JDAM Today

[hein22]

So I got pretty lost in the last jdam updates and now I don't really understand how it works.

 

Before you could launch at max range and the bomb would hit perfectly under almost any circumstance. Now I see that dropping at that point will result in a miss in almost any situation, but we have now the In Zone LAR. So did anything change really?

 

Also, what modes are really working as of now? Manual and what else? Auto Loft? How does the latter work? Do you have to loft for it to work? I saw wags use it without lofting but I wasn't sure if he dropped it or not.

 

 

THanks.

[BarTzi]

Man is the only one that works 100%. Loft requires additional symbology. It might work in DCS without it at the moment, but I would not count on it.

 

Dropping it 'in range'/ 'in zone' shouldn't change the final result, which is a hit on target. The difference is how the bomb hits the target. Drop it 'in zone' if you wish to setup terminal parameters.

[hein22]

Man is the only one that works 100%. Loft requires additional symbology. It might work in DCS without it at the moment, but I would not count on it.

 

Dropping it 'in range'/ 'in zone' shouldn't change the final result, which is a hit on target. The difference is how the bomb hits the target. Drop it 'in zone' if you wish to setup terminal parameters.

 

Thanks!

 

Do you see what I see? About dropping in range and miss everytime? It falls so short that it runs out of energy.

[BarTzi]

I don't think so. The bomb hits every time. Which one were you using?

[hein22]

GBU 38. Track attached in case you can check it out. Tried it with 0 wind and same result.

gbu38 short in range.trk

[Swift.]

GBU 38. Track attached in case you can check it out. Tried it with 0 wind and same result.

 

It is possible that the GBU38 uses the GBU31's ballistics for the range calculations, the same way GBU32 does. So perhaps the Max range isnt such a sharp line as you might believe.

 

 

Man is the only one that works 100%. Loft requires additional symbology. It might work in DCS without it at the moment, but I would not count on it.

 

Dropping it 'in range'/ 'in zone' shouldn't change the final result, which is a hit on target. The difference is how the bomb hits the target. Drop it 'in zone' if you wish to setup terminal parameters.

 

The operative word of AUTO/LOFT is the AUTO part. Lofting isn't really a thing. In my experience AUTO works very good.

[Frederf]

The in-range circle is probably not yet harmonized with the realized JDAM abilities. IN RNG should indicate predicted solution provided some minimal terminal parameters (shallow glide angle, slow speed, not able to achieve desired impact heading). If you turn circles near the target the HSI in range circle should shrink-grow dynamically as facing toward the target has much longer range than facing away.

 

Although I did attempt a PP x4 release at max range cue (OK, maybe 5 seconds inside it) and all the weapons reached the target with pretty much expected terminal parameters. That might have been my particular release parameters were well harmonized with the cue and others aren't.

[hein22]

Do you all see it fall very short in my track?

[Harker]

I've had GBU-38s fall short with undefined terminal parameters, when launched while IN RNG, but not IN ZONE. That shouldn't happen.

 

And the IZLAR is definitely not changing with terminal parameters yet, so it's kinda useless right now, except for guaranteeing a hit when the impact heading is undefined.

 

AFAIK, when launched IN RNG but outside of the IZLAR, the JDAM should disregard terminal parameters, in order to ensure a hit. I don't think that's working yet either.

 

PS. I keep seeing JDAMs flying with the fins all wrong, instead of correcting their orientation while in the air (rudder fin on top, elevator fins at the sides and the fixed fin at the bottom). I remember reading that some users saw them successfully correct. I've only seen the occasional GBU-31 do that. Am I alone here?

[Tholozor]

As far as the post-release roll orientation, I've only seen 31s do that.