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Eh, TWS is the new yesterday, even if it is tomorrow. What I’d really like to know, is where is the ground radar promised “last week”? 
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@Anklebiter, Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to make a scenario where 8 shots of spamraam needs to hit all nazi targets at once. Use TWS and raid modes or fail.
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Hey everyone, I hope you all gearing up to have a very merry Christmas and well-deserved holiday break!
As most of you are aware by now, we will be releasing Track While Scan (TWS) radar mode for the Hornet today. The system is largely complete but there are couple of items we still need to address in a planned hot fix for Friday, such as the missile fly-out cue and target vector stem. We have several other great Hornet improvements for this week.
- Added TWS radar mode.
- F18 REDFOR (US Aggressors + NATO) will be able to use GPS.
- Fixed significant performance drop on SA page with big amount of contacts.
- JDAM/JSOW STEP Logic changed
- JDAM/JSOW Power Logic changed
- Fixed JSOW not releasing from stations 7-8
- Fixed several AA radar mode issues.
- Reworked AA modes transition logic.
- Corrected target designation logic via undesignate button.
In January, after the team is back from holiday, much of the focus will be on the Hornet targeting pod, AACQ and SPOT radar modes, JDAM/JSOW improvements, Viper radar-directed gunsight and general gunsight accuracy (EEGS Level 5), and improvements to the AIM-120 AMRAAM. Once we have specific Open Beta release dates for these items, we’ll be sure to let you know.
The improvements to the Hornet targeting pod have taken longer than expected due to needed fixes to some of the air-to-air missile avionics systems. We apologize for the delay; we know how much you are looking forward to them.
In February, much of our air-to-air radar development will shift to air-to-ground radar development. This will use the air-to-ground radar API that is already being used by 3rd party developers.
Thank you for all your support and once again Merry Christmas,
Wags
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Got bit by the MP flight bug. Just my luck that my group usually flies Wed nights. So we installed the beta update, load up the server, and BAM DCS has crashed when we go to fly. 
They got the hotfix out Thursday, but still it sucks losing your one night of the week, and as the holidays are both Wed I’m not sure if we’ll fly again until the 8th!
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mini update
" Hey everyone,
Now that everyone is back from holiday, work has resumed in force on the Hornet. Here is a list of the tasks the team is currently working on for the next Open Beta release. Please note though that not all of these items may make the new Open Beta (a lot will depend on internal testing results):
- The radar directed gun sight has been updated to make it much more stable and accurate. It feels like a new weapon! I plan to create a video on this soon.
- AIM-9X and JHMCS tones have been corrected.
- A lot of work is being put on the targeting pod pointing modes. This includes slave to CCIP and AUTO points and the slave to the velocity vector. This should greatly improve targeting with the pod.
- Missile Rmax between the HUD and DDI have been adjusted.
- We are adding the ability to mount the targeting pod on the station 4 cheek station. In order to do this correctly, we must first recreate the 3D model of the pod because the current model does not support this (cooling intake is on the wrong side of the pod).
- Corrected the B-sweep line.
- Added fly-out symbols for TWS mode.
- Corrected menu freeze that could potentially happen with GPS weapons.
- There will be more items and they will all be included in the change log.
Once this release is complete, we’ll talk about the next series of additions and changes."
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I read on reddit that the HUD TPOD box isn’t something they plan to do for the Hornet, as there is no public evidence of how it works that they can find.
I’m sort of surprised (ok, maybe just a bit of an eyebrow, I’ve no idea about real life stuff) about that, in that I would think when general direction the TPOD is looking in would be good HUD info? I used to like using that on the A-10C, as a useful frame of reference for finding things. Could it be something that is just on the JHMCS display instead?
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I think that depends on the level of JHMCS integration. I would hope that there’s ways to use it like IHADSS in the AH-64, but that all depends on the amount of money they’ve thrown into the F/A-18 in the real world. Being able to look at something on the ground and cue the pod there would be a huge advantage, doubly so if we can also do things like designate it as a target point, waypoint, etc.
Yeah, just nothing out there saying there is a marker showing where the TGP is pointing on the HUD. The JHMCS will show the FOV of the TGP on it, but not sure how that will look yet, until the team gets it in sim.
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Is that maybe just a TPOD limitation and not the same for ATFLIR or would they both be handled the same through the HUD?
It shows your designation in the HUD, right?
As you move the FLIR, it should update the designation and pull the diamond along with it. I don’t think there’s any other symbology in the HUD but your designation diamond would be the indication for that.
It’s been a while since I’ve flown it, but I’m pretty sure ED has a fundamental misunderstanding of what a target point is versus an A/G designation so I don’t believe it’s implemented correctly.
What your FLIR is looking at is the designation. There’s different ways to track points on the ground, etc, but ultimately the two are not divorced.
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I think the confusing bit at the moment is that for the Litening Pod on the Hornet, the diamond appears once a target point has been designated with a TDC depress but only then. The diamond is dragged around if you move the target point with the FLIR.
For the Warthog the Litening Pod showed a diamond wherever the pod was looking before a SPI was even made, making it easier to relate in the HUD where you were looking (or as a diamond on the TAD as well).
I mean, that might be how it works, in that there isn’t any missing HUD symbology, just a different way between the F/A-18 and A-10C on how the sensor of interest is mode selected for the pod?
Example:
Hornet with pod without a target designation, no diamond but slewing/looking somewhere:
Hornet with pod, with a target designation and HUD indicator showing direction arrow and diamond:
Warthog with pod, with SOI set to TPOD and diamond on HUD showing where it is pointed before a SPI / target point is designated
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I know they are still going over the documents they have, it sounds something like it wont have the marker until a target is designated, then you can use that target point/diamond to tell the LOS… but again, they are still hashing it out, so once we know what they came up with, it will be in OB.
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**In the next DCS World Open Beta, we will be introducing two new pointing modes for the Hornet Litening targeting pod.
The Velocity Vector Slave (VVSL) mode aligns the TGP line of sight with the Velocity Velocity symbol on the HUD. To use, ensure that the TDC is assigned to the FLIR page, select VVLS on the FLIR page, and depress the TDC switch when the Velocity Vector is over the desired location. Once designed, you can continue to slew the TDC on the FLIR page and designate a new location.
Waypoint Slave mode aligns the TGP line of sight with a selected waypoint. To use, select WYPT on the HSI, select the desired waypoint, and then press the WPDSG option select button.
Also, when in bombing CCIP mode, the TGP will be slaved to the pipper of the CCIP bombing reticle.
When not designed, the TGP will be in Snowplow mode.
Thanks,
Wags
**
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Nice. Now all that’s needed is slave-to-radar for the TPOD. Right?
Yeah, ground radar is the big chunk still missing, otherwise the Hornet is pretty great already.
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In this book I read, he slaved it to AA radar, doing vis ident at a fair good distance.
We used to do that with the F-14 and its TCS…and thought it was a really good feature…it had some good aspects and given that the RIO was looking at it while the pilot could keep his head in the game, it was a usable technique for semi-BVR VID.
That said, the non-cooperative ID stuff was at least good enough without focusing one of the aircrew down onto the screen…and that has probably gotten even better.
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The Harrier is supposed to have that capability as well with its Dual Mode Tracker and Aim-9 locks. Don’t know if we will see that in game though. Cool feature.