AAA doesn't fire at night

[al531246]

Been messing about in the ME and found that AAA (so far that means the ZU-23 and Shilka) do not engage aircraft at night regardless of height, speed etc. I think it goes without saying that this is incorrect.

[Dragon1-1]

For ZU-23, it very much is correct, because it's optical-only. Try going birdwatching at night and see how well you do. SAMs that rely on visual detection won't fire, either, at least until you've made several passes. Full moon seems to help them, and of course if you leave your lights on, you've got no one to blame but yourself. :)

 

For Shilka, it should depend if it can get a solid radar lock. Not sure about CA specifically, but I've certainly been hosed down by ZSU-23s at night.

[Northstar98]

I wonder if having a RADAR in the group (such as the 9S80M1) would make a difference...

 

The ZSU-23-4 should have a limited search-mode that its RADAR can perform, but this isn't modelled in DCS.

 

As for the ZU-23-2, I think we have only the basic variant, and as such is day-only. However, there are follow-on versions like the ZU-23-2M which incorporates a NOD and possibly a thermal imager for usage at night.

[al531246]

The emplaced ZU-23 should still engage at night however as you've alluded to the accuracy will be greatly reduced.

 

Threat aircraft can be illuminated either with the help of flares or searchlights but often times it's not necessary; once your eyes have adjusted to the night it's quite easy to see.

[PoorOldSpike]

It's not a bug, I just ran these tests which confirm all six guns of the ZU-23 family and the Shilka will fire at night but ONLY if there's no thick cloud cover.

The gun family are-

ZU-23 closed

ZU-23 emplacement

ZU-23 insurgent

ZU-23 insurgent closed

ZU-23 insurgent on Ural 375

ZU-23 on Ural 375

 

Test 1: NOON, no clouds.

I simply flew a Hornet over them at 1000ft and they all opened up on him as we'd expect-

 

 

 

 

Test 2: MIDNIGHT, no clouds.

They all fired again because there was enough ambient light around from starlight and town lights etc for them to see the Hornet-

 

 

 

 

Test 3: MIDNIGHT, THICK CLOUD COVER.

The Hornet overflies the guns but they never fired a shot because it was pitch black and presumably they had no night optics.

The Shilka DID fire because its gun is radar-guided

 

 

Let me know if I've overlooked anything, send your comments, feedback and death threats etc on a postcard..:)

Edited October 7, 2020 by PoorOldSpike

[al531246]

It's not a bug, I just ran these tests which confirm all six guns of the ZU-23 family and the Shilka will fire at night but ONLY if there's no thick cloud cover.

 

Can you send me that mission file if you still have it to hand? In my testing (7:30PM, clear skies, Syria map) the ZU-23's did not engage.

[PoorOldSpike]

Can you send me that mission file if you still have it to hand? In my testing (7:30PM, clear skies, Syria map) the ZU-23's did not engage.

 

 

It's 11pm here in Plymouth UK mate and I'm dead on my feet and about to hit the sack.

My tests above were on the Persian Gulf map but tomorrow I'll run them again on the Syria map to see what happens and let you know.

I've been told that the Syria map is a WIP open-beta thing which might still have some bugs that haven't been ironed out yet.

PS- How do i send mission files to you, by email or what?..:)

Edited October 7, 2020 by PoorOldSpike

[PoorOldSpike]

Just to confim there's NO bug..:)

I just ran another bunch of tests, this time on the Syria DLC map, and can confirm that the ZU-23 gun family plus the Shilka DO fire at night with and without cloud cover (screenshot below near Tyre on the coast)

 

 

Notes-

In the Syria DLC we only get 3 Russian AAA guns, namely-

ZU-23 emplacement (2-man crew)

ZU-23 closed (2-man crew)

ZU-23 on Ural truck (1-man crew)

 

I ran the tests multiple times, sometimes all three guns fired, and sometimes none or only 1 or 2 fired. The truck-mounted gun seemed to fire less often than the others, presumably because it only had one bloke manning it.

The dear old Shilka fired every time bless its reliable little cotton socks..:)

I gave the Hornet 1000 ASL altitude for his run-in, but he climbed higher on his own initiative as he passed over the guns, so perhaps some guns were better than others at tracking him as he went up which would explain why some seemed to fire more often than others.

 

Other things to note- I made all the units "Excellent' skill rating, and the Hornet "Ace".

The time setting was 0:0:0 (midnight).

Edited October 9, 2020 by PoorOldSpike

[PoorOldSpike]

Here's the test setup, all the guns and the Shilka have a 1.3 mile range (red circles), and the yellow circles are the gun crews visual eyeball range. (The Shilka has exactly the same two circles so presumably its radar range is factored into them)

both circles are only their theoretical maximum ranges on paper in ideal weather and visibility, for example in my night tests they only began firing at less than a mile-

 

 

 

 

Below: Some daylight screenies-

This is the "ZU-23 emplacement" (but note it's not in an actual gun emplacement)

 

 

 

This is the "ZU-23 closed" (closed means in a proper gun emplacement, presumably it gives some protection if the gun's being shot at)

 

 

 

This is the "ZU-23 on Ural", note only one bloke is manning it which is presumably why it didn't seem to fire as often as the others.

 

 

 

PS- all the guns plus the Shilka fired airburst rounds that can either slam into enemy planes, or burst in the air like this to spray them with shrapnel-

 

Edited October 8, 2020 by PoorOldSpike

[PoorOldSpike]

TIP- although the truck gun can fire horizontally to the rear and sides (left pic), the cab gets in the way if it tries to fire horizontally forward (right pic), so it's best to place the truck on the map with its rear facing towards the enemy to give it horizontal fire capability..:)

 

Edited October 8, 2020 by PoorOldSpike

[dorianR666]

PS- How do i send mission files to you, by email or what?..:)

you can attach any file type to a post on this forum :thumbup:

nice experiment btw, this information is just what i needed