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pcoud

Jun 12, 2018 @ 8:43am

SAM avoidance

Hi guys,
I'm rather new to DCS, bought FC3 but only flew the Su25T so far, trying to do all the training missions + playing with the mission editor. I'm currently practising on SEAD, I have a lot of questions, and would appreciate some help on the following ones (my questions are only about radar guided sams at this point, not IR ones):
1) how do you react once a sam has been fired on you? Do you try to get and keep visual contact? Am I correct saying that you won't see the missile on the Su25T SPO (my understanding is that the SPO "sees" the search and tracking radars of the sam site, but not the sams themselves after they've been launched). Do you try to position yourself with a 90° angle relative to the sam site? Do you dive (trying to get the missile to the ground)? After the first manoeuvre, do you escape at very low altitude? Is there a way to know if the launched missile is still after you or not (I never know exactly if the threat is still there or not, so sometimes I think it's over, I start to relax... then die :-)))))))))))) ? I understand you have to use chaffs during this whole phase.
2) I have understood that some sam sites (all?) have two radars, a search radar and a tracking radar. Is destroying one of these radars enough to make the whole site ineffective or are the launchers still able to fire with only the tracking radar or only the search radar?
3) I would very much like to learn and understand more by watching the replays. Is there a way to have a camera view on the launched ennemy missile (the same way than you can follow your own missiles with the F6 key) ?
Thx!

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Showing 1-6 of 6 comments

Delle(DK)

Jun 12, 2018 @ 9:00am

1). If you fly directly towards the sam and it fire at you from your 12 oclock.. Then turn 90 degree left or right and nose down... In general all defence is about making the enemy missile change as much direction as possible during flight.. The more it twist and turn, the more speed the missile looses and the shorter it can fly. The missile will not be able to regain the last speed. When at 90 degree toward the missile drop some chaff it will comfuse the missile.
( in general the missile will fly the fastest after a few seconds, after that it will loose speed, especially if it need to change direction.. Even a small adjustment of the angle will make the missile burn allot of energy... The same happen with Air to air missiles by the way.

2). hard to say.... But yes some sites have only 1 radar and if you destroy this their missiles are useless... But other sites there is a big radar but the units them self are able to use their own radar and track you... However typical i would say kill the large radar or any radar... dont risk your life trying to kill an air defence site, only do that from a distance with missile designed for long range attack on radar. Only the su25T from russia, and harrier and the F18C have this Anti radiation missile to fight radars from a long distance.
(F18c do not yet have this weapon, but in the future it will ).

3). Try and download the software named "tacview" and then you can get allot of information about everything going after each flight.. ( load the saved info from yoru documents folder )
( tip if you host a multiplayer server then you need to when starting up click advanced settings and turn on "record" data. and before you turn off the sever wait example 10 minutes els you might not get all data recorded correctly.

OR you can example after your flight select quit flight in the menu ( or exit or something like that) and then you can review the recording of your flight and press F2 or F5 or something like that and cycle though different units and follow the missile and see what it do.

PS:.. here is a very informative video about missiles and defence against them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-i4eZWD-Nw

Last edited by Delle(DK); Jun 12, 2018 @ 9:04am

Vilab

Jun 12, 2018 @ 9:02am

0) if you expect to be fired upon while on SEAD, keep your Su-25T as light as possible, don t load ECM, don't load rockets, load only the needed anti-radar missiles and 2 R-73, if you can, reduce your amount of fuel.

1) you will be tracked way before any missiles is fired at you, use your SPO to estimate where the ennemy SAM are.

when you are locked, you can switch the SPO mode ( it will then only show you locks and fire guidance, so you won t feel safe when you shouldn't anymore ), and try to get visual on the missile when it is launched.

if you are at medium altitude, dive very hard for the first few seconds after launch, the DCS missile are so dumb that you may be able to make them crash.

if you are already low, go lower.

2) if you take out the search radar, the SAM can still use the tracking radar at visual range and so, fire at you.

3) by pressing F6, you should be able to view any missile, bomb, and rocket on the air, whether it is friendly or ennemy.