In a demonstration of how terrain will block the FCR beam I’ve turned on the FCR (mapped, of course, to a button on my
HOTAS) while I’m still behind the hill west of the enemy FARP. Since the hill is blocking the radar signal nothing appears on the MFD. You can see on the right MFD I still have the TSD display selected. The radar scan volume, which at its maximum width setting is a 90 degree slice, is superimposed on the TSD display as a red arc showing the lateral and range limit (8km) of the sensor.
The helicopter is in stable hover hold mode (SHIFT-H) which maintains the helicopter position and altitude at the time it is engaged. Taking the helicopter out of stable hover hold and putting into normal hover hold (H) will now allow me to control the altitude of the helicopter using the collective (throttle) to rise up above the hill in front of me and allow my sensors to have line-of-sight (LOS) into the valley on the other side. Immediately the FCR and TSD fill up with symbols as the radar contacts pour in.
The FCR displays all of the contacts it has detected and without me having to do anything it has also targeted what it has determined to be the highest threat of all of the contacts (the SAM vehicle). In the upper left hand corner of the FCR MFD you can see the words “ALL” and “AUTO” which means the FCR will report all contacts, friendly or enemy, and with the FCR set in AUTO the FCR will automatically target the highest threat contact every time. These settings can be changed as we will see in a moment.
It bears mentioning that the FCR is a very “in your face” sensor. If enemy forces and defenses weren’t aware of your presence before you turned on the FCR, you can bet that seconds after you initiate an FCR scan you will be targeted by newly alerted anti-air units, helicopters and fighters. You can minimize your vulnerability when using the FCR by waiting until you are in an ideal attack position before activating it, keeping the scan time to a minimum, and keeping the scan volume to the narrowest and shortest range that suits your needs. It is possible to set the scan to “single sweep” so that only one pass is made with the radar and then it will automatically shut off. You can also set the FCR to display only the information that you wish to have displayed, making your attack more efficient. In most cases the primary threat to you and your helicopter are air defense units. Air defense units are classified as “HIGH” threat priorities while lesser targets fall into the “MEDIUM” and “LOW” categories. Using the threat priority filter on the FCR you can chose to display the threat priority that interests you (numpad-9 and numpad-3). In this case I’ve switched the FRC to display on “HIGH” threat priorities so the display has decluttered to show only the air defense vehicle.
The target identification is provided at the bottom of the FCR and is also displayed in your HUD. Target ID depends on your realism settings. I chose to enable the co-pilot/gunner target ID feature since normally you would have a second crewmember to assist you with attack duties. With the CP/G target ID enabled there will be a brief pause of several seconds upon acquiring or designating a target while the CP/G identifies the target. Flying erratically or moving the sensor about (switching the FCR target or moving the optical sensor) will delay this process further until the target stabilizes under the sensor of interest.
The HUD displays the information that is being sent by whatever sensor is active. In the bottom right the sensor type will be displayed (in this case the ground radar), the range to the target, the target ID and the type of weapon you have selected (if any). The box above the target ID tag is Target Acquisition and Designation Sight (TADS) field of regard box and the smaller box within is the TADS field of view marker. The field of regard box represents the limits that your TADS system (what you can actually see using your helmet optics) can display and represents +/- 120 degrees left or right of the nose and +30 up and -60 degrees down. The small box within the field of regard box represents the actual field of view that you are looking at and allows you to quickly see where, in relation to the entire possible field of view (and the nose of the helicopter) you are looking. Finally, the bug at the top of the compass display indicates the compass heading that the sensor is looking at. Getting familiar with this concept can take some getting used to since many fixed wing pilots are used to the HUD being fixed in position on the longitudinal axis of the aircraft. Where goes the HUD, so goes the aircraft (in general terms). That is not so with a helicopter using a helmet mounted sighting system. It is perfectly acceptable to be flying along with your head rotated 90 degrees to the right, blazing away with your cannon while watching the data from your helmet display and navigating the helicopter relative to what is in front of you.
Cont…
