Using The Jammer In Falcon 4 Allied Force
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Basics
The jammer works very well in AA combat as it does against older SAM's, but only if used correctly. Here's what it can do for you in a simple example. A good human pilot with a jammer facing a good human pilot without as jammer will have the ability to deny first lock first launch capability if his opponent is in a similar platform (F16 versus F16 both with slammers). Whilst this doesn't guarantee first kill, it is a distinct advantage. If I fire a missile at 22 miles before the other guy gets a lock and can fire a missile at me, he is immediately at a disadvantage and has some choices to make rather quickly. He can continue to charge straight at me in hopes of getting to burn through and getting a shot off, while at the same time running the risk of being killed by my early launched slammer, or he can choose to defend against the incoming shot, which will then more than likely miss, but thus allow me the opportunity to close for a much higher Pk follow up shot which will be more difficult to defeat. Either way he dies!
A jammer works best from head on or tail aspect and within a certain altitude difference. It is pretty ineffective in the beam. To test if the jammer works and how it works, go BVR with a human opponent (both of you in F16's to make everything equal) first with and then without a jammer. Fly straight at each other.
Without jammer, you'll get a first radar contact at about 50 miles. Before this you'll see nothing. The contact, once it appears, stays on your scope without jumping around. You can't get a bug at this range, but you can get an altitude by putting the radar cursors over it.
With jammer, you'll see a jamming contact from perhaps 80 miles, but you cannot bug it and cannot get altitude readout from the cursors. The contact will "strobe" or jump around the B scope. You'll have no idea what range he's at until he gets closer.
You can bug or lock from 40 miles of more if your opponent is without jammer. With jammer, the jammer will prevent a radar from locking on you for a certain length of time, but eventually as the range closes, the attacking radar will "burn through" the jamming and acquire a lock. The distance it does this is dependant on the power of your jammer and the power of his radar, together with any variables such as aspect and altitude difference that affects the performance of the attacking radar. Mostly it will be about 20 miles, known as "burn through". Use of jammer outside 20 miles will deny a bug or lock and deny a missile launch unless you wish to fire maddog, which outside of 20 miles has a very low Pk.
The slammer has a home on jamming (HOJ) capability, but it needs to know where your target is in order to go HOJ. This means you must bug a target first by getting to burn through range. If your opponent is foolish enough to keep his jammer on once inside burn through distance, he's no longer denying first lock, first launch, but instead he's acting as a slammer homing beacon. So when your opponent is only 20 miles away from you, turn off your jammer.
The jammer is an active emission that can be seen on your radar scope. Using it advertises your presence from much longer ranges that you could normally hope to detect a target. You will see a jamming target even with your radar in standby. You don't need to emit a signal intended to bounce back from him. Your radar can detect the signal he's emitting all by itself. A radar signal is nothing more than a noise ping which has a frequency and a wavelength. Since conical scan radars use the phase of the target returns to generate error signals, an inverse gain deception jammer attempts to alter the phase by inducing fake signals into the antennas. Also, by altering the amplitude of the signal, the jammer induces large errors into the tracking loop. To do this, the jammer must determine the frequency, PRF, and scan rate of the victim radar. It then transmits signals that change the phase and amplitude of the target signal, resulting in a signal 180 degrees out of phase with the actual target. This 180-degree error rapidly drives the antenna off the target and causes a break-lock. Because of the signals being transmitted is the jammer itself is a perfect source for your radar to detect.
You may not wish to use your jammer at long ranges because of this factor, but you'll probably wish to use it once you are sure that he knows you're there. You'll want to do this before he spikes or locks you, not when you are hard spiked. By then it's often too late. If he spikes or bugs you, he's got altitude, range, bearing, aspect and course on you and can use this information to his advantage. He may have already fired a missile. Once the radar has locked on to you and all the power of the attack radar is focused on you, it's harder for the jammer to break the lock than it is for the jammer to prevent the lock in the first place. Very often, once locked, turning the jammer on will not break the lock, but again it depends on range, aspect and other variables which you'll have to be flexible in assessing when to use your jammer.
Using it too soon will give the enemy an early indication that you are out there. He'll get a bearing on you from much further away than he could normally do. If he's a team player with wingmen, this allows him to set up a bracket or a posthole or try some other BVR tactic much earlier than he would otherwise be able to do.
Used at the correct time, you won't give away your position too soon, but you'll be able to deny a radar lock or bug and missile launch until much closer than you would without a jammer.
Once inside burn through distance the jammer is actually a slammer or AA12 homing beacon like mentioned before. You just have to know when to use it and when to turn it off and understand what it is you are trying to achieve at any given range by using it. The guy who understands how his jammer works, how his radar works and how his missiles work will have the advantage over the guy who doesn't.
