Okay maybe it’s a manual, maybe I’m just stupid, possibly both. Regardless I am VERY confused on how radar bombing is supposed to work in the Viggen.
So per the manual you basically flip the radar on, steer the plane till you’re lined up with the radar returns, and then hold the trigger down when it passes underneath the marker in the radar display. This would make complete sense if the marker in the radar display was dynamic (ie it moved according to speed and altitude), but it doesn’t. I’d even settle for a published attack profile (ie M.85 @ 350 meters or something). Sure I can figure out what profile will get me close, but I’d rather not trial and error it unless I have to.
Where my real hangup arrives is that Nav bombing is stupid accurate. It is far more accurate to simply adjust the target way point via a Nav update and drop using Nav bombing.
Considering all the neat stuff the Viggen does I expected Radar bombing to be something along the lines of slewing the radar over the returns and then bombing in a manner similar to all the other modes. So maybe it really was this bad, maybe I’m missing step, maybe it’s borked. Anyone have any insight?
Sadly Chucks guide isn’t of much help either. It has the steps, but I’m pretty sure we’re all missing something here (or radar bombing is the equivalent of a china pencil mark on the canopy). Currently, for me at least, radar bombing is WAY long, and the time from trigger pull to release is pretty much instantaneous with no HUD symbology like the FM predicts.
After doing some math real quick, I think the problem is that the reference marker in the radar display isn’t at 3Km, like it’s supposed to be. At mach .85 @ 200m AGL, you’re doing about .28 km/s, which gives you roughly 10 seconds from designation to overflight. I’m pretty sure I’ve had about 2 seconds in testing, which would put the target cross at .6km out. Testing will ensue, and I’ll post back here this afternoon on results.
Alright uninstalled and reinstalled the Viggen, and did a fresh rebind of my controls. Now things are working as expected and the radar target marker is shifting in the display as it should when I zoom in and out.
You can actually use it for radar bombing ships at sea if you really try hard (not that you’ll hit them mind you).
