Su-27/33 Russian Air Superiority...

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Reiser
Posts: 25
Joined: Tue Nov 04, 2014 9:00 pm

Su-27/33 Russian Air Superiority...

Post by Reiser » Sun Nov 09, 2014 1:39 am

Gents,

Here's the basics of how we fly russian's online on DCS world.

This information also assumes you know what the missile types used are as well as how to turn on your EOS and Radar and find/lock targets... This is how you survive...


Pre-engagement Behavior and Sensor Usage

EOS

Use your EOS as your primary sensor. EOS is a passive seeker system which works by finding heat signatures and as such it:
-is good at finding rear or side aspect aircraft, but not head on,
-can paint a afterburning aircraft very easily from long distances away,
-can not tell friend from foe,
-is not detectable by other aircraft even when locked,
-when used with heat-seeking missiles, the missile launch won't be detected by the target.
-will have difficulty finding targets with a low heat signature such as the A-10.

These characteristics make EOS your main sensor for stealth tactics. Use it to find and kill the enemy without giving him any clues that you're coming. If done properly, the enemy will not even take evasive action. Be aware that launching a radar guided missile in EOS mode will automatically turn on your radar.

Since EOS has no IFF functionality, use your radar to determine IFF by very quickly turning it on and off while watching your HUD. If done quickly enough (0.5s or less) the enemies RWR will not show the ping. (EXTREMELY USEFUL!)

Another way to do this is to follow the following steps:
step 1. find a contact in eos and lock it in eos
step 2. select either r-73 or r27t/et
step 3. lock contact with radar

This lock with radar won't show up as a lock on American's except for the aircraft listed below. Switching to an r-27r/er will engage a radar lock signal for the enemy but using IR missiles won't.
EOS locks emit a laser (rangefinder?) and as such is detectable by aircraft with laser warning systems (eg. A-10C and Ka-50) and the A-10C can detect EOS launches even when used with IR homing missiles.

Radar

Do not use your radar just to look around randomly. Your radar is detectible by RWR and it gives away your position. F15s have a powerful RWR and they'll be all over you with their equally powerful radars. Use it only when you expect to see something with it, the enemy has already discovered you, or want to draw attention to yourself in some type of strategy.

Radar frequencies can make a difference in detection range. Hi frequency is used for head-on targets and has the longest detection range. Medium frequency is used for detecting rear or side aspect targets and has a bit less range.
Interleaved mode switches automatically between hi and med frequencies for when the target aspect is unknown. It has less range than either hi or med, so if you know the target aspect you should not be in interleaved mode.

Radar tilt/elevation on the russian birds has a lot of people stumped. It's designed to work with AWACS and Datalink which is why it is how it is. This is broken down into 2 parts.

-Estimated range to target.
-Estimated elevation of target in relation to yourself.

Here's how it's supposed to work using Russian tactics: AWACS will call out a target, from your position, bearing 245 for 60 km at 7000m. If you're at 6000m you'll point yourself to bearing 245, set estimated range to 60km, and set your radar elevation to 1000m above. (1 on the hud) Now the bandit should be painted in the middle of your HUD.
Estimated range is important because to point the radar to 1000m above you at 10km is going to be more of an angle change than if the target is 60km away and 1000m above you. I can illustrate this if it's still unclear.

In DCS we don't normally have AWACS giving us this precise information, so we need to be able to scan with our radar quickly and efficiently, without leaving gaps of unscanned airspace in our scan zones.
The best way to scan without leaving gaps is to leave the estimated range at 10km. This way each adjustment up or down will be covering different airspace than the last adjustment, with a little bit of overlap. This way each "click" is having maximum effect while not leaving blind spots.

Your radar has IFF functionality. Targets painted with 2 bars are friendly (==) and targets with one bar are enemy (--).
The radar will not tell you exactly what type of enemy your are tracking. You have use the target's altitude and airspeed to guess what type of aircraft it is. Larger aircraft will show as a longer set of lines on the HUD to help you out at least a little bit.

