How much I can trust AWACS?

[bstar07]

I was locked and downed by a SU-25 as soon as AWCAS declared “clear”.
I couldn’t turn on air to air radar because I was in SEAD mission and on HAD mode.
Does it happen to you? How much you can trust AWACS? She lost my trust.
How can I monitor air and ground at the same time while I on HAD mode?

[spooky]

Very simple … set up your MFD’s differently.

On the right MFD put HAD page on and on the left MFD display your radar page. Now the radar you can choose to have it in air to air even when your master mode is in A-G.

You do not need a A-G radar mode while ou are doing SEAD, wether you use HAD or ALIC.

And how the hell did you managed to get shot down by a SU-25 ? … keep your eyes out of the cockpit from time to time, you can’t just fly with your head down.

[OldGoat5]

For low flying aircraft, awacs/your country’s sensors may not pick it up, so it will say clear. Picture calls will also only refer to around your area, that su could have come in after your call. Check the radar coverage paints in your right-click menu on the map for different altitude coverages and areas.

[spooky]

Also … listen to what other airplanes have to say around you, with bullseye reports for threats or pop up sams it is fairly simple to figure out where you are relative to those threats.

[Blu3wolf]

also… for aircraft with radars, you can see them on the HAD anway…

You can fire shrikes/harms at them, too.

[Earlybite]

@Blu3wolf:

also… for aircraft with radars, you can see them on the HAD anway…

You can fire shrikes/harms at them, too.

Really, shot down by a AGM-88? But only if the a/c has its radar on, yes?

[Blu3wolf]

Not tested that part before…

[Blu3wolf]

@bstar07:

Does it happen to you? How much you can trust AWACS? She lost my trust

I bet the same thing was what those F-15 pilots that got vectored onto a ‘HOSTILE’ thought back in Desert Storm, when they VIDed it as FRIENDLY choppers….

AWACS is actually much more reliable than it should be in some respects. The E-3 radar can be off by over 10,000 ft in altitude of reported contacts for example. When you spam the ‘bearing to nearest hostile’ in a dogfight, thats unrealistic - you and the enemy should both be a single radar blip to the AWACS operator.

In short, trust AWACS to keep you safe as much as you trust AI F-15 BARCAPs to protect you on deep strikes. If you depend on them too much, you might get a nasty surprise…

[TobiasA]

AWACS also only gives you the position of the flight lead since the whole flight is handled as one “group”, doesn’t matter if they are spread out 30 miles or not.

AWACS is no sure thing. It is better than in real life and can be a great help, but it is not complete and also will give you one group only. Key to success is to build and maintain a good situational awareness that you can build from a lot of sources- radar, rwr, HAD, TGP, other flight’s calls, AWACS picture and last but not least your eyes.
Hearing other flights calling attacks or being defensive helps to build a picture. If you hear a call like “Viper 4-1, engaged defensive, bullseye 340, 40 miles” you can be sure that major trouble waits for you north-northwest of the bullseye. If it is a SAM, it will be still there when you get there, so expect some threat at bullseye 340 for 40. If you hear the same flight calling out “fox 3”, then there will be some furball going on when you go there. Most probably it will be a dogfight when you reach this since furballs usually attract other fighters like lights attract the moths.
Getting spiked on the RWR is another strong indication that you should either evade a specific area or start scanning high/middle/low in that general direction.
Jamming strobes should be noted- if they come closer, you might ask for a threat from AWACS and see if you can burn through.
Most new pilots tend to rely on radar and AWACS. It is experience that makes you getting the puzzle together and build a picture from all those sources.
Last but not least: You should ALWAYS know where you are in relation to the bullseye, where the FLOT is, where to fly in case of a major trouble, and how much fuel you need to RTB safely.

If you fly at falcon online and happen to fly when a human AWACS is online, this will be a whole different story. They usually tell you all the groups nearby which improves situational awareness a lot. But still, since only #1 shows up on the screen, they will also only give you the leader.

As for the MFD’s: I have one of them set to “HSD” most of the time. Major exception is when attacking with guided ground munitions.

Don’t worry about the Su-25’s however. Stay fast, stay high and they can’t even reach you. Even with A/G and when you’re low, as low as you are fast everything will be OK if you just don’t fly straight in their face

[Kuhprah]

First of all… YOU are the one who presses the button, so you also are the one who has to be shure… does not matter what somone else says…

And then you also have 2 options for AWACS… picture dan threats… If you ask for threats, it will not tell you SU-25 or something likte that, because in normal case this is no threat for a F-16…

[bstar07]

Thanks all guys who gave me good advices. I think I should give up this SEAD mission because there are too many enenmy fighters in front of my flight route.
I think I should keep my planes rather suicide.

[cptmtge]

Kuhprah is correct AWACS will not call a SU25 as a threat though they have 2 heaters and will only engage you if they are very close behind you

[TeeSquare]

I have had a few bad IDs from AWACS in the past. Think of them as one layer of confirmation where the more layers of confirmation that you have the more sure you can be of the ID. Listening to guard as mentioned above really helps too if you are set for bullseye calls.

Example: 29 on the RWR at 12 o’clock, one radar contact within 80nm at 12 o’clock, AWACS says contact confirmed hostile. Really good chance it is hostile.

16 on RWR at 11 o’clock, 29 at 12 o’clock, only one radar contact at 12 o’clock, AWACS says contact confirmed hostile. I would not trust that call but wait for more information if possible. May not be good to shoot anyway because they could be close together. If that 16 comes up on radar and is a good distance from the assumed 29 contact then things start to change and the picture becomes more clear.

I have had situations where I know there are 2 bandits ahead because another flight got ID with TGP. but had AWACS call friendly, maintained the lock to TGP and saw it was a bandit. Layers of information.

[jhook]

When in doubt, have your wingman “attack my target”. If he engages, its a bad guy. If he/she replys “negative” its a friendly.

A little side iff built in to Falcon.

[Dee-Jay]

@jhook:

When in doubt, have your wingman “attack my target”. If he engages, its a bad guy. If he/she replys “negative” its a friendly.

A little side iff built in to Falcon.

Rather a cheat method actually like using labels … in fact … in case of no positive ID, IRL, your wingman will never be able to tell you if your target is a friendly or an enemy. He will simply answer: Sorry, no IFF reply on my side. I do not know what it is.

Chitchatting jhook … I know you know … this post if just for ppl who think that IFF can provide a positive enemy ID … it can’t, IFF can only give a friendly ID.

[jhook]

Spot on Dee Jay!

Yep, it is a bit of a cheat. But I dont expect to be able to do that in the future.