Just out of curiosity regarding the real SLAM 84E

[fmedges]

Was the seeker head via the datalink really that bad as it is in DCS? I say beyond 15 it's barely useable. I can't imagine (even though it was a quick process) that the test squadron sent a stand off weapon to the fleet with the seeker head un-useable beyond 15-20 miles. 

[Swift.]

Think about when it was that this weapon was delivered. Seeing even 15 miles would have been mind bogglingly revolutionary. Remember that the DL part of SLAM comes from walleye, a crappy Vietnam era weapon. SLAM retired in the 90s and has been replaced by SLAM-ER, which should be a whole other ball game.

[AvroLanc]

1 hour ago, Swiftwin9s said:

Think about when it was that this weapon was delivered. Seeing even 15 miles would have been mind bogglingly revolutionary. Remember that the DL part of SLAM comes from walleye, a crappy Vietnam era weapon. SLAM retired in the 90s and has been replaced by SLAM-ER, which should be a whole other ball game.

Well maybe. You have to remember that the DL and infrared seeker in our Walleye are very much post Vietnam. Think late 70’s / early 80’s. Vietnam version was TV seeker only and no DL. 

 

Having said that, SLAM was clearly a limited weapon. It had mixed success when employed in Desert Storm and later in Allied Force (Kosovo). Although the datalink range should perhaps be a little better, say 45-50 miles. Otherwise the 54nm max range seems completely superfluous. Similar weapons of the era like AGM-130 used by F-15E had larger turn and run DL guidance. 

[Northstar98]

8 hours ago, fmedges said:

Was the seeker head via the datalink really that bad as it is in DCS? I say beyond 15 it's barely useable. I can't imagine (even though it was a quick process) that the test squadron sent a stand off weapon to the fleet with the seeker head un-useable beyond 15-20 miles. 

 

The seeker comes from a Maverick D if I'm not mistaken, which I think is only good to about ~7 nmi. And as swift said, the D/L comes from the Walleye II ER/DL that we have.

Edited January 6, 2021 by Northstar98

[Rissala]

It forks fine up to 40 nm. Then it becomes "unusable". You do not need a crystal clear image of the target, only the shapes of them.

Pro tip: change the contrast and brightness using the knobs on the MFD the have a clearer image.

[fmedges]

8 hours ago, Rissala said:

It forks fine up to 40 nm. Then it becomes "unusable". You do not need a crystal clear image of the target, only the shapes of them.

Pro tip: change the contrast and brightness using the knobs on the MFD the have a clearer image.

 

How are you getting those ranges? The Second picture is at 30 miles with the missile at my 6 hence me using the aft antenna. The One with the pod is at 16.9 miles.

 

Edited January 7, 2021 by fmedges

[Ryanwtod]

well...it was built out of spare parts lol

[sideshow]

I launch the SLAM around 40-50 miles, but I set the camera to power on at around 10-15 miles from the target.  Even then I don't dare attempt to steer it until it starts it's terminal dive.  By then it's usually diving right the target set by WPDSG or the flir pod.  I don' think the point of the camera is to pick your target out as the missile is flying through the air.