Trouble Dropping Bomb via coordinates

I run VR so I dunno how I am going to describe this. I am on Raven 1 Mission 3 (FA-18) (I have been stuck on this &*%$er for far too long) Today I figured I finally knew how to drop the JDAM via tpod and coordinates however the latter for me is still messing up. I input the coordinates as follows, N30 30 04 is read out to me. I hit PP1/Mission/TGTUFC/ and enter N 3 0 3 0 ENTER 0 4 ENTER (Easting the same)

Elevation called out is 010 so I put 10 ft elevation.

Info appears to enter in the mission page appropriately under PP1 which is boxed up top. The bomb is just one small guy but I do box the station under QTY (tried with it unboxed to).

The bomb is aligned GOOD.

Despite this I get no circles on my HSI and on the bombs main page the timer is stuck at 99. Lastly I noticed on that page there is something like TOT PP crossed out (Hard to read with the X through it). In the HUD it shows PP and Drop setting. The HSI does not show any circle's or markers. Like I said on the bomb page it shows TOT or TDT or something PP crossed out. I cannot get this bomb to guide under PP in any circumstance.

Whats going on?

Thanks

Fang

I think you're missing some digits. N30°30.0400' is entered 8-3-0-3-0-0-4-E-0-0-E. I might be getting this wrong but you should fill up UFC with the first part of the coordinates, press enter, and have the last two digits (down to 10cm definition or so) on the next page and press enter again. JDAMs always take precise coordinates which is more digits than a normal navigation point.

You need to set precise coordinates on your HSI, then go to AC page and change your coordinate entries to decimal seconds. Otherwise you won't be entering the correct coordinates. Chances are, with the default coordinate settings, your miles off your intended target.

You don't. PP JDAM takes the extra two digits regardless of the HSI>AC option. If 1' is 6000 feet (or less) then .01' is 60 feet . 0.0001' is 0.6 feet.

Thank you all for your replies!

Sorry I'm a little confused, could I get a rundown of the recommendation/s?

How should I enter it?

In the Raven 1 campaign you receive coordinates for the second target and it displays in a caption on screen. The reason why I mention this is the mission tends to spell out exactly what to do in case of confusion and I am surprised if they are giving numbers that need translation. Could be right tho. Its been a while since I had to translate coordinates for the Hornet so I honestly can't remember. Gonna have to Grim Reaper it if thats what you guys think, I just find it odd that the mission would hold your hand on other procedures but leave the translation and any mention of it out of the caption

Stupid "save feature" in the mission never works. (I wonder what that is about, says mission is saved at a the tanker stage but I never spawn there). Its a shame cause the thing is freaking 3 hr trip each time making testing the specific coordinates super hard and tedious.

Fang

Thank you all for your replies!

Sorry I'm a little confused, could I get a rundown of the recommendation/s?

How should I enter it? Is my elevation off too?

In the Raven 1 campaign you receive coordinates for the second target and it displays in a caption on screen. The reason why I mention this is the mission tends to spell out exactly what to do in case of confusion and I am surprised if they are giving numbers that need translation. Could be right tho. Its been a while since I had to translate coordinates for the Hornet so I honestly can't remember. Gonna have to Grim Reaper it if thats what you guys think, I just find it odd that the mission would hold your hand on other procedures but leave the translation and any mention of it out of the caption

Stupid "save feature" in the mission never works. (I wonder what that is about, says mission is saved at a the tanker stage but I never spawn there). Its a shame cause the thing is freaking 3 hr trip each time making testing the specific coordinates super hard and tedious.

Fang

You don't. PP JDAM takes the extra two digits regardless of the HSI>AC option. If 1' is 6000 feet (or less) then .01' is 60 feet . 0.0001' is 0.6 feet.

Thank you all for your replies!

Sorry I'm a little confused, could I get a rundown of the recommendation/s?

How should I enter it? Is my elevation off too?

In the Raven 1 campaign you receive coordinates for the second target and it displays in a caption on screen. The reason why I mention this is the mission tends to spell out exactly what to do in case of confusion and I am surprised if they are giving numbers that need translation. Could be right tho. Its been a while since I had to translate coordinates for the Hornet so I honestly can't remember. Gonna have to Grim Reaper it if thats what you guys think, I just find it odd that the mission would hold your hand on other procedures but leave the translation and any mention of it out of the caption

Stupid "save feature" in the mission never works. (I wonder what that is about, says mission is saved at a the tanker stage but I never spawn there). Its a shame cause the thing is freaking 3 hr trip each time making testing the specific coordinates super hard and tedious.

