oldcrusty Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 Since I like to see what I'm shooting at and be able to reject or switch targets quickly, the FLIR has to be the sensor of choice. It's not easy to find a moving target at a 'standoff' range though... here comes GMT radar mode. It filters out everything but the targets you're looking for , so finding and acquiring a mover takes about 2 secs. Now, if we could force the priority to FLIR... all we have to do is turn away from the target so it barely disappears from the radar page. On the same DDI, bring on the FLIR. It should already be on the target and have full priority. Well, I have to make the best of what we have currently... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
falcon_120 Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 Not tried but i can think of a different way. 1-Detect the target and track it throught GMT 2-Bring up FLIR 3-Designate and create a markpoint 4-Now you can silence the radar and use the markpoint to slave the flir to it, it should be easy to find the target from the markpoint. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldcrusty Posted January 30, 2021 Author Share Posted January 30, 2021 (edited) 9 hours ago, falcon_120 said: Not tried but i can think of a different way. 1-Detect the target and track it throught GMT 2-Bring up FLIR 3-Designate and create a markpoint 4-Now you can silence the radar and use the markpoint to slave the flir to it, it should be easy to find the target from the markpoint. Sure, just make sure you do it fairly quick. Even at 40 miles/h the movers can get out of your view in cluttered terrain. Hey, here's another way, tried it already: Spot the the mover's blip on GMT page. Move the cursor over it and press TDC. You'll see a FTT (?) cross. Go to FLIR and you should be able to spot it. Edited January 31, 2021 by Gripes323 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Santi871 Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 Looking at this made me realize there's a bug: breaking out of FTT or GMTT with sensor control switch (not undesignate) should not undesignate. So it should be possible to break radar track while the FLIR stays at the last track point. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldcrusty Posted February 22, 2021 Author Share Posted February 22, 2021 (edited) The question was raised in the 'duplicate' thread with the same title about the purpose of this whole 'trick'. First of all, it an easy way to deal with the current mech. of the sensor fusion Let's say I'm at 40nm from a moving column of tanks (typical DCS spacing between them). Very unlikely to pick them up with FLIR (on RDDI) so I look for them on GMT page (LDDI). Lock'em up. Switch TDC to FLIR. The radar is still driving the lock. In my previous attempts, whenever I tried to move the cursor on FLIR to take control and make it ground stabilized but it snapped back to the radar locked target. The radar could be targeting any of the tanks. In this case it locked on #3. Eventually I was able to force the FLIR priority by moving the cursor further away from the radar tracked target and locking it on the ground nearby. Once I did, I was able to PTRK any of the vehicles, of course when close enough for the FLIR. In the vid I posted above I showed an alternate way (easy way) of making the radar release the target to the FLIR. It could be worth noting also, my TDC is not configured 'realistic' in DCS setup so that could have contributed to inability to drag and lock the cursor away from the radar designated target on FLIR. Another important point is what Santi871 said in the post above. Now, if we're only dealing with one mover or a stationary target and just want to VID on FLIR... there's no need to undesignate the GMT track. Just wait for in-range, switch the radar page to powered Mav and good to go. Even Mav F will track perfectly on a mover handed from radar controlled track... try that with FLIR controlled hand-off Edited February 22, 2021 by Gripes323 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recluse Posted March 6, 2021 Share Posted March 6, 2021 On 1/30/2021 at 7:00 PM, Santi871 said: Looking at this made me realize there's a bug: breaking out of FTT or GMTT with sensor control switch (not undesignate) should not undesignate. So it should be possible to break radar track while the FLIR stays at the last track point. YES THIS!! Keep the tips coming! I experienced this annoying phenomenon last night. My favorite thing about the SEA mode is picking up the ships which used to be a pain to Point Track especially when you started getting in range of SAM and AAA. I have a practice mission with a Tarantul-3 (Molniya) Corvette. Never fires SAMS but the AAA is devastating if you get too close and too low. (ask me how I know ). Once I point track it with FLIR, I soften it up with some Mavericks, then drop a pair of GBU-12 on it. Getting the point track is often frustrating as I have to get close enough to use VVSLV to get near enough. SEA radar is great...for the AGM-65E