INS fix in war time?

Hello all,

I was wondering which INS fix was used during war time. TACAN fix in enemy zone is not possible, for visual fix, a low level flight is desired to have a good accuracy but not always possible in enemy territory, and the radar fix (a good method in other Aircrafts) seems to be very difficult to use.

What are you using in your missions? Somebody has more info about it? Thank you!

Nobody is doing INS fixes in the missions? XD

I don't think you're correct in your "tacan fix over enemy territory is impossible" assumption

While on caucasus, this may be true, as tacan stations only exist for southern airfields, on PG for example, almost every airfield has a tacan station, that would allow for pretty decent tacan fixes. Keep in mind the further from the station, the less accurate the fix.

As for visual fix, it is rather limited, yes, but when doing CAP, you usually fly over your own coalition's territory, letting you descent and do an accurate fix

If you're stuck at high altitudes over enemy territory, you can try using the lantirn (if you have it). Point it at your waypoint, and press the fix right as the camera swivels around to keep track of the target. That's when you're directly over it.

Lastly, radar fix is not all that useful in most terrains, as it's difficult to map a terrain feature on the DDD. The best way to do a radar fix, is to have a waypoint on a small island somwhere, or an oil rig. Something small over water, that will allow you find it easly with the radar. After you've found it, it's a piece of cake, the problem is really finding it.

I personally most often do visual fixes, as i find tacan and radar fixes to be too inaccurate. Sure, i loose some altitude for a bit to be accurate with vis fix, but it gives you the easiest nav fix, and is pretty damn accurate if done right.

I don't think you're correct in your "tacan fix over enemy territory is impossible" assumption

While on caucasus, this may be true, as tacan stations only exist for southern airfields, on PG for example, almost every airfield has a tacan station, that would allow for pretty decent tacan fixes. Keep in mind the further from the station, the less accurate the fix.

I believe that what Typhoon means with "war time" is because in reality, not in DCS, our own tacans should be normally off as it is an open beacon that also can direct enemy warplanes or, at least, reveal the position of the fleet in case of the carrier tacan.

Reversely, enemy beacons (if compatible with ours) should be normally off also, for the same reasons.

Therefore, in wartime and at least in the front line, I can imagine that we cannot rely on navigation beacons.

Typhoon;4161487']Nobody is doing INS fixes in the missions? XD

IDK if Jester does actually...

I believe that what Typhoon means with "war time" is because in reality, not in DCS, our own tacans should be normally off as it is an open beacon that also can direct enemy warplanes or, at least, reveal the position of the fleet in case of the carrier tacan.

Reversely, enemy beacons (if compatible with ours) should be normally off also, for the same reasons.

 

Therefore, in wartime and at least in the front line, I can imagine that we cannot rely on navigation beacons.

Similarly, enemy beacons that are on cannot be trusted due to "Meaconing," which means that the enemy can tune a VORTAC to the desired channel but put it on a truck and move it elsewhere to confuse or deceive aircrews.

Anyway, the answer to the OP's question is "it depends." The OP already mentioned that a visual fix is best accomplished at low level. A low level drop is where INS accuracy will be most necessary, so this would be something along the flight route, and this is actually where the idea of the IP originated (a known visually identifiable position to update navigation prior to run-in). For high altitude, if your INS is that bad then maybe a high altitude fix, while less accurate, would be an improvement. Also a datalink fix with your wingman would get you within a few hundred feet +/- the wingman's INS drift.

When I flew, the INS usually wouldn't drift more than 1-2 miles over the entire flight. That's generally enough accuracy to get you to where you need to be to do what you need to do.

My preffered method of INS fixes are visual fixes. I only need a highly accurate nav system when doing low level interdiction so visual fixes are the obvious choice.

TACAN fixes can be performed at quite some distance away from the own TACAN station, so they might be a viable option even within enemy territory.

Radar fixes work great on small islands or oil plattforms on the sea (or the static merchant vessels in the DCS Persian Gulf).

IRL you can use both visual and radar methods. Radio-aids, such as GPS or TACAN/RSBN will be unusable due to countermeasures. So, here you can use any method, because nobody will fake GPS signals or completely suppress them. The same is about TACAN/RSBN. As for me, I use only TACAN. But really, usually I use plain radionavigation.