Fang

Thank you all for your replies!

Sorry I'm a little confused, could I get a rundown of the recommendation/s?

How should I enter it?

It's probably better to ask such question in Hornet section of the forum I think.

If I remember correctly (as I finished this mission a while ago), JTAC provides you imprecise coordinates in the format DD:MM:SS (while JDAM/JSOW requires precise coordinates), if what I wrote from his 9-line is correct it was: N303004, E474804 elevation: 101 feet. So what I did is for some waypoint that wasn't part of my flight sequence (one that didn't have coordinates entered), say WP 10:

1. I went to the DATA page

2. Proceed to A/C subpage

3. Changed Lat/Long option at the bottom right from LATLN DCML to LATLN SEC.

4. Switched to the WYPT subpage, made sure that PRECISE option at the bottom is unboxed

5. Entered coordinates provided by JTAC in format DD:MM:SS (imprecise) for WP10 using UFC as well as elevation in feet.

6. On the HSI selected WP 10 and boxed WPDSG - this allowed me to point TGP to the area of the target

7. Then I just found required target (building - enemy stronghold) from the description with my FLIR and passed precise coordinates with TDC depress to the JDAM in TOO mode.

8. Hit the target with no issues

Gonna have to Grim Reaper it if thats what you guys think

There are couple of RedKite videos that describe difference and conversion between LATLN DCML / LATLN SEC and PRECISE option that you may find useful:

Stupid "save feature" in the mission never works. (I wonder what that is about, says mission is saved at a the tanker stage but I never spawn there).

IMO it's better to read/ask in the section of the forum dedicated to Raven One campaign - there's a lot of additional information there. There were some workaround for problem with saving IIRC (separate mission with name ending with 3a or something similar).

How should I enter it?

In the Raven 1 campaign you receive coordinates for the second target and it displays in a caption on screen. The reason why I mention this is the mission tends to spell out exactly what to do in case of confusion and I am surprised if they are giving numbers that need translation.

I don't know the mission specifically but if you want to pre-plan JDAM:

STORES>J-82

JDAM DSPLY

MSN

TGT UFC

UFC POSN

UFC LAT

2-1-2-3-4-5-6-ENT

7-8-END

UFC LON

6-1-2-3-4-5-6-ENT

7-8-ENT

TGT UFC (x2)

UFC ELEV

UFC FEET

1-2-3-4-ENT

After that the "PP1" will not be crossed out as this supplies the minimum amount of info for a valid mission. This will attempt to drop a bomb on N 12° 34' 45.78'' E 12° 34' 56.78'' 1234 FT. Obviously enter different numbers as your mission requires.

To emphasize the format that is 12 degrees, 34 minutes, 56 seconds and 78 hundredths of a second. If the format displayed on this hint was N 12° 34.5678' then you'd have to translate (34.5678' is 34' and 34.07''). That is because 34.07/60.00=0.5678. I'm guessing the mission isn't going to be mean to you though but pay attention to the ° ' and " symbols.

I don't know the mission specifically but if you want to pre-plan JDAM:

STORES>J-82

JDAM DSPLY

MSN

TGT UFC

UFC POSN

UFC LAT

2-1-2-3-4-5-6-ENT

7-8-END

UFC LON

6-1-2-3-4-5-6-ENT

7-8-ENT

TGT UFC (x2)

UFC ELEV

UFC FEET

1-2-3-4-ENT

Thank you all so much for the replies I hope yoiu know how appreciative I am. SO made a vid today to upload and of course Youtube promptly lost it. (How is it that Youtube, a video streaming service is vastly outdone by simple Facebook live?). Anyway. Youtube is a joke these days... I dsigress.

So today ground forces called out the coordinates again, "N30 30 04" same format easting, and I inputted N 30 30 04 Enter 00 Enter. After putting in elevation I got a drop diamond and the appropriate symbology but the bomb missed the complex by 20-100 feet (max) too far and to the right. It was close, so I do not know if this is still the wrong way or it is elevation (The elevation call I believe was 010 which I marked as 10 feet) but I am getting closer

Literally lol

Fang

It's probably better to ask such question in Hornet section of the forum I think.

 

If I remember correctly (as I finished this mission a while ago), JTAC provides you imprecise coordinates in the format DD:MM:SS (while JDAM/JSOW requires precise coordinates), if what I wrote from his 9-line is correct it was: N303004, E474804 elevation: 101 feet. So what I did is for some waypoint that wasn't part of my flight sequence (one that ...

