Harpoon

Hello to all

After all I managed to do some trials with the Harpoon antiship missile and despite that I have seen all the youtube tutorials I still have some unanswered questions.

1. Have we to take into account if the ship is on course or static? in what way we can calculate the bearing of the missile if the ship is on course?

2. Is there a right bearing that we can fire the missile in relation to the ship's bearing? for instance if the ship's bearing is 360, the appropriate firing is at the same bearing? what if I fire the missile with a missile's bearing preset at 90 right?

thanx

1. You will have to lead a moving target. I've noticed the harpoon can tolerate at least +/- 10 degrees of error when it reaches radar range, so you don't have to be exact. Moving closer makes it easier (at 10 miles the missile will practically lock on immediately when fired, and this is still outside SAM range)

2. The bearing that you enter is the target's bearing relative to you. So, if the ship is directly north of you, 0 degrees, if south, 180 degrees. Dunno if it's true or magnetic, though. I've just been using the default heading tape on the HUD and it seems to work.

edit: I guess if you wanted to be precise, you could estimate the target's speed and calculate how far the ship will move during the time of flight. For reference, the harpoon goes about 10 miles in 1 minute.

Dear Preendog

Thanx for your response. So in what bearing I have to preset the bearing of the missile if the ship is on 312 course and moving? Thanx

The ships bearing from you is 312? ie. the RWR spike from the ship, if any, is 312 on your compass tape.

Lets say you want to shoot from 40 miles. The ship is moving, heading 100 at 30 knots (to the right from your point of view)

40 miles will take about 4 minutes. The ship will move 2nm in this time.

As a right triangle (it's not, but close), the longest side is 40nm (range), and the far side is 2nm (amount ship moves to your right).

ATAN 2/40 is 3.2 degrees. I would aim at 315.

It's not very much difference unless the ship is going really fast or you shoot from really far away. If the ship is mostly moving toward or away from you, no lead is needed.

the ship's bearing is 312 by itself about 40 miles right to me. I fly on 315 bearing 40 miles east of the ship.

I' m sorry the ship is travelling 90 degrees on my right hand and its bearing is 312

picture

Let me show the picture and forget all the above. I want to fire from waypoint 1 90 degrees right as you can see the Let me show the picture and forget all the above. I want to fire from waypoint 1 90 degrees right as you can see the cargo ship is travelling 013 with 11 knots. So what is the right harpoon brc?cargo ship is travelling 013 with 11 knots. So what is the right harpoon brc?

I would set harpoon to 157° or 158° (directly at ship). The ship will move 1 mile during the harpoon flight, and it is heading mostly toward you.

Your plane's initial heading doesn't matter. But it is probably a good idea to face the target before shooting to reduce error.

I set it at 165 and all missing, I will try at 158

Just some additional advice: For clarity, always specify either "true" or "relative" bearing. This becomes critical when relaying target information to other units you are working with and who may be positioned nowhere near you.

Thank you both. I just struggling to understand what is the right preset heading and of what is this depends on..

I am too! Does anyone know if ED has published any specs on the harpoon.? I'd like to know what the range and the search cone is.

The best way is to wait for SEA mode to appear.

What is "SEA Mode"?

What is "SEA Mode"?

A mode of the A/G radar for detecting ships at sea, but we’ll most likely be waiting awhile longer as ED hasn’t said all that much about this system yet.

How to attack several targets in the same area with Harpoons? I mean, how to be sure I launch two Harpoons for 2 targets in the same trajectory, and each Harpoon hits a different target?

that would probably be a mode that has yet to be implemented, unless it was included in the latest release.

How to attack several targets in the same area with Harpoons? I mean, how to be sure I launch two Harpoons for 2 targets in the same trajectory, and each Harpoon hits a different target?

When we get AG radar via SEA mode you will be abble to track sea targets, like we track air targets.

So far, if you are fine with just hitting two targets and not two specific targets out of a larger convoy, you can use HTPT mode and get hook shots from different sides. Not guaranteed to do what you want, but fairly good chance.

Does the Harpoon still have too low explosive power? For this reason, I prefer to use AGM-65F, although the range is smaller, but it does more damage. In addition, ships do not defend against them.

Does the Harpoon still have too low explosive power? For this reason, I prefer to use AGM-65F, although the range is smaller, but it does more damage. In addition, ships do not defend against them.

Yes. The damage model is still WIP unfortunately.

Has anyone managed to get the AGM-84D to reach a ship with its 100% operational defenses? So far I have only seen tutorials of attacks on defenseless ships in ceasefire mode. All my attacks are neutralized by the ship's defensive system. Thank you.

Has anyone managed to get the AGM-84D to reach a ship with its 100% operational defenses? So far I have only seen tutorials of attacks on defenseless ships in ceasefire mode. All my attacks are neutralized by the ship's defensive system. Thank you.

Just finished up our (The Flying Kiwis) Thursday training night and tonight we did a bit of training with the Harpoon. Coordinated team work certainly paid off for us tonight, we went against 3 Russian frigates and destroyers (set to weapons free and hot) and with two sections attacking from two different angles and slightly different timings we were able to sink two in the first sortie and clean up the last one on the second sortie with not much fuss. A few missiles were intercepted but the majority got through, I think everyone had their missiles set to fly low and skim, the different angles and timings worked really well. We all headed for terrain masking after launch and everyone made it home. :thumbup:

So from my perspective, a very effective anti ship missile, but maybe the trick is using it as a team with a bit of planning. We had 5 aircraft in the attack tonight.

Just finished up our (The Flying Kiwis) Thursday training night and tonight we did a bit of training with the Harpoon. Coordinated team work certainly paid off for us tonight, we went against 3 Russian frigates and destroyers (set to weapons free and hot) and with two sections attacking from two different angles and slightly different timings we were able to sink two in the first sortie and clean up the last one on the second sortie with not much fuss. A few missiles were intercepted but the majority got through, I think everyone had their missiles set to fly low and skim, the different angles and timings worked really well. We all headed for terrain masking after launch and everyone made it home. :thumbup:

So from my perspective, a very effective anti ship missile, but maybe the trick is using it as a team with a bit of planning. We had 5 aircraft in the attack tonight.

Perfect, it seems realistic. Teamwork always multiplies the possibilities. Thank you very much for the reply.

Having compared the Harpoon to either the RB-04 or RB-15, its a bad joke at the moment. If i have to kill a ship i load up my Viggen as its going to wreck it with at most 2 hits and those missiles are much more likely to get through. As with a lot on the F/A-18 module at the moment its overdue for some love.