and F, but whenever i would try for a GBU drop, I would have to get outside the Radar cone and lose the radar and thus laser lock JUST before Impact. Tried the GRIPES method, but it is harder to find the target again when you have slewed the FLIR far enough away on the featureless ocean. Any ideas? (for translating SEA FTT to FLIR Point Track, that is...) HARPOONS would work, and actually 4 AGM-65F do the job pretty well also, but it would be a generally GOOD THING to conveniently and consistently hand off to the FLIR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldcrusty Posted March 7, 2021 Author Share Posted March 7, 2021 4 hours ago, Recluse said: ...Tried the GRIPES method, but it is harder to find the target again when you have slewed the FLIR far enough away on the featureless ocean. Any ideas? (for translating SEA FTT to FLIR Point Track, that is...) HARPOONS would work, and actually 4 AGM-65F do the job pretty well also, but it would be a generally GOOD THING to conveniently and consistently hand off to the FLIR. Forget attacking heavily armed naval vessels as a singleton. With bombs or Mavs, practice on cargo ships. There are no issues whatsoever handing off Sea tracks to FLIR. Single targets, whether land or sea are easy. Say you're at 25k alt. The radar will gimbal out at around 1.5nm from target. As long as you get a PTRK on FLIR before that you're good. In one of my missions I dropped 4 GBU10's on a cargo ship, PTRK was made at 21nm. Just make sure to re-designate on FLIR once PTRK is successful. Use manual (trigger) lasing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recluse Posted March 7, 2021 Share Posted March 7, 2021 So I'm not sure how you are doing the handoff. Whenever I try it, I get the same issues described above, either the track snaps back to radar track, or if I move the cursor too far off, I can't get back to the little ship in the big ocean. Maybe I'm missing the obvious. And... no I am not going to solo any heavily armed ships. The Corvette's are just dangerous enough to require caution, but pretty safe with enough standoff or altitude. The cargo ships I have seen (default placement on PG map) are all static, so no problem there. It's the movers that make it hard to PTRK when dropping radar lock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldcrusty Posted March 7, 2021 Author Share Posted March 7, 2021 27 minutes ago, Recluse said: So I'm not sure how you are doing the handoff. Whenever I try it, I get the same issues described above, either the track snaps back to radar track, or if I move the cursor too far off, I can't get back to the little ship in the big ocean. Maybe I'm missing the obvious. And... no I am not going to solo any heavily armed ships. The Corvette's are just dangerous enough to require caution, but pretty safe with enough standoff or altitude. The cargo ships I have seen (default placement on PG map) are all static, so no problem there. It's the movers that make it hard to PTRK when dropping radar lock. I used 'Bulk carrier Handy Wind'. I spliced up few clips from the recording. Sorry about cutting out the FLIR view of explosion toward the end... sloppy editting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrReynolds Posted March 7, 2021 Share Posted March 7, 2021 My Way? Radar on left DDI, FLIR on Right. Find target on radar - SCS left to track. FLIR zooms to target SOI to FLIR Lock the target using FLIR Move back to radar Unlock the target (the FLIR however does NOT recentre) Go BACK to the FLIR and tweak and track the target...... It's a hullabaloo, but I keep the radar and FLIR seperate as I have certain DDI buttons programmed on the HOTAS for real HOTAS - not the silly FA-18 MFD button mashing way Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recluse Posted March 7, 2021 Share Posted March 7, 2021 10 hours ago, Gripes323 said: I used 'Bulk carrier Handy Wind'. I spliced up few clips from the recording. Sorry about cutting out the FLIR view of explosion toward the end... sloppy editting Ok thanks, that helps! When I was doing the FLIR "handoff" I was concerned that the HUD Mode still showed RDR, but I see that is expected. I had been losing FLIR track when the Radar Gimballed out, but I couldn't seem to switch to PTRK without dropping the lock completely. Will give it another shot. 5 hours ago, MrReynolds said: My Way? Radar on left DDI, FLIR on Right. Find target on radar - SCS left to track. FLIR zooms to target SOI to FLIR Lock the target using FLIR Move back to radar Unlock the target (the FLIR however does NOT recentre) Go BACK to the FLIR and tweak and track the target...... It's a hullabaloo, but I keep the radar and FLIR seperate as I have certain DDI buttons programmed on the HOTAS for real HOTAS - not the silly FA-18 MFD button mashing way Thanks, this is the way I was trying to do it, I was losing track in the trackless ocean once the target was unlocked. Have to be quicker, I guess. Appreciate the help!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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