No RHAW Warning....

[Lt. James Cater 62]

I looked for mention of this but couldn't find it.

 

 

I thought of making a SAM map for WOE like the one i did for WOV a few months ago. Naturally, i needed a nice plane to do it in and so decided on an RA5.

 

I took off and flew a route that ive done many times before. One thing i thought strange was that not a single radar was coming up on the cockpit RHAW despite knowing that several radars had to have been tracking the Vigilante. As i came near where i knew two SA6 sites were at i thought it really strange that i had no activity at all.

 

Sure enough, the sky suddenly exploded at that was all she wrote. As it turned out, both SA6s and an SA2 site fired at me. Yet the whole time i never had a hint i was being tracked. It happend before too. I was shot down in an F-4 with zero warning i was being tracked or locked. All i knew was that one second i was flying, the next i was done.

 

I know there's a fix for it somewhere but can't find it.

 

Any hints?

 

In the meantime, i'll keep trying with various aircraft that have RHAWs. Sooner or later i'll finish the map and post it here.

[Viper6 3]

Man I thought I was the only one...

[Lt. James Cater 62]

A while ago i took an F-15 up to 50,000ft and went across the river again. This time i was getting radars on the scope.

 

About 5 places i went either over or near enough to have the enemy shoot at me but nothing happend. Playing a hunch, i turned towards an area that had activity but no air base. Sure enough the tracking signals began and i soon got a valid launch at 9.2 miles range. It was an SA-6 and yet again i was curious to see the effects of ECM on it so i didn't evade and continued straight and level. I was carrying two pods and thet did have a noticible effect as no fewer than 4 missles were badly effected but since a SA6 battery fires so quickly i knew it was a done deal.

 

I now know what plane and tactics i'm going to use to do the job with the fewest losses possible. I'll continue tommorrow afternoon.

[Viper6 3]

A while ago i took an F-15 up to 50,000ft and went across the river again. This time i was getting radars on the scope.

 

About 5 places i went either over or near enough to have the enemy shoot at me but nothing happend. Playing a hunch, i turned towards an area that had activity but no air base. Sure enough the tracking signals began and i soon got a valid launch at 9.2 miles range. It was an SA-6 and yet again i was curious to see the effects of ECM on it so i didn't evade and continued straight and level. I was carrying two pods and thet did have a noticible effect as no fewer than 4 missles were badly effected but since a SA6 battery fires so quickly i knew it was a done deal.

 

I now know what plane and tactics i'm going to use to do the job with the fewest losses possible. I'll continue tommorrow afternoon.

Roger that! looking forward to your report!

[+EricJ 3,933]

Most of the time I run ECM whenever I get in the known area of SAMs, and has helped on occasion from enemy aircraft. So I don't fly high either, as (I think) minimum height is used or accounted for in these sims. I know I used that alot in LOMAC to great effect.

[TX3RN0BILL 3]

Most of the time I run ECM whenever I get in the known area of SAMs, and has helped on occasion from enemy aircraft. So I don't fly high either, as (I think) minimum height is used or accounted for in these sims. I know I used that alot in LOMAC to great effect.

 

I can concur, whenever I'm in a mud-mover and there are... "unfriendlies" out to get me then I just hit the weeds, anything between 10 and 60 meters AGL and somehow they just don't get me...

[macelena 1,070]

About ECMs, i had no real proof about its reliability. I used to fly in and when illuminated,

lighted them up, to disturb. If you activate them sooner than needed, noise will make radars to look after you. I

made this while SEADing to get a track for HARMs, shut off when we picked each other, and loosed ARMs.

 

It is just like splashing in the water: calls attention but hides you. Decide when are you making them work. Personally I

don´t lit them while attacking until being painted.

[+76.IAP-Blackbird 3,544]

I do it the same way like macelena.. I have to press a few more keys than normal but ECM on and chaffs and flares is ok...

[Lt. James Cater 62]

About ECMs, i had no real proof about its reliability. I used to fly in and when illuminated,

lighted them up, to disturb. If you activate them sooner than needed, noise will make radars to look after you. I

made this while SEADing to get a track for HARMs, shut off when we picked each other, and loosed ARMs.

 

It is just like splashing in the water: calls attention but hides you. Decide when are you making them work. Personally I

don´t lit them while attacking until being painted.

 

The moment the first radar begins looking at me is when i turn on ECM. What makes it very important is the decreased performance of SAMs. When you are at altitude, there is no hiding. The only thing that matters is reducing the enemies' ability to kill.

 

A few minutes ago i had a mission where no fewer than 19 SAMs fired at me. On about half of those, ECM made a big difference to my survival.

[coolpilot 2]

I activate the ECM when the radar gets a missile lock on me, it does break the lock sometimes, when it does not work I dive and fly low.

 

EDIT: Forget low flying, an SA-2 has just shot me down while flying 13 meters low with my ECM on.

Edited January 18, 2009 by coolpilot

[Lt. James Cater 62]

I activate the ECM when the radar gets a missile lock on me, it does break the lock sometimes, when it does not work I dive and fly low.

 

EDIT: Forget low flying, an SA-2 has just shot me down while flying 13 meters low with my ECM on.

Going low works about 95% of the time.

 

I've been nailed on the floor myself so i know what you mean. However, a number of recent recce missions i've been doing in WOE leads me to believe that the past SAM engagement was an unusual occurence.

[firehawkordy 34]

As soon as I hear the warning tone I look at the RHWR to get an idea of the fire control radar. I almost never turn on the music until I'm sure the SAM is headed my way. Thats when the jammer comes on and I unload and go for the deck. I then change height and make sharp heading changes, that keeps me alive 95% of the time. Remember, chaff and flares only work on a particular type of seeker, always hit both, and pray.

[Rodent 0]

If I get a lock on warning I use chaff, if not I use flares. I use both if I am painted but unsure of what is being fired. It doesn't help much to use only chaff if someone paints you with their radar but fires a heatseeker. You can often guess what is being fired though. If its long enough range it is probably not a heatseeker, and if you don't get a warning it is probably not radar guided.