Alors, alors.... Ce fucking radar et ces fucking missiles, tout un programme !
En plus d'être complexe le système n'est pas fini, il y a des choses encore non implémenté ou de façon différente par limitation DCS, du coup c'est le bordel quand on essaye de comprendre ce qu'il y a d'expliqué dans le manuel...
J'ai pris des notes sur les remarques des développeurs sur le forum ED vis à vis de la modélisation des systèmes.
Voici la partie dédiée au radar (c'était valable jusqu'à début mai car depuis je suis en "déplacement professionnel" et je n'ai pas retouché au Tomcat ni suivi les discussions sur le forum ED. Par lecture des derniers changelog je crois qu'il y a eu une modif sur le mod tir actif du Phoenix récemment) :
RADAR:
It takes a bit of practice to get used to supersearch, as the cone is very small with iirc only 2.3° - this means that not only you have to set the correct elevation with the elevation control on the left console, but you have to additionally use the vernier fine elevation control for +/- 4° in order to properly scan the patch of sky the target is in.
Yes, in pulse the sparrow will use CW and have lesser range while the AIM-54 will just fly out along the radar line of sight until it find a target with its own seeker. The range of the AIM-54 in that mode is much less compared to in PD where it is also guided semi-actively.
If you're in P STT and set it to SP PD it will still use CW as it's not a PD mode.
If you're in PD STT and set NORM it will use CW.
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Currently not really implemented but expect CW to have less range when we implement it fully. The PD guidance was developed to allow for greater range.
There was a big push in the 1960s and 70s to make long range airborne radars with 'automatic' acquisition and tracking processes to lighten the workload on the pilot.
Many new technologies were needed to accomplish this, including high throughput processors, coherent transmitters and amplifiers, increased computer memory and new tracking algorithms. Doppler processing would be required to reduce/filter clutter and enable automatic acquisition and tracking. A new waveform, high pulse repetition frequency (HPRF), would be needed to facilitate this processing technique. This HPRF waveform would prove far superior to Low PRF waveforms used in 'pulse radars' of the past.
These older 'pulse radars' required a human to monitor the radar scope and manually pick out targets hidden within the radar clutter.
In the 1960s, the AN/AWG-9 was at the forefront of cutting edge radar design. With the new HPRF transmission/reception and automatic tracking being incorporated into its design. However, unlike other radars of this new generation, the AWG-9 retained its 'man in the loop' design of past 'pulse radars'. The RIO would still be able to manually pick up faint targets (or targets masked by clutter) that the automatic system wouldn't. Even today, automatic trackers need the target to be ~12dB (16 times) stronger than the noise in order to track. A skilled operator could do the same with a target only 3dB stronger than the background noise.
https://i.imgur.com/2zf64Tc.png?1
Thus, where these new processes failed, a human could step in and in many cases out perform the automatic processes of the receiver.
Additionally, the AWG-9 would also retain old school 'pulse radar' processes (LPRF waveform) adding further versatility to the sensor. (the LPRF was retained for 'all aspect' detection and ACM modes, but proved inferior to MPRF waveforms used by later radars)
As if it wasn't enough, the AN/AWG-9 had an extremely powerful transmitter and very large antenna, giving it a narrow beamwidth. This combination made it the most powerful fighter radar (raw effective radiated power) up until the APG-77.
However, the radar was designed primarily with 1960's equipment and sported an analog receiver. Leading to poor look down performance amid terrain, especially in automatic modes.
All that being said, she represents the best analog airborne radar ever made, but her performance is highly predicated on the skill of her operator.
One of the devs mentioned a detection range of about 110nm (in PD search; 90nm in RWS) against a fighter sized target. Giving it greater range than the F-15 and F-18. However, the AWG-9 lacks Medium PRF, giving it a distinct disadvantage against low Doppler (flanking) targets.
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By setting the switch to PH ACT you command the WCS to immediately send the active command, the missile will then lock onto the first target it sees. IRL if it didn't find a target it would still listen to commands if you're in a PD mode. That's not currently modelled though as we have limited control over the seekerhead in DCS.
The PDS has a nominal max detection range of 115NM against 5m2 targets at best aspect, but it's a "fairly useless" mode since it only gives range-rate and no range at all, so doesn't leave you with a real picture, other than "something somewhere along this azimuth is closing/opening at rate X". RWS and TWS have nominal max detection range of 90NM for 5m2, and they give (inaccurate, something like 5NM resolution) range information (using FM ranging), so you can get a picture at least. RWS allows scan patterns up to +-65deg 8bar (takes 13 seconds), which scans a massive volume of sky, TWS modes are limited to patterns that repeat within 2 seconds (+-40deg 2bar or +-20deg 4bar).
No tracking of targets in RWS, so just displays range and azimuth on each radar return, with no velocity vector. They're cleared after the frame time too. The big advantage over TWS is that you can use much bigger scan patterns.
Quand au sparrow moi c'est ça vitesse max qui me turlupine, c'est le missile AA le plus lent du jeu.... Du coup même si on tire en premier face à un autre fox-1 on se fait défoncer avant par le missile adverse. Dans le jeu il dépasse à peine les Mach 2 dans les meilleurs conditions alors qu'on peut lire une vitesse max de Mach 4 sur diverses sources internet. Qui a raison je ne sais pas.... Mais on dirait que ED a interprété la vitesse max de lancement à Mach 2,5 comme la Vmax du missile. Voler à haute vitesse et haute altitude n'a que très peu d'impacte sur la vitesse max du missile en jeu.
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