Trouble with Radar Lock

[MeesterHedgehog]

I recently unlocked the Mitsubishi T-2, and I noticed when I try to radar lock, the reticle is a rectangle and goes across my screen to lock what ever it can find. How do I get it to be around the crosshair and not just wherever?

[SpiralRazor]

you cant really....radars has been extremely wonky for years now.

[Jaes]

Radar isn't as simple as pressing the "Lock" key on your control surface.

There are a multitude of factors that can affect your ability to lock a target and it varies depending on the radar system you're using. However, I'll go over the most reliable method to obtaining lock that's applicable to any airborne radar based system.

If you want to obtain a reliable lock, you must learn how to manipulate your radar scan arcs. All radar systems have an arc of travel. How long it takes for your radar beam to travel along the arc will depend on your radar system's capabilities, but the shorter the arc of travel for the radar beam, the more reliable your lock will be.

You'll want to make a keybinding for "Change Radar/IRST search mode." This will allow you to change how wide and/or narrow your radar travels.

Think of a flashlight in this instance. There's a dial on the flashlight that allows you to widen the the arc at which light travels from the flashlight, but it doesn't give you a very clear picture. Using that same dial, you can tighten the beam of the light in a more focused manner for a cleaner picture, but you sacrifice your peripheral vision doing so.

If you try to "Lock" a target with a wide radar beam spread, there's a higher probability it will fail to lock. If you try to "Lock" a target with a narrow radar beam spread, you will likely lock it.

[MeesterHedgehog]

Turns out what I was looking for was changing the Radar/IRST beyond or within visual range. Your reply did help me scavenge around my controls, though. Thanks for helping.