I have understood FC mode, the Mav uses it's gyros to guide itself to the target, and so it doesn't use its TV-seeker. This makes it possible to use the Ks at night.

[GGTharos]

It most definitely uses the seeker. How else would it hit a window with those horribly drifting gyros? It uses a different technique called scene-building to do its FC work, instead of (relatively) simple contrast lock.

 

This is why there are range restrictions when it comes to the practical use of Maverick missiles: They must be able to see the feature(s) you're targeting them at.

 

As I have understood FC mode, the Mav uses it's gyros to guide itself to the target, and so it doesn't use its TV-seeker. This makes it possible to use the Ks at night.

Edited May 17, 2012 by GGTharos