Early Warning Radar

I have already brought this up before. As a mission designer and player I am desperately waiting for some improvements to ground based Early Warning Radar. Since WWII, ground based radar has been instrumental for command and control of air warfare and even with the introduction of AWACS it remains important for many nations today. Unfortunately in DCS many aircraft do not even have access to this function.

1. The Blue coalition is unable to use EWR in game, even if the coalition is assigned a (Russian) EWR unit. Apparently this is because EWR radio only works with the Russian numerical callsigns. This excludes a large number of western aircraft from external radar information, such as the Spitfire, the Sabre, the Viggen etc. This is probably relatively easy to fix and should be a priority in my opinion.

2. With the advent of naval aircraft in DCS, the inability of ships to provide radar early warning is getting apparent. This currently affects the Harrier (Tarawa) and the Su-33 (Kuznetsov). In the future also the US carriers should be able to provide radar early warning for Hornets and Tomcats (for situations when no Hawkeye is available). In fact every ship equipped with an air search radar and designated to do so should by able to provide radar early warning to aircraft (Radar Picket, Air Warfare Commander). Applying existing technology currently used in DCS, this should be relatively easy to implement as well.

3. Even if it is not as important as the pure EWR functionality itself, it would be nice if some proper western radar units would be implemented instead of having to use Russian units for the blue coalition.

4. Ultimately it would be highly desirable if the current EWR/AWACS functionality itself would be upgraded. Right now it only provides warning and no command and control. It can be used to run an intercept, but only in light situations and against the enemy closest to you. If there are multiple friendly and enemy groups simultaneously, everything quickly falls apart in chaos. Ultimately EWR (GCI) and AWACS should be able to exercise command and control over suitably tasked aircraft (Interceptors, CAP), by commanding available aircraft (both players and AI) against specific targets and tightly controlling the intercept by giving vectors. This would be very useful for many of the aircraft in DCS and for some even constitutes the primary combat application (Sabre, MiG-15, MiG-19, MiG-21).

Agree 100%

+1

+1

+1

i totally agree.

additionaly i want to suggest, that it should be possible to assign a "EWR" task to every single unit/group regardless of type.

A unit without a radar would of course be extremely limited in it's detection range. Furthermore the tasking should include an option, how fast the unit could update to "command and control". Modern, datalinked unit could be set to "real time" to simulate it being directly linked to "comand and control" (like the EWR/AWACS we have now), generic, modern ground forces could be set to "normal" so updates from them would not be realtime, as they would be relayed via voice-com. A "slow" update could be set for unit, without direct access to HQ radio channels, or WWII units etc....

With this you could easily set up a realistic scneario where even simple ground troops could relay the presence of enemy aircraft in a general area.

The EWR/AWACS logic would nee a little rework for that to work, as it would need to work with "patchy", slow updating or unprecise information.

But i think it could greatly improve gameplay, especially for lower-tech battlespaces, where you could maybe fool enemy CAPs in heading the wrong way by hiding and changing vector in the right moment...

I also agree; the purpose of Combined Arms was to coordinate and experience a war from the ground; well, this option will introduce the possibility of a chain of command...

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Yes yes and absolutely yes!

Every single one of your ideas is great. As for AEW aircraft/EWR it would be brilliant if these could be player operated.

As for callsigns (numerical etc) we should be able to be flexible with callsigns giving either coalition either a name or a number (callsigns really need expansion)

+1

Once the basic issue with Blue EWR is rectified, it would be nice if the radar unit and the unit in radio contact with aircraft could be separated. E.g. Multiple radars could be linked to a single agency that combines the radar picture and talks with aircraft. This could be further enhanced with relay stations that can linked between radars and control centers. This way, extensive EWR and GCI nets could be set up.

+1 agreed/

Yup, absolutely!

+1000

+1 :thumbup:

+1 for me as well.

+1

+1

This is very much needed. AWACS/radar upgrades to allow them to control other forces, both automatically via AI and perhaps manually with detailed tasks and trigger zones in the ME would greatly enhance the fidelity of DCS.

I also agree with giving lesser command/reporting tasks to all units. When I fly the F-5 I like to pair it with F-4 AI some times, but there is virtually no coordination between me the F-4 flight. The F-4's will only announce what they intend to attack and go off on their own from there. It would be great if they provided updates to me in the F-5 with my much shorter range radar. It would also be nice to be able to tell them what targets I am attacking so that they don't focus on those aircraft.

MBot - Absolute agree!

Dear ED,

It would be great if you could add functional ground EWR system to the Western countries. For instance : Swedish-GIRAFFE or American - SCR-270 (WWII).

THX! :-)

Up !!!

An improvement of the EWR/AWACS should be one of the priorities.

In the latest Weekend News, it is possible to read:

Radio Communications

 

The biggest radio communications task are the aircraft carrier communications that includes CASE I, CASE II, and CASE III for departure, marshal, approach, and the Landing Signal Officer (LSO). Once this massive task is complete, we will move on to an overhaul of the airbase radio communications.

In my opinion, even though it is true that the airbase radio communications aren't perfect, they have all the basic functionalities one would expect (startup clearance, taxi clearance, takeoff clearance, approach clearance, landing clearance, handover from approach to tower...).

Improving the EWR / AWACS would be more profitable, especially for units with limited / no radar (Mig-21bis, Mig-15bis, ...).

The ability to assign some tasks like "this flight must destroy this target in priority, if it is destroyed it should engage this target" would allow a better overall experience.

With some more programming it would even be nice to be able to set some broader objectives like "this aircraft / ground unit / ship" must survive, and let the AWACS give vectors to intercept the biggest threat for the unit to protect (closest one, most dangerous one in terms of weapons...), with the possibility to give different vectors to different units based on their respective location in relation to the enemy. (I'm not asking that much even though some degree of artificial intelligence behind the AWACS / EWR would be really nice).

I don't like having to guess "where is the AWACS sending me, is it the target for my mission or is it another enemy unit for which I'm going to waste my ammo / fuel / time in order to fail the mission in the end ?

It would also make the missions more immersive and realistic.

+++++1111111

+1

YES please

AWESOME !! YES

+1

support this 110%

yes - absolutely

needed

#EDplease