LSS envelope for success?

I have been playing around with third-party lasing (scripted autolase, AI plane lasing, MP humans lasing) and the LSS in the Hornet frequently doesn't work for me.

Are there pretty restrictive constraints (distance, angle, daytime vs night) where it actually works or should it work most of the time?

I try flying right over my target, or pointing the wing where my pod is, or pulling up vs diving down at it and I can't figure out when it does decide to work vs not. Since I don't have any idea what level of success I should expect or how to pretty much guarantee successful TGP LSS, I need some input from you fine folks.

In order to guarantee that the laser is actually active and not masked, I finally used infantry with the usual autolase script, so it has no "laser off" time. I then verified by destroying the target. But most of the time, the LSS didn't find the spot.

Did you aim your targeting pod in the general direction? That’s what I do. The main issue I have had is that there’s no hud indicator of what the TGP sees.

Did you aim your targeting pod in the general direction? That’s what I do. The main issue I have had is that there’s no hud indicator of what the TGP sees.

I sort of tried that, but I was unsure how exactly it should be done. Would you designate around the target area to stabilize it and then LSS again? Do you have to un-designate first?

I am not at my virtual jet ;) but I will test this next time. The exact sequence you use would be great!

Did you aim your targeting pod in the general direction? That’s what I do. The main issue I have had is that there’s no hud indicator of what the TGP sees.

Ok I tested it now.

TL;DR: At 15mi away you can LSS a spot by pointing the TGP within +/- 2.5 degrees (pessimistic) of the target before pressing LSS.

Long rant: I didn't understand the LSS scan is just left and right. The TGP's sensor swings left and right, and it has to happen to catch the laser spot in the sensor for it to succeed. So the challenge is to get the vertical slant angle correct so that you capture the spot.

To figure out how "tall" the sensor is, I repeatedly ran LSS in Active Pause mode. The result was that the sensor found spots up to approximately 2.5 degrees above and approximately 3.0 degrees below the angle at which the TGP is pointed. This is 1.5 to 1.7 times as tall as the FLIR sensor's view that is shown in the MFD. Depending on test range I got the same angle but slightly different numbers for the multiple of the view size, so there is something squirrely going on with the geometry or maybe I made a mistake. But the important point is that you DON'T have to capture the spot in what the camera can see. The LSS scans an area around 1.5 times taller than the FLIR camera.

The horizontal scan rotates around the sensor's vertical axis, not the plane's. So the vertical slant angle changes as it scans. This means you end up scanning targets further away on the sides than in the middle of the scan. So being off in the horizontal direction will further reduce the tolerance in the vertical direction. The numbers I gave above are measured being exactly head on to the target.

Like I mentioned in the TL;DR above, within a few degrees you can just ignore that effect and just try to get within +/- 2.5 degrees of the target in both axes. If you are relying on the LSS to find the target area by "scanning the horizon" it will not work well, because it doesn't scan at the same distance as it swings left and right.

PS: forgot the disclaimer: I am no expert, obviously. If I misinterpreted my experiment, please let me know.

Ok I tested it now.

 

TL;DR: At 15mi away you can LSS a spot by pointing the TGP within +/- 2.5 degrees (pessimistic) of the target before pressing LSS.

 

Long rant: I didn't understand the LSS scan is just left and right. The TGP's sensor swings left and right, and it has to happen to catch the laser spot in the sensor for it to succeed. So the challenge is to get the vertical slant angle correct so that you capture the spot.

 

To figure out how "tall" the sensor is, I repeatedly ran LSS in Active Pause mode. The result was that the sensor found spots up to approximately 2.5 degrees above and approximately 3.0 degrees below the angle at which the TGP is pointed. This is 1.5 to 1.7 times as tall as the FLIR sensor's view that is shown in the MFD. Depending on test range I got the same angle but slightly different numbers for the multiple of the view size, so there is something squirrely going on with the geometry or maybe I made a mistake. But the important point is that you DON'T have to capture the spot in what the camera can see. The LSS scans an area around 1.5 times taller than the FLIR camera.

 

The horizontal scan rotates around the sensor's vertical axis, not the plane's. So the vertical slant angle changes as it scans. This means you end up scanning targets further away on the sides than in the middle of the scan. So being off in the horizontal direction will further reduce the tolerance in the vertical direction. The numbers I gave above are measured being exactly head on to the target.

 

Like I mentioned in the TL;DR above, within a few degrees you can just ignore that effect and just try to get within +/- 2.5 degrees of the target in both axes. If you are relying on the LSS to find the target area by "scanning the horizon" it will not work well, because it doesn't scan at the same distance as it swings left and right.

 

PS: forgot the disclaimer: I am no expert, obviously. If I misinterpreted my experiment, please let me know.

Good to know. I’ve never tested all that before. I usually just use the steerpoint as my CCRP start point and engage the LSS about 15 miles away as I’m coming in. It usually picks up the target within a minute or so