Electronic Warfare and Jamming

I think we all know that DCS presently doesnt give us an option for EW and Jamming. Almost everything about these topics is classified which makes a complete simulation impossible.

However I wish ED would implement at least some possiblities to simulate EW and Jamming at least roughly.

There are some nice scripts like Skynet IADS or the ARM Defense script that can simulate at least the suppression of enemy radars by HARMs (Radar turns off with a certain probability if a HARM is fired).

In regards to simulate jamming there are a few options missing in the ME and also for scripting.

At this point you can only make a whole group invisible to the sensors of all enemy units.

To simulate successfull jamming we would need an option to make a single unit invisible to the sensors of a specific single enemy unit.

This would enable huge possibilities to simulate part of EW.

Then we would also need at least ai growlers or prowlers.

Example : You have a growler with its jammer on and you have a friendly unit that is right inline between the growler and an enemy radar.

Now we could set this specific aircraft invisible to this specific radar , as long as it is inline with the growler and the jammer is on.

This would also open so many options to create nice ccordinated Multiplayer missions.

"You have a growler with its jammer on and you have a friendly unit that is right inline between the growler and an enemy radar."

Now you both can't see shed

Definetely i'd love to see some kind of simplistic EW simulated in game. Even if its just a probabilistic percentage of loosing lock, inability to use TWS, or the possibility to jam a fox 3 missile (with a certain random percentage). Anything a bit more complex than a basic noise jammer where you have a burnthrough distance.

I understand that this is very difficult to implement, and could be very chaotic if done wrong, but I hope ED could make iterative small steps towards enhancing the EW environment.

 

Now you both can't see shed

No sir, I believe that's not true.

https://www.fighterpilotpodcast.com/episodes/083-electronic-attack/

I think we all know that DCS presently doesnt give us an option for EW and Jamming.

You're wrong there. DCS does already include EW. Some aircraft in DCS have DECM jammers that can be used. It's very basic, but it's not nothing.

Yes that's true you are right .... I was more refering to the jamming of radar sites like a Growler could do and also effective self protection jammers e.g. for the F/A-18.

Creating a set of new trigger options or tools you could use when scripting like making a specific unit invisible to the sensors for a specific enemy unit would just open up many many options to at least create missions and scripts that can roughly simulate pieces of EW

(at this point you can only set a whole group invisible to the sensors of all enemy units, which is a completely different thing)

Yes that's true you are right .... I was more refering to the jamming of radar sites like a Growler could do and also effective self protection jammers e.g. for the F/A-18.

So offensive jamming (OECM) or Electronic Attack (EA). Gotcha :thumbup:

That is indeed totally missing in DCS :(

Definetely i'd love to see some kind of simplistic EW simulated in game. Even if its just a probabilistic percentage of loosing lock, inability to use TWS, or the possibility to jam a fox 3 missile (with a certain random percentage). Anything a bit more complex than a basic noise jammer where you have a burnthrough distance.

 

I understand that this is very difficult to implement, and could be very chaotic if done wrong, but I hope ED could make iterative small steps towards enhancing the EW environment.

I think a lot of people will not appreciate such a system based on random possibility. You cant really plan around a mission if its based on random numbers. Imagine a virtual squadron taking 2 hours to prepare a mission only for it to fail because the numbers did not go their way whilest on the other hand some random kid on an airquake server might be able to defeat an entire SAM site because he was lucky.

And I can already see the 'bug reports' coming about the Hornet radar 'not working', 'not locking', or 'randomly loosing lock' :lol:

No sir, I believe that's not true.

 

 

https://www.fighterpilotpodcast.com/episodes/083-electronic-attack/

It would only be the case if you are operating on the same frequency.

An EA aircraft like a Growler will generally try to get in line with the aircraft it is protecting and the respective radar to be affective.

This episode of the fighter pilot podcast gives a really nice general overview of how it is done :

(Info about alignment at ~16mins and ~26mins)

The whole episode is really cool :thumbup:

This video is also really interesting:

(jamming using false signals is explained at 20mins in the video)

I would love to see EW in DCS. And I believe ED is working on something form what I heard in one of their interviews.

The function Spearzone mentioned would also be helpful for scripting in general. e.g. prevent a sam from firing at a certain target, according to a mission script. And those who want could use it so simulate jamming in a basic way.

I would love to see EW in DCS. And I believe ED is working on something form what I heard in one of their interviews.

Yes, they were (are?) searching for an EW specialist:

We are looking for an EW specialist with knowledge of C ++

Electronic warfare and dynamic campaign are two branches DCS is lacking the most.

Yes, they were (are?) searching for an EW specialist:

If you translate the adjacent posts, you might find that that remark was a joke

Once again back to the main topic :

Until one day some kind of EW simulation is implemented by ED it would be very helpful if they could provide us some new trigger functions in the editor to enable mission designers or scripters to create missions with a rough simulation of EW. For instance you could fly coordinated missions with strikers and Electronic attack aircraft.

I would think of it for example like this :

Let's say you have a striker aircraft "X" who should be protected by an EA aircraft "Y" and you have a ground based threat with a radar "Z".

If you had the function unit X invisible to unit Z and a function if units are positioned inside a single "cone" you could do some nice scripting or mission editing with it.

EA aircraft has the jammer pod turned on and X is positioned inline between Radar Z and EA aircrfaft Y ---->>>> set aircraft X invisible to radar Z (unless inside a certain range from radar z to simulate burnthrough).

It's a simple function but would enable us to do a bunch of nice scripts for EW.

The problem with the currently available functions for scripting or in the ME is that you can only set a group as invisible , which means that all aircraft of this group will be invisible to the sensors of all enemy units. For EW simulation this function is useless.

With the new requested function you could also program some airborne self defense jammer scripts that would function as a trackbreaker.