Air-to-Air Weapons Employment – Phantom Phamiliarisation

Video

Introduction

In Israeli ends, during the Yom Kippur war, the F-4E claimed a killed to death ratio of either 17 to 1, or 21 to 1, depending on how friendly fire accidents are counted. The lead air-to-air fighter for the Israeli, the Mirage 5, claimed a KDR or 19 to 1.
The Iranians struggled more, due to the geopolitical situation and the consequences of the revolution of 1979. Out of the ~180 F-4E they possessed before the war, only a quarter may still be operational today, considering all the variants.
In the USAF, the F-4E primarily operated in Vietnam and destroyed more than 20 hostile aircraft.

As discussed in the previous discussion about the peculiarities of the F-4E, the Phantom II shows the full effect of the new “missile-centric” doctrine. The loss of the gun, in fact, was balanced, in theory, by the possibility of carrying up to 8 air-to-air missiles, more than many predecessors.
The Phantom carries up to 4 AIM-7 Sparrow in dedicated recesses in the fuselage, along up to four AIM-9 Sidewinder mounted under the wings, on lau-7 air-to-air missile launchers. The Sidewinder stations can also be used to carry various air-to-ground ordnance, whereas station number 3, on the front-left of the Phantom, can be used to mount a pod; for example, the Westinghouse AN/AVQ-23 Pave Spike. Bigger pods, such as the Ford Aerospace AN/AVQ-26 Pave Tack had to be mounted in the centreline station.

Air-to-Air Weapons: Avionics

The controls necessary to operate air-to-air weapons are varied, and present in both cockpits. As usual, different upgrades of the F-4E may show different instruments and controls than what Heatblur is implementing.

Front Cockpit

In the front seat we find, top to bottom, the Shoot Lights, the Head Up Display Lights, various controls on the Multiple Weapons Control Panel, plus more on stick and throttle. Most of these are fairly intuitive, so let’s focus on the more obscure.

In the Multiple Weapons Control Panel, we find the Radar Missile Power Switch. To guide Sparrow missiles, the switch should be set to CW, acronym for Continuous Wave. This operation energises the CW transmitter and starts missile tuning, and a “RDR” confirmation light turns on in the Missile Status Lights assembly. Then, the switch can be returned to Standby if needed, and the tuning and warm-up power is maintained. With the radar mode knob not on TV, and the switch in the CW on position, the tuning is continually monitored.
When the switch is originally moved from the off position, there is a 30-second delay before the missile power switch is energised.

The Missile Status Lights assembly, displays a series of 4 “RDR” lights, and 4 “heat” lights.
The RDR light, mentioned before, is activated when the relative AIM-7 is correctly tuned; otherwise, the missile is dropped from the launch circuit automatically.
The heat lights refer to the AIM-9 sidewinder missiles. When the gear is raised, a single heat light is activated, indicating which missile is selected.

The Interlock Switch strictly affects the operation of the AIM-7 Sparrow. When the switch is set to the “In” position, a series of requirements are necessary for it to be employed, otherwise, it can be fired at any time. The “In Range” light must be on. The AIM dot is inside the ASE circle. And the radar display knob is not in the V I mode.

The Centreline Tank Aboard Light prevents the Phantom from entering in “barbecue” mode. Unfortunately, the AI does not convey the sarcasm well enough. Ha, Ha, Ha.
Anyhow, the various configurations inform the pilot whether the AIM-7s mounted in the front wells can be operated or jettisoned, depending on the presence of a bomb or fuel tank in the centreline station. The tuning of the AIM-7 Sparrows is not affected.

The “Shoot” / “In Range” lights are used to inform the crew about the feasibility of missile employment. Interestingly enough, the “Shoot” lights are inhibited when Radar is selected, the aspect angle is 90° ±9°, and the elevation angle is lower than 5° above the horizon. This feature prevents the employment of the AIM-7 in the main radar beam clutter.

Stick and Throttle

Moving forward to Stick and Throttle, the “gun/missile” switch, or pinky switch, is located on the left end of the throttle. It is a four – position control that allows the pilot to select the weapon selected between guns, radar, or heat missiles. In the case of heat missiles, it also allows selecting the station used. Forward selects radar missiles, centre heat missiles, rear for guns and up performs the heat reject function. This last position is spring-loaded.

In certain versions of the F-4E, the pinky switch also controls the radar scan corridor for the CAA mode, acronym for Computer Automatic Acquisition mode. The details of this mode will be discussed in the future. In particular, the rear position (used for guns), centres the slewable scan at about 15° azimuth. In the centre position (used for heat), the scan is centred at about 0° azimuth. Lastly, the forward position, centres the scan area at about 15° right azimuth.
The Cage button performs a number of functions, but its basic purpose is to rapidly switch the weapon avionics from air-to-ground delivery status, to air-to-air status.

Besides the double-detent trigger, the control stick hosts two additional functions. The Nose-Wheel Steering, sometimes called Nose-Gear Steering, enables the radar auto-acquisition mode. The AAR, acronym for Air Refuelling Release button, uncages the seeker for the AIM-9 or the AIM-65 missiles.
The Control Stick is present in the rear seat as well. Although it supports similar functions, the WSO’s stick does not fire any armament or operate cameras.

WSO’s Controls

The radar is involved in air-to-air operations, as a means to find, track and engage targets with radar-guided missiles. However, this topic is vast and deserves a dedicated discussion. As a sort of entrée, these are the controls involved for the basic target acquisition.

The Radar Set Control Panel is located in the back seat. It somewhat resembles the Sensors Control Panel of the Tomcat, and similarly, it contains several radar-related controls.
To acquire and track a target, the radar must be turned on. This is done by setting the Radar Power knob to the “OPR” position.
The radar scan volume can be boresighted, but for general operations, the standard usage mode is often preferable. To select it, the “Mode” knob should be set to the “RDR” position.

Next, assuming parameters such as range are met, the WSO can use the side stick, called the Antenna Hand Control, to bracket the target with the acquisition symbol. Using the full action of the two-stages trigger, he proceeds to press and hold until, when the range strobe precisely matches the target, the lockon happens automatically. At this point, the WSO can release the action switch of the Antenna Hand Control.

Checklists

Before wrapping up this introduction to the basic air-to-air controls and avionics, let’s review the following checklist, useful to have an idea of how guns, radar, and heat missiles are operated. As usual, keep in mind that there may be minor differences depending on which version of the F-4E we are flying.

These are the steps necessary to employ the AIM-7 Sparrow and have the trigger in the “ready” status:

1. Radar power knob in the “OPR” position.
2. The Radar missile power switch must be in “CW on”.
3. The missile or missiles must be tuned. Verify the “RDR” missile status lights.
4. The “interlock” switch must be set to Out. If set to In, the launch criteria discussed before must be satisfied.
5. The “gun/missile” switch must be in radar position. The head-up status light should have the “Radar” light on.
6. The Master Arm must be in the “Arm” position.

Finally, as discussed before, there can be conditions that prevent the usage of the two AIM-7 Sparrows mounted in the front wells.

The procedure to employ the AIM-9 Sidewinder is much simpler, as the radar is not a requisite.

1. The “gun/missile” switch must be in the “heat” position. Verify that the Missile status Heat light is On, and the head-up Heat light is also On.
2. The Master Arm must be in the “Arm” position.

Finally, these steps set the trigger to the “ready” status when Guns are employed.

1. The “gun/missile” switch must be in the “gun” position. Verify that the head-up Gun light is On.
2. The gun station button must be On. Check that the Gun green light should be On.
3. The Master Arm must be in the “Arm” position. Verify that the gun station arm light and the head-up Arm light are both On.