I wish we had the proximity fuses. That’d be a lot more useful for a lot of targets in DCS, IMO.
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I used to fly the AV8B a lot of my time in DCS, that and the Viggen. It was my favourite jet - despite the succession of bugs and quirks.
Then they changed the targeting pod to make it more realistic, and I just couldn’t get my head around the different modes. It never seemed to do what I wanted it to do and well, sadly I ended up parking the AV8B - basically out of frustration more than anything.
Watching that video above (very cool) it looked reasonably straightforward and much like the F16 that Ive been flying more recently. Have Razbam simplified things or is it more a case of watching an experienced operator who gets it?
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Pretty sure we got Mk83AIR at some point. Maybe they just haven’t been enabled on the Harrier yet.
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I didn’t fly the earlier builds and I didn’t fly the TPOD when I was flying the jet, so I can’t say if they changed it or not.
But, while it can be a bit of a switch pig, I think you can build some accommodation for it with a little practice.
For me, getting that Target Point designation straightened out seems to be my biggest hurdle…it’s not something we had in the Harriers I flew. I’d guess that it was added when the TPOD was, but it seems a frequent source of disagreement between what the TPOD wants to look at and what I want to look at! 
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I usually stick with a JTAC lasing, or go old school and drop with the DMT. It keeps me from having to fight the T-pod and whenever we get an A-7 I’ll be ready.
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Anyone getting guided bombs off the Harrier is doing better than I am. I quite enjoy iron bombing with it (and in general), but I cannot wrap my head around the TGP. More hours needed, I suppose.
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It definitely seems to speak a different language than the Hornet or Viper. I haven’t figured it out either. Love the airframe though!
Boy I’m glad to hear others describing my frustrations with the Harrier TGP. I too used to have it down quite well but recent updates have me baffled.
I kinda miss the Harrier, it’s a great CAS platform in the game.
Exactly how I feel… Still, there’s plenty of fun to be had elsewhere.
Might just have a rummage on Youtube for a harrier “TGP guide for Dummies” in case someone else has worked it out and can translate it for the rest of us.
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@miRage and I have been flying the Harrier again lately. A very fun and quite effective tactic we found is lofting Rockeyes from low level. This allows you to operate fairly safely under the coverage of most (legacy) radar guided SAMs while still giving you a little safety distance from the target.
A couple miles out we would gain enough height to get a good target designation with the DMT, then approach the target at ground level and maximum speed. At 4 NM, pull up smoothly into a 25° climb and hold this for a couple of seconds at 1G until AUTO weapon release around 3’000-4’000 ft. Then pull around hard and accelerate towards the deck away from the target.
If you have a flare programm running during the loft maneuver, there is a fairly high chance that you get away from this unscratched from MANPADS and AAA. This is also very safe under the nose of most radar guided SAMs. Only the few ones with extremely quick reaction time such as SA-15 will be a problem.
What is important is to time the loft such that the Rockeyes release above 1’200 ft AGL while climbing. If you drop below that limit, the submunition will release imediately and land short. If done right, the bomb will fly the full ballistic arc and dispense 1’200 ft above the target on the way down. Precision is good engough to actually kill stuff. In a very satisfying way that is 
My house rules to have fun in the Harrier are no JDAM and no TPOD. If I wanted to fly circles at high altitude with my head burried in displays while stitting in a chair at home I may as well fly a UCAV I say fly it low and with dumb bombs Cold War-style.
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So you guys really want me to buy the harrier too?
Is that what you want?
Uh?
Is it?
Dammit…
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Do it, you know you want it
Frankly a couple of years ago I would not have recommended it as there was just so much stuff off. But after a pretty long time now, it really has become a nice module.
Previously, VTOL has been very easy. But at some point they have reduced available thrust and now power margins for vertical flight are rather tight, making vertical landings a lot more challenging. I like it a lot.
One area I think that is not well modeled is the ARBS/DMT. In the game it is working basically like a forward looking TPOD. As I understand it, it should actually be a contrast locking camera. By tracking a contrast image, it should provide the jet with the angular rates necessary to calculate slant range to the target. The DMT is telling the jet where the thing it tracks is. In the game it is the wrong way around: The jet is telling the DMT which thing to track. Which makes the existance of the ARBS pointless. Perhaps @Deacon211 can weight in with his experiences of the system.
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What’s that? Ach wait- got it.
Yeah I really love reading this!
I will have to wait for a sale though- adding another plane in my hangar just to gather dust have to be a bit cheaper…
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It is called the Angle Rate Bombing System, and the DMT is the TV camera in the nose that is supporting this. As you know, you need to have slant range to target for bombing calculations. Some aircraft do radar ranging, some have laser range finders. But if you track the target with a TV camera (like a Maverick seeker head), with some math voodoo you can apparently calculate the slant range by the change in the downwards looking angle to the target as you fly over it.
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But to be honest- all RAZBAM planes are looking just so damn attractive…
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I don’t know which rock I lived under for all this time but I had no idea you were a former Harrier driver!
Brilliant!
Also thanks for sharing your impression of this module!
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LOL, well I was, briefly a Harrier pilot, 26 years ago, having never fired a shot in anger, so…
Seriously, thank you. And I was lucky to get to do it…but, I don’t know, that’s probably not going on my tombstone.
Which will be,
“Life. A Fun Ride…But Probably Not Worth the Line.”
Edit: At the risk of my reference being a little out there, let me say I appreciate the compliment. But, I try to keep in mind that my accomplishments and contributions were minuscule compared to many…in the cockpit or otherwise. 
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Thanks a lot. It is just fantastic to have this sort of insights.
I guess nowadays, with digital terrain elevations databases and GPS, the jet simply knows slant range to any designated point anyway. Knowing this, RAZBAM probably just applied game magic to weapon release calculations whenever a designation is present, without actually simulating any underlying systems or processes.
I wish RAZBAM would have done a Desert Storm-era AV-8B. I think A-G was just way more interesting when aircraft needed to actually figure out where a target is in relation to itself. Without just “knowing” it. Target elevation, own position due to INS drift and this sort of things. Don’t we all love the Viggen for this?
Here is another question: In the game, CCIP/AUTO aims the first weapon in a salvo on the spot. This is very annyoing when lofting, as salvoing bombs doesn’t really increase the chances of hit by much (you just waste more bombs beyond the target). Is that really how the Harrier worked? Most other aircraft put the center bomb in a salvo on the aim point.
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Oh, and thanks for telling me that…it explains why (well one of the reasons why) my bomb strings keep going long! 
I was always aiming center of mass!
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