The new Su-27 PFM's radar has been upgraded and might be slightly different, I haven't hat enough time with the new one to do a write-up.

Reiser
Posts: 25
Joined: Tue Nov 04, 2014 9:00 pm

Re: Su-27/33 Russian Air Superiority...

Post by Reiser » Sun Nov 09, 2014 1:41 am

ECM

The ECM jammer is a double edged sword. It's a common misconception that the ECM will hide you from enemy radar. It does not. Here is an analogy that works well to describe the relationship between the ECM and the radar:

You are in a long dark hallway, and your eyes are your radar. As you walk down the hallway you start to see a small dim light. As you move closer you the light gets brighter and clearer to your eyes. Moving even closer you can tell how far away the light is, it's size, and exactly where it is. Ones you get close enough you can accurately touch it with your hand without missing or feeling around. This is a normal radar contact.
Now you're in the same hallway, but there's a light burning with the strength of a thousand suns at the other end. It's so powerful that you could see it from miles and miles away. You couldn't possibly miss it in fact! You try to look at it but you can't tell what it is because it's too bright. You can easily tell that it's there and you can tell that it's "that way" but you can't tell if it's 10 meters away or 10 miles. It's complete sensory overload. Even if you were close enough to touch it, you'd have to wave your arms around to try find the source of the immense amount of light. This is a ECM contact.

That's a bit of a dramatic analogy but you can see that the ECM is in no way a tool that's used for hiding. With this understanding you should be able to mostly figure out for yourself when it's a good idea to shine with the strength of a thousand suns, but here are some of the times I like to use it.

-When the enemy has me painted and I want to hide without him knowing where I went, I sometimes will turn on the ECM, get behind a hill/mountain/ otherwise out of sight, and turn it back off. The enemy sees me, then they see jam, then they see nothing. The ECM has hopefully concealed my change in course enough to leave the enemy only guessing where I went.

-Another time that it can be useful is to break a enemy lock. If timed correctly this can delay a enemy missile launch and force the enemy to work his radar, adding to his workload. I try to guess when the enemy will fire, and I want to have my ECM on just before that happens. This is pretty hard to get just right because of the time it takes for the ECM to warm up.

-I will use it to help out a friendly that is ahead of me that has a enemy ahead of him who is trying to lock him. By turning on my ECM, even from a long distance away, I'm cluttering the enemy radar making it much more difficult for him to lock up my buddy. This is especially effective and frustrating to the enemy with multiple people jamming from a safe distance while others go up ahead to engage.

-The ECM can also allow you to get significantly closer to SAMs without being launched upon.


Missile avoidance


This is a broad topic so I'm going to break it down into what's shooting at you, how to tell, and how to defeat it. This is all be based on avoiding ordinance from a F15C, not SAMs.

Missile launch modes:

In order to avoid missiles, it's imperative to know when one has been launched at you. The queues to pick up on differ based on the missile has been launched and what radar mode it has been launched in.

The most common missile you'll face is the AIM-120B and C. They can be launched in 3 different modes, and each of them will require a different way of detecting them.

-The most basic is the SST launch. Before this launch you will have the steady lock tone and red light on your RWR. This is the enemy radar locking you. Very shortly after the enemy launches you will get the audible launch tone warning. Now you know for fact there is a missile inbound on your aircraft.

-The second is the TWS launch. This is harder to detect. You will have the radar spike from the enemy aircraft but will not have any lock warning nor a missile launch warning until the aim-120 goes "active" and turns on its own onboard radar. This happens much later than actual launch and by this time the missile is most likely already traveled 75% of its flight distance. You can detect these launches earlier than the RWR warning by visually seeing the missile, or by watching the heading of the enemy jet.
Here's what to watch for. If the enemy is coming at you head on, and he suddenly changes course to be moving at an angle to you, you can bet that he launched. He is "cranking" which means that he is trying to keep his distance (not flying straight in) while still keeping you within his radar gimbal limits. This maneuver is generally not useful to him until after he launches.

