Holy F__k already! This is STOOOPID!!!
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I sympathize with the frustration around Mavericks. There is a lot of mysticism, inflexible paradigm, and needless esotericism about it. Notably the manual text has you generate a fault, clear fault, etc. which is great for classroom instruction but these unnecessary steps should be avoided in further training or operational use.
Boresighting is the process of missile calibration such that when told to point in a direction, it points in that direction exactly. Handoff is the process is telling a (boresighted) missile to look a particular direction and begin tracking. Attempting to handoff a missile which has not been boresighted will not succeed because it won’t look where it’s told. So no, the boresighting process does not result in a missile after a successfully handoff. Boresight first and then all subsequent handoffs may succeed.
Firing the Maverick not using the automatic handoff is perfectly valid. The utility in automatic handoff is speed and ease of use under combat conditions, the boresighting having been accomplished previously.
It’s unusual to have any completed handoffs when doing boresighting. Handoff is for combat use of the missile. Boresighting is preparation of the missile for later use. If you are boresighting the right missile, the left missile can be playing Mariachi music for all you care.
Your choice of calibration object is irrelevant. All that matters at the instant of pressing the BSGT label is that TGP and Maverick are tracking the same object.
Some buildings in BMS may be tracked while others may not. The smaller or point-like the object the better. TGP and Maverick have range-dependent and dissimilar tracking performance.
The missile’s performance post-handoff is identical to all other forms of designation. It is up to the pilot to recognize that the missile is tracking and all envelope restrictions are met before firing.
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The reason you are getting the Avionics fault indicator is that you are trying to bore sigh and or hand off while the missile seeker head is out of its range - so how do you avoid this, well:-
The TGP will lock up a target at about 23/24 miles the missile seeker head will lock up a target (consistently) once the firing solution bracket appears in the weapons MFD, about 15 miles - these are only guide lines and are target and weather/visibility dependent.
So lock up on TGP at about 20 miles or so and wait for the bracket on the weapons mfd before you bore sight or hand off - there you go no more AV faults ;0)
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Use your sniper pod to find targets but lock them up and execute launch procedures with the weapons page. Max range for a man shot is about 9 miles. Also , there is telemetry and launch profiles that need to be within guidelines or you will drop stupid dead rifles.
The blinking acquisition cross on the weapons page has to be solid before you pickle, and it has to be within the limits of the weapon ( near the center)
If you pickle while it’s blinking, it won’t guide.
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When I run mavs I use deltas and golfs- if you’re over the FLIR or checked in at the alpha and holding, uncage all the seekers and start policing the target area. Once you find a group to persecute , cycle through your stations while locking them all up. Once you’ve established a stable flight path with a good angle of attack pickle and cycle through everything. You can generally fire off 8 mavs in about 5 seconds like this .
The tgp helps you not kill your friends , and deal with weather and low viz , even in best case you have to use the seeker head as a primary guidance. Redundancy not dependency.
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When I run mavs I use deltas and golfs- if you’re over the FLIR or checked in at the alpha and holding, uncage all the seekers and start policing the target area. Once you find a group to persecute , cycle through your stations while locking them all up. Once you’ve established a stable flight path with a good angle of attack pickle and cycle through everything. You can generally fire off 8 mavs in about 5 seconds like this .
The tgp helps you not kill your friends , and deal with weather and low viz , even in best case you have to use the seeker head as a primary guidance. Redundancy not dependency.
How do you uncage more than one missile per station at the same time?
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+1
I was under the impression this wasn’t possible. There’s another parallel thread regarding this question.
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It also doesn’t help that there’s a bug causing the mav seeker to slew wildly in certain circumstances.
I KNEW IT!! This is my biggest frustration with the bore sighting process. After locking the target with the TGP, as soon as you touch the slew for the maverick view it jumps randomly and by the time I work out where it is pointing I have passed whatever object I was using for bore sighting.
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Yeah, I damn near chucked my stick across the room after trying to boresight four stations of mavericks on a night mission. The bug prevented me from boresighting 3/4.
I’m still not entirely sure of the cause, but I believe the previously mentioned reconned steer points will help, as will selecting point targets that are easy for the mav seeker to track.
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By the way, the HUD symbology I mentioned earlier is great for getting the mav back to SPI (circle over square) in those spasm-out-slews. I agree this bug is the real issue with Mavs these days, not boresighting.
Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
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The jumping bug is on the to do list as previously posted. To give your self more time try this bore sighting procedure. TGP lock up building at 23 miles- wpn as SOI move cross over same building - repeat for each MAV rack- DO NOT TMS UP - once inside 15 miles TMS up for each MAVS rack in turn without moving the cross hair. You will find that even if you get the jump you have plenty of time to realign before you TMS UP all racks.
