JDAM and SDB issue
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Afternoon chaps,
I’m having an issue with SDB’s and wanted to run it past you. It’s only started after a fresh install but during the campaign, I have a SEAD mission to attack a battery of sa-2’s. No problem, standard loadout is 8 SDB’s, I lock them as target steerpoints in the data cartridge, take off, everything going well, JIZ indicator shows, I release, smoke appears in the right area, I go to land and mission failed no hits on target.
Am I missing something?
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The targets?
No, explained as you did, nothing missing. The answer is in what you didn’t say.
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No slew in system? (CZ should NOT be highlighted)
How far away from the target are you when they impact? (In nautical miles) -
A battery of sa-2’s. I’ve never had a problem before, but I had to do a fresh install after a slight cock up on my part (unrelated) and since then I’ve tried this mission 4 times with the same outcome. I’m actually starting to think the mission is bugged.
The target steerpoints are active, the Co ordinates match the data cartridge, I power on the SDB’s, they are RDY way before release, JIZ indicator is present and lowering as I get closer, release goes well (although I did select left and right ripple but only one released?) smoke appears in the right ball park as I say but nothing.
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JIZ indicator is half way down, I’m at angels 20
Must admit I don’t know the impact distance as I went off of the JIZ indicator and I also didn’t know CZ could be an issue, will look out for it.
Why would that affect it?
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Because if you introduced an offset you’re sending the SDBs to the wrong place
If CZ is enabled, press it to reset the steerpoints to programmed values.
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Check your FCR and TGP to see if what you’re bombing is even AT your Steerpoints. SA-2s don’t move but if It’s Early in the campaign another flight might have beat you to it. You could very well be bombing the right spot, but the targets have already been vaporized. Bomb Impacts throw up smoke clouds, Look for flames or Secondary explosions on the impact zone. THAT is how you know you’ve hit something.
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Try to drop SDB from half of max range and alt around 25 - 27k
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Roger gents. I’ll try it and report back.
But from what you’re seeing I’m not doing anything obviously wrong?
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The only thing I can think other than the above is after you’ve selected them as Target Steerpoints in the Recon Window, is to Double, Triple, and Quadruple Check your Data Cartridge to ensure they’ve been properly selected. As well as Save every time you check. Sounds Excessive but the one time you don’t, You’ll regret it for sure.
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I thought this the first two times so I did purposely check and waypoint 15,16,17,18 were in the correct area which seeing as they were originally blank tells me they locked ok.
It wouldn’t make a difference that the waypoint were 15A,16A,17A,18A would it? As I set them to auto for the autopilot, obviously AP is turned off when IP but it’s a though that it might affect it?
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Because if you introduced an offset you’re sending the SDBs to the wrong place
If CZ is enabled, press it to reset the steerpoints to programmed values.
Yeah if CZ is highlighted there is a slew in the system which means they would not be hitting the planned coordinates. You have to press the OSB with CZ to remove the slew but make sure your TGP is not in a track or else CZing won’t work. If CZ de-highlights that means the slew was removed.
My reason for asking about range to target is that with SDBs you can drop very far away and they fly for a long time. If you drop far out and then turn 180 degrees and fly away from target I think it’s possible for the target/bombs to go outside the player bubble and stop existing. Then either the weapons disappear or (more likely I think) the targets do so then the bombs hit nothing.
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Record an ACMI and then use tac view to review whether or not your SDB’s actually reached their intended target. Sometimes due to slight terrain elevations combined depending on your attack azimuth your SDB’s can impact the terrain before reaching the target due to their shallow glide path. To counter this conduct a thorough recon of the target area where possible in mission planning and look out for terrain that may get in the way of your SDB’s and plan your attack accordingly.
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A whole bunch of speculation being thrown around, so I’ll join in too. You say you see smoke near the target. My guess is that you have loitered in the area long enough for the SDBs to hit home without leaving the bubble. If all your bombs have missed the mark, then it is safe to assume you have inadvertently introduced a system delta into your flight plan. Either accidentally or on purpose… Slewing the FCR in A-G Mode as well as slews of the TGP will yield deltas. When dropping IAMs on preselected targets, always make sure you are not point tracking with the TGP and press the CZ on the appropriate MFD prior to drop. Of course, if you’re dropping using the TGP, the SPI will be where the little guys will go… Good luck
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Thank you for all your help Gentlemen, I knew the answer would be found here and yet again you’ve excelled yourselves. After re running the mission to check that I hadn’t slewed the cursor or inadvertently messed with the steerpoints I decided that it must have something to do with hitting an already destroyed target so I took off and went straight at the target at full afterburner until release point and watched the bombs using Alt 7 go all the way in.
I didn’t realise how slow the SDB’s are. It became immediately obvious that the hits I was seeing when running the mission before were not my bombs, but someone else’s, as the smoke appeared within 45 seconds of release. Watching these bombs in flight it took at least 90-120 seconds to get to target. My conclusion being, as you so rightly pointed out, was another package had been assigned the same target and by the time my bombs arrived, there were no targets left.
Lesson learned and thanks again. I think I’ll leave the campaign computer for a couple of hours before starting a mission at the very beginning to allow it time to sort itself out.
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The excellent advice in post 13 would have shown you the targets being destroyed by other bombs - good advice for the future.
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Glad you got it sorted. I guess your flight just pounded them a little deeper into the earth. :dhorse:
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On another note, how do you avoid getting “horrible” ratings in campaign when your mission is sabotaged in such a way that it makes it impossible to complete?
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You don’t. You just stop caring.
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On another note, how do you avoid getting “horrible” ratings in campaign when your mission is sabotaged in such a way that it makes it impossible to complete?
You could also take command of a squadron (remove the “set by HQ” checkmark on the info page) and start planning missions yourself. If you do a SEAD strike and plan it as an Interdiction mission, you can always divert to other (secondary) targets and still get a decent rating even if the original objective doesn’t exist anymore.
All the best, Uwe