-The third mode is HOJ which can only be used if you have your radar jammer turned on. You will not receive any RWR warning so the only way to know about these missiles are by visually seeing it or by seeing its heat signature on EOS. Either way it'll be tough to see so don't fly around with your jammer on.

-AIM-7s have a flood mode which allows then to passively guide onto you. You'll get no lock tone from this but you will get the RWR showing the enemy radar.

Defeating Radar missiles

Now the main thing to remember about missiles is that they are physical objects that obey the laws of physics. They have to get to you using their kinetic energy (rocket booster) and their potential energy (height). Added up, this is the energy that the missile has to get to you. No more, no less. Therefore if you can make the missile use up its energy before reaching you then you will have defeated it and it will fall to the ground.



Defeating by energy.

The "crank" is a very basic maneuver used to reduce your closure rate to a missile, making it fly further to get to you. Turn left or right to put the enemy at the outer edge of your radar/EOS gimbal limits. This is just making the missile fly to you instead of doing half the work yourself and intercepting the missile.
Cranking alone will only work if the missile was fired from its maximum range at the time you were flying straight to it.

The missile is programmed to intercept you. Use this against it. If you turn right, the missile will turn farther right for a lead pursuit, if you turn left, it goes farther left. Weaving will make the missile zig zag making it lose energy quickly in turn and fly even farther than if you had only cranked. This is very effective when the missile is launched from long range. You do not need to freak out and pull 10 Gs weaving. Keep your speed and keep the enemy on you EOS or radar.

Defeating with the terrain.

Another way to keep missiles from getting to you is to put something between you and the missile, usually the ground. This can mean getting behind a hill for long enough for the missile to crash or lose track, or again using the missile's lead pursuit to crash it into the ground by diving down. The missile doesn't know where the ground is so it'll try to intercept you at a point underground, obviously it crashes when it meets the dirt.

Defeating it's tracking systems.

If the missile doesn't know where you are it's very unlikely that it'll hit you. There are a couple ways to confuse the seeker guiding the missile:

Radar guided missiles can be confused by maneuvering yourself into the Doppler Notch, aka "notching". This is done by being at a lower altitude and at a perpendicular heading in relation to the radar in question. This causes your Doppler return to be similar enough to ground targets that the radar will filter you out and lose track of you. Remember that AIM-120s have their own radar so you'll need to know whether to notch the enemy aircraft or the missile itself. Notching is a fully defensive maneuver and the lower you are in relation to the radar in question, the better. Notching is a fully defensive maneuver. You cannot paint, lock, shoot at, or guide missiles to the enemy while notching.

Dispensing chaff also helps confuse a radar. Chaff will appear to radar as a contact so that the missile might go for it instead of you. Don't just dispense chaff and call it a day though, chaff is a supplement to your other defensive maneuvers and on its own will probably not save you.

IR guided missile avoidance and detection.

Infrared guided missiles (heat seekers) are most often used in short range surprise attacks or dogfights because they are difficult to detect, excellent maneuverability, and short range.

An enemy fighter jet can use his radar to assist his missile to gain an infrared lock on you. In this case, you'll receive a lock tone but no missile launch tone. Since IR guided missiles are usually short range weapons, be extra wary for smoke trails whenever you're being locked at close range!

IR guided missiles can also be launched in non radar-assisted modes, There is no way to tell when these missiles are inbound other than by visually spotting them or their smoke.

The same laws of physics of radar missiles apply to these, however these generally fired at a much shorter range, reducing the changes of an energy based evasion strategy. Your best bet is to reduce your IR signature by reducing throttle to idle and turning towards the missile while popping flares to decoy the missile. This employs decoy, IR signature reduction, and outmaneuvering techniques all in one move.

Obviously afterburners create more IR signature than flares so chopping throttle is absolutely imperative when attempting to defeat a IR guided missile.

