Video
The mission is available here: Download page.
One of the upcoming chapters of the F-4E Air-to-Air series discusses Ground / Air-controlled intercepts and intercepts without radar lockon. As mentioned in several previous videos and articles, the F-4E requires a shift in perspective and approach. One fundamental point is the poor performance of the APQ-120 as a search radar, requiring the crew to focus less on the avionics and more on Controllers and Mk I eyeballs. However, GCI/AIC and no-lockon intercepts are slightly more tricky than conventional ones via radar lock, and a quick and dirty training playground can be helpful in this regard.
This video shows a simple mission I put together and use for testing and training. It is nothing complicated, and it is easy to edit and tailor to your needs. I made it in about half an hour, more or less. The plan was to share it along with the chapters about no-lockon and GCI/AIC-driven intercepts. But then I thought, “Why wait?”
Since “repetita iuvant”, both in theory and practice, this mission has no frills: jump into a Phantom, receive updates from the controller and act immediately.
The structure is simple: several F-4E are ready to be air-spawned in different areas of the Caucasus map. The radios are already tuned to the appropriate Ground Controller.
If you have watched the video about the AI GCI or AWACS in DCS and their effects on Cold War missions, you may have noticed how I am not happy about the status quo at all. To offset one of the biggest issues, which is the real-time updates of the provided information, I used a couple of timers to activate and deactivate the controllers. By doing so, a player cannot spam “bogey dope” requests, and, more usefully, BRAA calls are sent automatically upon every activation, which occurs every circa 15 seconds. Next, to make things more interesting, a flag is randomised at every mission start, and such a flag activates only one hostile aircraft out of six possible combinations.
So, putting everything together, the player or players just have to jump into a Phantom. The ground controller tracks randomly spawned hostile targets and automatically provides BRAA information for intercept and engagement. Depending on the area you have selected, you can practice different intercepts and engagements.
The four scenarios I created are quite different and span from fighter vs fighter feet-dry and feet-wet, preventing hostile air-to-ground aircraft trying to attack Kutaisi airport, and intercepting bombers and transports. The last set is the most useful for practising GCI and no-lockon intercepts, which double as training for tanker rejoin and VID.
Feel free to edit the mission as you prefer, moving scenarios, changing weapons, adding or removing hostiles. It is all based on a bunch of triggers, so editing the scenario is straightforward.
If you are looking for a more constructed and complex training scenario, check Sim Sedlo’s mission.
The details of how no-lock on and Ground-controlled intercepts will be discussed in the near future. In the meantime, several videos and articles covering the necessary fundamentals of geometry and functions of Controllers are available in the list below. They include an overview of the controllers, using recordings and footage from real-life events such as the two Gulf of Sidra incidents, plus several others discussing geometry and air-to-air in various degrees of depth.
FlyAndWire 