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MiG-29A TWS mode. What's it used for?


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From my understanding and in the training videos, TWS mode allows me to track 2 different targets simultaneously via radar lock. As far as Russian aircraft and this mode, all I've seen is people mention the R-77 on the MiG-29S model. Regardless of that though, I've noticed the mode is still there under the BVR mode in the A model while flying it. Could anyone enlighten me as to what it would be used for on the A model if it can't be loaded (to my knowledge) with the R-77?

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From my understanding and in the training videos, TWS mode allows me to track 2 different targets simultaneously via radar lock. As far as Russian aircraft and this mode, all I've seen is people mention the R-77 on the MiG-29S model. Regardless of that though, I've noticed the mode is still there under the BVR mode in the A model while flying it. Could anyone enlighten me as to what it would be used for on the A model if it can't be loaded (to my knowledge) with the R-77?

 

 

Edited: deleted as not relevant


Edited by fitness88
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The TWS mode, in the MiG-29A as in the Su-27 and Su-33 (ie. non Fox 3 capable aircrafts), may be used, as GGTharos said, to enhance situational awareness.

 

In case you do not have friendly EWR/AWACS to feed your datalink with bogeys' track (ie. heading), TWS mode allows you to have this information. Whenever TWS detects a bogey, a symbol will appear on the HDD (Head Down Display), which will allow you to visualize its range and heading - and that can be really useful !

 

Unfortunately, that is pretty much all it does. It does not (very unfortunately) show altitude, or airspeed, or any other info that the STT is capable of measuring.

 

Bottomline: can be handy to keep track of the bogeys' headings/aspects when datalink is unavailable (unfortunately, friendly fighers don't datalink between them)

 

EDIT: The manual quoted refers probably to the F-15C TWS, which indeed show altitude. Russian TWS do not.

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From my understanding and in the training videos, TWS mode allows me to track 2 different targets simultaneously via radar lock. As far as Russian aircraft and this mode, all I've seen is people mention the R-77 on the MiG-29S model. Regardless of that though, I've noticed the mode is still there under the BVR mode in the A model while flying it. Could anyone enlighten me as to what it would be used for on the A model if it can't be loaded (to my knowledge) with the R-77?

 

The MiG-29 basically has three different ways of conducting radar target detection/tracking/engagement.

 

Manual - using search modes the pilot locates contacts and picks a target of choice based on basic information on bearing/range. When the target would appear to be within tracking range, the pilot manually designates it at which point the radar shifts to STT mode and starts tracking it in order to build a firing solution for the missile and support it after launch.

 

Remote assistance - target information is transmitted to the radar from a ground based network(GCI) which assists the pilot in locating relevant contacts by showing the information on the HUD.

 

System assistance - using SNP(TWS) mode the radar scans a selected sector, displays up to 10 of the nearest contatcs and tracks them - based on this tracking data the system automatically identifies the most appropriate target for engagement, computes a firing solution and switches to STT only when it determines that the target falls within missile launch range.

 

Although both the GCI and SNP methods provide increased situational awareness, the advantage has more to do with easing pilot workload and not alerting the target prematurely.

JJ

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It's used for situational awareness.

MiG-29 9.12/13 do not have tactical display. HDD has only HUD duplicate mode. So it is like Alfa said.

"Я ошеломлён, но думаю об этом другими словами", - некий гражданин

Ноет котик, ноет кротик,



Ноет в небе самолетик,

Ноют клумбы и кусты -

Ноют все. Поной и ты.

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Do you mean in Flaming Cliffs 3 ? Because I'm pretty sure we're not talking about real-life here

 

Pajeezy asked about the purpose of the MiG-29 TWS mode - you cannot answer that question without referring to the real aircraft.

 

The mode does gather all the tactical information that could provide situational awareness, but like ФрогФут said, the real MiG-29 doesn't have an associated tactical "map"(on HDD) to display it to the pilot - i.e. the system keeps the information "under the hood" and only displays the final result of its internal threat analysis on the HUD(and replicates it on the HDD).

 

The real Su-27 and Su-33 do have such a tactical display function on the HDD, so for these the TWS mode does have a situational awareness aspect as GG suggested.

 

The problem is that while FC3's depiction of the Russian TWS mode itself is good, some aspects of the basic radar code(such as the HDD functionality) are leftovers from previous iterations of the sim(Flanker and Lock-on) and shared by the MiG-29 and Su-27/33.

JJ

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