Remember that the F15C has a very good RWR that will help them quickly recognize radar threats against them, and they have a very powerful radar which will help them paint those threats quickly and from a long range. Stay off that RWR as much as possible!

Stay off that radar too! The F15 is the eagle with long range and sharp eyes. It flies and dares anything to come at it. Russian aircraft must use stealth. Flying low is often a good idea. Radar finds targets against the sky easier than against the ground. Try to flank your enemy and escape their radar coverage. Use your EOS and RWR to determine the enemy's location and strategize your attack from there. If you try to be the eagle you are wasting your advantages while playing into the enemy's hand.

Reiser
Posts: 25
Joined: Tue Nov 04, 2014 9:00 pm

Re: Su-27/33 Russian Air Superiority...

Post by Reiser » Sun Nov 09, 2014 1:42 am

Fighting the A-10C

Sure, you think the A-10C Thunderbolt II is a sitting duck. Go get shot down by Mataman or BuDa, get taunted by peers and slmod, and then come back.

The A-10C is not a sitting duck. That is rule #1. Do not forget that.

Strengths of the A-10C

The A-10C has a very low IR signature thanks to it's turbofan engines and very big tail fins which cover the exhaust nozzles from the side aspect. This makes them difficult to spot on EOS until you're very close. What's more is that at very close range, your EOS cone is relatively small, meaning you can pretty much fly right by one without seeing it. Also, their flares are incredibly effective in decoying your missiles because they have a large amount of flares, can release them extremely rapidly, and the flares have a large IR signature in comparison to that of the engines.

The A-10C is also very tough. Although they're usually not attacking your ground units after being hit, it often take more than one hit to actually bring them down.

A-10Cs generally fly in flights. You need to count on more than one, and if they're worth their salt, they'll defend each other.

The A-10C can detect your EOS lock and missile launches regardless of the missile used or missile mode. They pretty much always know when they're locked or have a missile inbound making it easy for them to take evasive action.

The A-10C is extremely maneuverable at slow speeds. This means that turn fighting a A-10C is out of the question. If you try, humiliation is nigh. Just don't.

Your strengths against the A-10C

You're faster, you have longer range weapons, you have radar.

This may surprise you but your speed is actually your best asset here. Why? Because it gives you the option to leave and come back. Since the A-10 can't do that, you're instantly in control of the fight and he's responding to your actions.

Your longer range weapons and radar are the hard counter to the A-10's maneuverability. You have the opportunity to shoot and splash before he shoots back.

You absolutely must keep these things in mind because the advantages can swing from wildly in your favor to wildly against you.

How to win
-Use your speed to consciously decide when to engage and when to extend. If the fight isn't going your way, you should extend BEFORE your disadvantages come into play.
-Use your radar instead of EOS to find and guide missiles onto A-10s since EOS isn't good at finding them and they'll know about your presence, locks, and missile launches anyway.
-Use long range missiles to fire at them from outside of the range of their AIM-9s

And again. Do NOT turn fight a A-10C.

Reiser
Posts: 25
Joined: Tue Nov 04, 2014 9:00 pm

Re: Su-27/33 Russian Air Superiority...

Post by Reiser » Sun Nov 09, 2014 2:23 am

Words of advice... Track targets with EOS, not radar. They can't tell you're tracking them with EOS. Missiles like the R73 and R27T/ET are IR missiles and use your target from EOS to track. The F-15C doesn't have IR sensors (unlike the A10 or Ka50) and won't know you launched at them. They are closer range, but again, if you can stay off their RWR... deadly! This is how Su-27 pilots get F-15 kills without the F-15 pilot knowing where it came from or who did it!

Bubi
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Re: Su-27/33 Russian Air Superiority...

Post by Bubi » Fri Dec 04, 2015 5:51 pm

+1 Excellent summary. Regardless of which modern sim you fly. Well done.
"Train as you fight, fight as you train"

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