The F16 is equipped with an electronic warfare system (EWS), placed in the left auxiliary console. It allows automatic countermeasures when a missile launch is detected by the radar warning receiver (RWR). It can automatic release chaffs or flares and turns on or off the jammer. That depends on what EWS main mode you use:
OFF: The system is completely turned off and you can’t release chaffs or flares.
STBY: Turn the EWS in stand-by if you want to program one of the default programs.
MAN: Manually launch the selected chaff/flare program.
SEMI: Automatic chaff/flare release when needed and Betty calls Jammer when a radar spike is detected to ask if you want to turn on your jammer.
AUTO: Automatic chaff/flare release when needed and automatic use of the jammer. Be careful with this option because it will also turn on the jammer when a missile with HOJ capabilities is fired.
In beyond visual range (BVR) combat against platforms equipped with AA12's or slammers, the missile can be launched without STT lock, therefore no missile launch warning will be generated and chaff/flares will not be automatically released regardless of the EWS mode being in SEMI or AUTO. The jammer will be switched on when a spike is detected if you are in AUTO, but you may not wish to do this since a spike may indicate a missile in the air and able to go HOJ if the jammer goes on. I usually fly with the EWS mode in SEMI to prevent the jammer coming on unless I turn it on, but I also have to release chaff/flares manually against a BVR opponent with AA12's or slammers fired in TWS or RWS mode as opposed to STT. I'll use programme 1 for BVR which is just chaff, but I'll switch to programme 2 (chaff and flares) if it looks like I'm going to the merge and the enemy has AIM 9's, AA 11's or other heater combinations as well.
This is an example how I use my jammer. In most cases, I'll be jammer off until I reach about 35/40 miles. Once I'm at this range, I can be pretty sure that the bandit knows I'm there. He'll be seeing my paint on his RWR and he'll also be able to see me on his radar so I'm not too worried at this stage about revealing that I'm there. At this point I'll put my jammer on and leave it on (for now). What I'm trying to do now is deny him the ability to lock or bug me with his radar and deny him an early missile shot until I can close the range a bit to either get a bug/lock on him or get a higher Pk shot. If he allows me to bug him at 30 miles, I might pop off an early slammer anyway, just to see if I can force a response from him. The Pk might be low but he may make a mistake that I can exploit when he sees there’s a slammer inbounds.
Once I get close to the range I know that his radar will be able to burn through my jamming, I'll turn jammer off and leave it off. What I'm doing now is to prevent him from being able to fire a slammer or AA12 at me that will immediately go HOJ. If he gets a HOJ shot, he can turn and run away. I might not even get a shot at him, while I'm forced to deal with his missile. I'd rather do that to him than have it done to me.
Home on jamming
Before starting with HOJ you have to know this:
A-Pole: Distance from launching aircraft to target when a missile begins active guidance.
F-Pole: Distance from launching aircraft to target when a missile endgames/impacts.
E-Pole: Distance from a threat aircraft that evasive manoeuvres can be expected to kinematically defeat any missile the bandit is launching or could have launched.
When you shoot a slammer at an opponent who’s using his jammer, the missile will go HOJ. Does a HOJ or a normal shot have a higher Pk? Not a simple answer to this question for slammers or AA12's. Missile firing range and closure has a bigger impact on Pk than guidance. A missile fired at 10 miles head on has a high Pk, while fired from the rear in a tail chase has a low Pk, regardless of its guidance method. A missile fired at close range will go pitbull off the rail and is very hard to defeat. Likewise, a missile that goes HOJ at close range will be hard to defeat as well. At longer ranges, especially outside E pole, the Pk will be low regardless of guidance method. The main advantage of getting a HOJ shot is that the missile goes autonomous earlier and needs no further help from you. This means you are free to break lock and bug out or engage another target and do not have to support the missile through its data link phase until autonomous. A HOJ shot is effectively extending your A pole. If your A pole is bigger than his, you have an advantage. Against SARH such as AA10's or AIM 7's, all you need to do is break the launch platforms STT lock at any time during the missiles flight and you will defeat the missile. How you do this (jammer, chaff or beaming) doesn't matter. The missile looses guidance and will usually go ballistic or self detonate without guidance. ARH missiles don't. If there's one in the air, it's dangerous to friend and foe alike. Without guidance, they'll head towards the last computed intercept point and switch on their radars and look for a target. First one they see, they'll try and intercept, so defeating the launch platforms radar isn't always enough. You have to get out of the missiles field of view or escape the missile kinematically. With ARH missiles, it's a sensible precaution to make sure there are no friendlies close to your intended target. If the bad guy breaks your bug/lock before the missile goes pitbull, the missile will simply arrive at a point in space and turn on its radar and look for the first available target. If your wingman is between you and the target you fired on, it might well be him.
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Date: 1/10/2005
Section: Falcon 4
The URL for this article is: http://www.frugalsworld.com/modules/zma ... icleid=202