User manual GAMES PC JANE S-FA-18

[. . . ] FLIGHT MANUAL ii JANE'S F/A-18 FLIGHT MANUAL TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: FIRST LOOK. 2-8 Mailed Fist ­ The Carrier Battle Group . 3-29 TABLE OF CONTENTS iii CHAPTER 4: FLIGHT. 5-99 Radar Antenna Scan Volumes and Time . [. . . ] VACQ is toggled on or off using the ACQ_VERTICAL [9] keyfunction. 5-106 JANE'S F/A-18 FLIGHT MANUAL GACQ (GUN ACQUISITION) Gun Acquisition (GACQ) sub-mode is entered automatically any time you select the Gun in A/A Master Mode when you are not in STT. GACQ uses a 200 scan centered on your aircraft's waterline and locks on to the first target encountered within 5 NM. WACQ (WIDE ACQUISITION) Wide Acquisition (WACQ) is toggled on or off using the ACQ_WIDE [7] keyfunction. WACQ uses a 6 bar, 600 scan setting centered on your aircraft's waterline and locks on to the first target encountered within 10 NM. AUTOMATIC ACQUISITION SUB-MODES HUD SYMBOLOGY The HUD displays unique symbology during the different radar acquisition sub-modes. BST Radar coverage VAQC Radar coverage Acquisition sub-mode GAQC Radar coverage x BST Radar Coverage: When Boresight (BST) acquisition sub-mode is selected, a 3. 3° diameter dashed circle displays with its center at the radar boresight position (aircraft waterline). x VACQ Radar Coverage: When Vertical acquisition (VACQ) sub-mode is selected, two vertical dashed bars (5. 2° apart, centered in azimuth) display. The vertical coverage of VACQ is +47° to -13°. x GACQ Radar Coverage: When Gun acquisition (GACQ) sub-mode is selected, a 20° diameter dashed circle displays to indicate that the radar scan coverage encompasses the total HUD field of view. x Acquisition Sub-mode: The currently selected acquisition sub-mode displays here. ADVANCED TOPICS Explaining even the basics of a modern radar system is a task that could fill this manual many times over. However, in order to give you a better understanding of how best to use your radar, we felt that some additional details would be very helpful, and perhaps give a better appreciation of all the behind-the-scenes modeling that that takes place within Jane's F/A-18. RADAR PULSE REPETITION FREQUENCY (PRF) The choice of PRF is perhaps the most critical parameter any real life radar designer must deal with. All other conditions remaining the same, the PRF choice determines how well the radar can measure range and closing velocity as well as how well it can reject ground clutter. There are three generally accepted categories of radar PRF: Low, Medium, and High. Unfortunately, there is no one magic solution among these three, as each has it's own strengths and weaknesses, as summarized below. Low · · · · · PRF Good for air-to-air look up and ground mapping Good sidelobe rejection Good range resolution capability Poor air-to-air look down as targets are rejected with ground clutter Maximum range limited to antenna size COMBAT 5-107 Medium PRF · Good all aspect target detection capability · Good ground clutter rejection · Limited maximum range (but greater than LPRF modes for the same sized antenna) High PRF · Excellent nose aspect target detection at long range · Excellent ground clutter rejection · Reduced range resolution capability · Reduced detection capability against low closing rate targets · Zero or low closing rate targets (at any altitude) may be lost The APG-73 radar in the Super Hornet uses Medium and High PRF's. Interleaved PRF is also available in some sub-modes, and what this means is that for one antenna scan the radar uses Medium PRF, and as it scan back the other way it uses High PRF. This interleaving of PRF provides the best compromise in most situations. DOPPLER EFFECTS You may have noticed that High PRF has problems with low closing rate targets. This is because High PRF uses Doppler frequency shift to sort targets out of the received radar return. The less closure there is between the target and your aircraft, the smaller the target return is, and, after a certain point, a target may be lost from your display. For this reason, a MPRF setting may be a better choice when facing targets that are not at long range. "The Notch" You can also use the effects of Doppler to your advantage. By turning perpendicular to a threat radar system, you minimize the amount of Doppler shift they can see, and you just might be able to break a lock. Using chaff in this situation can further help you break lock, as the threat radar has a much harder time rejecting chaff when there is little or no Doppler shift. However, don't be surprised if an enemy Ace tries the same tactic on you. RADAR CROSS SECTION An aircraft's Radar Cross Section (RCS) is a value used to express how well that aircraft reflects energy back to the radar. The important parameter here is not so much size as it is shape and material composition. [. . . ] . 4-57 Normalized In-Range Display (NIRD) Circle . . 5-134 Maverick SMS (Stores) MDI Page Symbology . . 5-134 Maximum Aerodynamic Range (RAERO) . . 4-58 MDI ­ Attitude Director Indicator (ADI) Page . [. . . ]