I still cannot get the bombs to hit. I tried inputting the info every which way. It only takes the data one way and every time it misses the target hitting the same spot. I AM SO SIIIIICK of this mission POS mission. I'm just chucking 2 and a half hours off my life in the trash each time. If they are gonna make a save feature than MAKE IT WORK! Otherwise allow us someway to get to the objective to practice if it doesn't work! I thought the stupid guy said it was 010 for elevation. Thats my only other guess but at this point... it will be ANOTHER 2 hours, whenever I can find the time, to try 100 instead of 10 ft elevation.

SOMEONE WHO HAS DONE THIS MISSION PLEASE TELL ME IN IDIOT FORM NUMBER BY NUMBER HOW TO ENTER THIS FREAKN DATA.

Please feel free to watch me be a buffoon trying to hit this damn thing here if you like;

Its the full vid you can ff to the last 25 minutes if you get curious.

It's not fair that you are getting coordinates without the symbols that make the digits mean anything. "North 30 30 04" doesn't mean anything. 30 what? Feet degrees meters pies? They could easily mean 30 degrees 30 minutes 04 seconds or 30 degrees 30.04 minutes and it's really a coin toss which they mean. They probably mean the former and you got lucky that both interpretations pointed the FLIR near enough to the building to visually ID it. No matter you see the target through FLIR so however you got there is not important.

The next step where you're taking coordinates off the FLIR page and typing them in PP which is a little silly. I would just TOO that. The FLIR is already pointed at the target and can supply the JDAM with that point directly without typing in anything. However what you're attempting, typing PP data after reading FLIR, is perfectly possible so let's look into how to do it the right way.

@1:10:05 you press enter too soon. The jet wants six digits in this situation. Notice the N__°30'30. displayed. You wanted N30°30'04. then ENT and then whatever comes to the right of the decimal point, which might as well be .00 since your FLIR numbers aren't so precise. The ° ' and ₀ symbols on the UFC are not placed accidentally.

@1:10:20 Good first step but you have to enter something for the last two digits or nothing is entered (you can see the longitude line is blank on the left DDI). Seeing on the STORES page N 0° 30' 30.04", BLANK, 10 FT should instantly tell you something's very wrong. The target is not 30 miles north of the equator!

@1:11:20 You're still struggling with the fact that you need to enter eight digits and FLIR is only showing you six. It's like FLIR is showing you have $999999 and you have to enter $999999.00 into the JDAM. FLIR is showing you dollars and JDAM wants the amount exact to the penny.

@1:15:30 You have a N30 30 00 04 when you wanted a N30 30 04 00 which is wrong but close. The latitude is off about 3000 miles though. Ah OK you make the same mistake E47 40 00 04 instead of E47 40 04 00 a minute later, close but still wrong.

@1:16:10 You finish entering a set of valid coordinates, L/L and elevation. They aren't correct but it's valid so "PP1" loses its X mark. The thing that's still crossed out at 1:16:39 is the" TOT PP" which is time on target, an optional parameter. You could launch a valid JDAM mission as soon as "PP1" at the top left corner loses its X.

Now what's going to annoy you, even if you did enter the digits is the normal order from most to least significant digit it still wouldn't have been correct and here's why. You have to pay attention to the symbols in the format of the coordinate. N 30°30.04' means something and N 30°30'04''means something entirely different. The ° . ' and " symbols are critical.

Let's look at the FLIR and JDAM pages carefully. The coordinates shown in the upper right corner are N 30°30.04' / E 47°40.04' / 10 FT. Yes there are numbers 30 30 04 but what and where are the symbols?

N 30°30.04' or identically N 30°30.0400'

Take @1:17:51 where you enter this plus two extra zeroes to the JDAM: N-3-0-30-04-ENT-00-ENT. What displays on the STORES page?

N 30°30' 4.00"

This is a problem. You wanted to enter N 30°30.0400' but you got N 30°30'04.00". These are not the same thing. 30.0400 minutes is not the same thing as 30 minutes and 04.00 seconds. 30.0400' = 30'02.40".

The correct entry for N 30°30.0400' / E 47°40.0400' is:

N-3-0-3-0-0-2-ENT-4-0-ENT

E-4-7-4-0-0-2-ENT-4-0-ENT

The former is in format DD°MM.MMMM' and the latter is in format DD°MM'SS.SS". The numbers aren't the same in the same way on a clock 30.5 minutes isn't 30 minutes and 50 seconds.