Countermeasures questions

Understanding the A-10 CMs are a weak spot for me so I did the tutorial twice yet two things continue to baffle me:

- I edited one of the CM programs ("B", I think) to release 3 flares only. I therefore set the flare quantity to 3 and reduced chaff to zero. I then selected this program and, with the CM mode set first to MAN and then to SEMI, found that when I push UP on the HOTAS CM button, it dispenses flares until I manually stop the program with CM DOWN. The manual refers to something called "continuous dispense" but, if this is enabled by default, I do not know how to disable it. So, embarrassingly, I cannot figure out how to dispense 3 flares only per press of CM UP.

- The tutorial refers to HOTAS CM "Down" and HOTAS CM "Back" (also keyboard "-"). On a standard four-way HOTAS CM joystick button (the same one on every joystick I've seen, including the r/l A-10/TM Warthog) how can this be? How can CM "Back" and "Down" not be the same action? I know this is a common issue in DCS A-10 naming conventions but this is the first time it has me baffled, as, in my CH profile, "extra" button functions seem to have been assigned to other HOTAS buttons. However, it is preferable to have all CM functions on one button, if possible, so I'd appreciate guidance.

Thanks!

- The tutorial refers to HOTAS CM "Down" and HOTAS CM "Back" (also keyboard "-"). On a standard four-way HOTAS CM joystick button (the same one on every joystick I've seen, including the r/l A-10/TM Warthog) how can this be? How can CM "Back" and "Down" not be the same action? I know this is a common issue in DCS A-10 naming conventions but this is the first time it has me baffled, as, in my CH profile, "extra" button functions seem to have been assigned to other HOTAS buttons. However, it is preferable to have all CM functions on one button, if possible, so I'd appreciate guidance.

 

Thanks!

HOTAS CM down means pressing down the switch, not moving it back/forward.

Bahger, the CMS on the stick of an A-10 has 5 ways of travel:

Forward: initiate program.

Back: terminate program.

Left/Right: switch program.

Down (as in: press it as if it was a button): Initiate Jammer.

Incidentally, on the TM Warthog HOTAS, you also have the same thing with the radio switch: four-way "hat" that can also be depressed for a fifth function. There is also an ability to depress the slewing microstick on the throttle.

Thanks, gents. I tried "Down" by pressing down on the CM button but my CH CM button appears not to have that function. It's no big deal, I will map Initiate Jammer to a shifted function to keep it on that button.

Any intel on my failure to program a 3-flare burst? It's annoying when I seem to be missing something obvious but I really appreciate the assistance on offer here.

Page 403.

CHAF field is amount of chaff

FLAR field is amount of flares

INTV is the time between release

CYCL is amount of cycles.

So 0,3,1,3 will be three flares, one second, three flares, one second, three flares, stop.

You are looking for 0,3,x,1

(Though I would probably recommend that you instead go for 0 - 1 - 0.25 - 3 instead.)

Many thanks EtherealN, I believe I understand the process but what's baffling is that, even with Program B edited merely to eliminate chaff and dispense 2 flares per cycle -- with everything else left alone -- on MAN and SEMI, one press of CM Forward in-flight pumped out flares without limiting the quantity as programmed, and it seemed it would do so until it ran out, or I terminated it with CM Back. As I said, I must be missing something very simple so thank you for bearing with me.

another option would be to set you CMS to MAN, select program "J" (1 flare, 0 chaff) and just hit CMS forward 3 times.

Many thanks EtherealN, I believe I understand the process but what's baffling is that, even with Program B edited merely to eliminate chaff and dispense 2 flares per cycle -- with everything else left alone -- on MAN and SEMI, one press of CM Forward in-flight pumped out flares without limiting the quantity as programmed, and it seemed it would do so until it ran out, or I terminated it with CM Back. As I said, I must be missing something very simple so thank you for bearing with me.

The setting you're looking for is not the flare amount, but the cycle amount, which is the last digit on the right side of the CMSC display.

It's best to avoid adjusting programs A-D too much as they are used by the CMS in Semi and Auto modes to counter specific threats.

You can obviously adjust them to suit you (I do, I don't like the default dispense patterns) but bare in mind the CMS will use them as follows;

A - Old Gen Radar SAMS

B - New Gen Radar SAMS

C - IR SAMS

D - Unknown/Misc

So as you can see, if you switch program B to all flares, it could be a problem. ;)

Program N-Z are unused, so you can use those if you have a 100% custom program in mind.

Got it, excellent advice, guys, many thanks.

Bahger, Program B by default is 4-0-0,5-10. This means that if your change is limited to removing chaff and asking for 2 flares, the programe will be 0-2-0,5-10; 2 flares every 0.5 seconds for 5 seconds - 20 flares.

Also note (Page 401) that if you select Semi mode, the system itself will select program but require manual activation, based on threat. This means that even if you edit program B properly to be 0-2-0,5-1, if the system judges the threat to require more it will switch to another program.

As an aside: Program K is 0-2-1-1 by default: one double flare deployment only.

EDIT: double-sniped. :D

Glad you started this thread cuz I was gona start one about how to run the ECM, but as stated above, push down CNS buttton....thanks.

Always wondered why that jammer never went active. :D

Ha, glad my somewhat dopey question had collateral benefits!

Always wondered why that jammer never went active. :D

Yeah me too, I'll have to looking into this a bit more been flying around with a jammer pod and having no idea how it works within the sim, range of jammer, Does the AI pick up the jammer from twice the range like in FC

Not sure about the rest of the people. but when i fly over a shulka the jammer stays on Air and switches to profile that uses both chaff and flares Dont seem right as in the manual the gamer should go to AAA mode

Jesse