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i MSL step through the stations and use the uncage button on the TQS.
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S_S, Mavs are fun just because they’re cantankerous.When things “click” it feels great. You’ve gotten some good advise here, let me just share what has worked for me.
I fly Hornet off the carrier, but this will work if you’re in the Viper.Either boresight on the carrier/base or on a land target. I mention both so that you have options if your first Feet Dry is the enemy coast. It just doesn’t seem reasonable to be messing with boresighting Mavs at that moment!
Anyway, both methods use the same procedure…- Prelaunch I set up AG mode with the SMS page on one MFD with TGP under it, and the WPN page under the radar(which btw, I have set to SEA IF I’ll be boresighting the carrier). I do launch in NAV
After launch, and immediately upon being stable in the climb out to WP 2 , I bring up AG mode, power on the Mavs, and go to Sim on Master Arm. - By the time the Mavs “wake up” I’m at about 20K.You don’t want to go much higher so TGP and Mavs can “see” the “target”.
- If I’m going to “BOM” (Boresight off Mother[carrier]) I’ll re-select WP 1, do a fairly tight level turn, and reengege autopilot.I like to be at endurance airspeed while I boresight, not only to save fuel, but to minimize the distance I’m travelling away from the briefed flight plan.
BTW, a good way to practice BOMing is to fly the Maverick training TE, but do a low pass over the Spruance , climb out to 20 miles, doing step 2 along the way. Then do step 3.
4)Anyway, whether you want to BOM or can fly over land at WP2, the procedure then is just as written in the Dash-34 and Training manuals. I can’t improve on that, but there are a couple of tips. As others have mentioned, lock something on radar that’s at 15-20 miles that you can get a point lock on the TGP, and that is in the keyhole. I don’t think the manuals say that, but I am personally convinced it helps. Also, get your TGP lock, and boresight on the Mav page, with both in NARO.
After that, it’s all about practice.
General tips: After boresighting remember to turn off the Mavs.The manuals aren’t kidding about that 30 minute battery life.I generally set up auto power after WP 3, my usual FENCE point.
The manuals describe (Dash 34, p. 147) the launch limits for Mavs. Listen to them.I launch wings level at 350-400 knots and a not greater then a 30 degree dive. Yes, I know that’s more stringent then in the -34.
Even before launching weapons, be careful not to over-g the missiles, particularly in negative g. My personal preference is maintaining a 0-4g . Again, I know I’m probably being overcautious there.
Be VERY aware of the Keyhole when launching the missiles, and the range to target. Mavs like “heart of the envelope” shots
S, I know this is a lot of stuff, but don’t get discouraged. It’s precisely because Mavs are “flaky” that makes mastering them the most fun
PS: Don’t waste you time researching BOM, it’s a Joeism(me being Joe). What can i say, I like acronyms.
- Prelaunch I set up AG mode with the SMS page on one MFD with TGP under it, and the WPN page under the radar(which btw, I have set to SEA IF I’ll be boresighting the carrier). I do launch in NAV
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One thing I’m doing lately is locking the Mavericks first and then TGP point track second. Considering the Mavericks aren’t calibrated already and they’ll likely do some awful twitch it’s not that helpful to have the TGP exactly on the desired object. I just get TGP in the area and then do each Maverick onto the calibration object in WFOV so I don’t get lost. With all the missiles tracking I then point track with TGP and step through the still-tracking missiles and BSGT.
One nice thing is that since the missiles are all slave broken first since they’ve been slewed and doubly that they’re tracking I don’t have to worry about the point track initiating a handoff which I have to interrupt. The TGP is the easiest to work with and as you approach your test object the stress levels rise so it’s nice not to be fiddling with those darn missiles at close ranges.
The 30 minute time limit is real but it’s not an electrical restriction but a cooling one. On the rail the missile is receiving jet electricity. Given enough time to cool off between operating periods there is no maximum operating time. It’s perfectly fine to run the missile for 20 minutes, turn off, and then fly a couple hours and then use the missiles for another 20 minutes.
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+1
I was under the impression this wasn’t possible. There’s another parallel thread regarding this question.
So was I !!! I thought the reason you could NOT uncage more than one missile of the same rack was that the flare from the rocket motor on the one that fires would “blind” the seeker head on the one next to it ? MSL step on my set up steps me through my hard points and I cannot select an individual missile on a triple rack - is it me ?
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BMS lacks the ability to step through LAU-88 missiles. But the only purpose is to bypass missiles with physical faults which never happens anyway. I did notice the LAU-88s are not handed left and right for fire order.