F/A-18 Using the Velcocity Vector(VV) to Target Lock and Shoot an AGM-65F

[Bones]

That sounds like it would make sense...basically the reverse procedure of what I am doing.

I will give that a try tonight. I still have to try the GBU on the ATRK and PTRK and also the JHMCS.

We missed you last night.

v6,
boNes

[Bones]

I think I have an answer:

Me:

So how do I get the Maverick to follow a target I have in PTRK? If I TDC depress in the TPOD, it goes to Target Offset Mode, I don't think it designates then. If I can't get the target in PTRK to designate, I don't see the point of PTRK except maybe for dropping a laser guided bomb. What am I missing?

Answer:

You don't. The Hornet doesn't have this capability, that the Mav seeker follows along the TGP, like in the F-16 or A-10C. With the Hornet the Mav can only be slewed to a fixed designated point. That's also true for all other weapons, like when you drop bombs in CCRP. You need to manually designate a fixed target point to get CCRP steering indications on the HUD. The Hornet doesn't permanently generate a SPI (Sensor Point of Interest) like the F-16 or A-10C do.
That doesn't make PTRK useless, as it's still very helpful to automatically keep track of a moving target and can also be used to guide LGBs on to the target as you said (well, if the target isn't going too fast, otherwise you should lead the target manually).

v6,
boNes

[Trichome]

Sounds like you got a pretty solid answer....

Question... Seeing as he mentioned "tracking" the target would a Laser MAV work in this situation by laser designating with the TPOD while in PTRK. My thinking is the MAV would follow the laser to the targets it's tracking....

[Bones]

I've fired many a MAVE at a moving target with PTRK and it worked fine everytime.

v6,
boNes

[Bones]

VIDeo I made specifically to test whether PTRK designates for the MAV and the MAV tracks it continuously:

WIthout TDC depress:


With TDC depress:


Without TDC depress the Maverick went to the WPDSG, or was just off. With TDS depress it looked to the last point where the TDC depress was done, and hopefully finds a target passing there at the time.

So it seems more and more that the Maverick only tracks the last point of designation whether it be the WPDSG or the TDC depress. If that point happens to be near a target after it moved on past that point it might still pick it up and lock it giving the illusion that it actually locked the target from the get go. You will see when I TDC depress a point, the Maverick looks at that point that the target already passed, but then snaps to the target a split second later.

AFter the test with TDC depress, I stopped the video but went back and tried it again. I targetted the lead tank in the same way with the SA-15 bringing up the rear in a single column coming toward me. Again the MAV looked at the point I TDC depressed and it was a point that thelead tank had already passed. I got a lock with the Mav anyway but this time when it hit the target, it hit the SA-15. So the lead tank had passed the TDC depress point, but as the column rolled through it, the SA-15 is the one that happened to get locked at that point.

So again my conclusion is that the Maverick looks at the last designated point and that PTRK and ATRK,though locked on the target, the MAverick will not continuously look at the PTRK or ATRK target, but rather the point that was TDC depressed.

v6,
boNes

[Bones]

Updates on this.

I have found that when using ATRK and PTRK, it doesn't matter if you TDC depress or not. The Maverick will, when switched from TPOD to MAV page, snap to the last place the TPOD was looking when you switched (if uncaged of course). Again, if that point is close enough to a target, the Maverick might snap to it and catch it, but otherwise, you have to try again or slew the Maverick to it.

My buddy Recluse whom some of you may remember ran some tests of the same nature but with GMT rather than the TPOD. I tried it the same way and found that nature to be the same. Everytime I locked the target with GMT, the maverick would slew right to that point and stay there. So though I was still tracking the target in GMT, the Maverick was still looking at that point that the target had already moved on from. You can tell also because in the HUD, you can see the diamond of the vehicle locked on in GMT, and the triangle of the Maverick gets further and further away from it as the target moves on. Again, if you manually slew the Maverick over, or if you snap back to GMT then back to the Maverick and it happens to be close enough to see the target's IR signature, then the Maverick will lock on and fire to good effect.

I realize I hijacked this thread since it was supposed to be about using the VV, but I think this is also very important to take note of. Maybe I should cut and paste this into its own thread?

v6,
boNes