SA-2 question
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I can get within 10NM of a SA-2 and it hasn’t spiked me with its radar or fired on me. Is that normal?
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Probably not ‘normal’.
SA-2 engagement range starts at around 18 nm; detection range starts at around 30nm.
As far as being spiked, do you get anything in the RWR? Do you have the hand-off turned on?
Are there other flights/AC the SA-2 is engaging? Are you terrain masked? Are you below 2500 feet AGL?
Is the SA-2 radar still alive (i.e. not destroyed by some other flight)? Is the SA-2 unit on the move (i.e. have they arrived on their assigned station)?
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I was flying at 20K with all other flights 20NM from the SA-2, RWR handoff was on. I thought the radar was dead but when i got within 4NM it hard locked me and fired.
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I was flying at 20K with all other flights 20NM from the SA-2. I thought the radar was dead but when i got within 4NM it hard locked me and fired.
Not sure, but I it may be that some SAM’s can only track a limited number of AC …. maybe just one. If so, they may have been tracking another AC and not ‘seen’ you to fire.
I have noticed that although SAM’s have a certain engagement range, they will often not fire until substantially closer … not always, but sometimes. I do not know for sure what drives BMS SAMs to engage/not engage certain AC that are inside the WEZ.
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I’ve always had a problem with enemy SAM’S not firing. How often do they fire on you?
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I’ve always had a problem with enemy SAM’S not firing. How often do they fire on you?
About every time I fly in their WEZ circle …. usually sooner rather than later, but some times they do seem to take their time. Getting them to fire is usually not my problem. My problem is getting them to stop shooting at me.
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I’ve always had a problem with enemy SAM’S not firing. How often do they fire on you?
Funny historically I’ve had more problems with the ones firing I’d say
No actually I’ve read somewhere in the forums of SAMs ambushing before, not sure if that’s within the features of vanila BMS or some mod, and of course not sure if that’s what happened to you. But it could be just tactics, trying to lie low and let you come in close and then blast you out of the sky when you can do little about it. Of course, I have no idea if that was indeed their plan, or if they didn’t fire earlier for some other reason. But if it was their plan all along well it seems to me like it had failed too, since you already know the SAM is there, you’re flying there and expecting it to fire, etc. So you could say that kinda beats the whole point of an ambush to begin with I guess? I mean in their eyes it might’ve been effective, but good reconnaissance looks to be a possible counter to that sort of tactic? I’m no expert though.
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Well i just had one fire on me at 14nm so i think the other one was tracking other planes than me like Agave_Blue said.
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Sometimes, they leave their radar off and go active shortly before launch, leaving you with little time to escape. I’ve seen them popping up right underneath us and firing immediately about 10 seconds after the radar appeared on the RWR.
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I don’t know if it’s modeled that way intentionally, but it’s far from unrealistic behaviour. Especially an SA-2 is an old platform, and if the crew knows they’re up against an F-16 there’s a high risk it’s a Wild Weasel, and even if not it stands a very good chance of simply turning 180 degrees and simply outrunning the SAM if it’s fired even around medium engagement range. If I were commanding a Guideline battery in this day and age, I’d do the same thing: Keep systems spooled up, radar turned off and receiving. Rely on EWR and search radars and posting remaining battery crew as lookouts, and not fire or turn the Fan Song on until a suitable target came close to minimum range.
It’s not taking advantage of the capabilities of the platform, but in a scenario where you’re facing superior technology and numbers, and lack even a small friendly air force presence to at least challenge enemy air superiority, that’s pretty much the only way for SAMs to stay alive for more than a few hours when things get hot.
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in a scenario where you’re facing superior technology and numbers, and lack even a small friendly air force presence to at least challenge enemy air superiority, that’s pretty much the only way for SAMs to stay alive for more than a few hours when things get hot.
Yeah, and also there is this thing called ‘electronic decoying’, those are essentially transmitters with the same freq and signature as the actual ‘parent’ SAM
and serve as its protection. There’s also a term called ‘layered air defrence’ which relys on differnet SAMs with different characteristics and performance and ‘SAMs that protect the SAM’ thing. The S400 and later the S500 are game changers, it’s gonna be fun to see how the F16 Weasel copes up with it, 400km NOE flight anyone -
Maybe campaign difficulty is at recruit or lower(forget whats below recruit)? Try putting it on ace and see what happens? Maybe theyll fire at you.
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Where’s the option for the campaign difficulty? I’ve never seen it.
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Where’s the option for the campaign difficulty? I’ve never seen it.
When you click on Campaign and the UI pops up, down in the lower left box there is the Challenge Rating, click on the neon green level, which could be Cadet, not sure what your default is, and you can change to Ace, Veteran, Rookie, Cadet, or Recruit.
C9
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Thanks i never thought to click that.
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the only way an SA2 will not engage you at close range is if its not operational OR as I have seen they wait for you to fly past them and then on your egress low on fuel and out of Harms then it’s oh shit time…
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then, they’ve been already Strafed by a 20mm
