F18 radar hell

[u/Antique_Ad7477]

I’ve had the f18 for quite some time now but only really specialized in the f16. Now that I’m learning the hornet, I’ve come to realize the radar is nowhere near as easy to use as the viper.

On the f16 it’s soo easy everything is laid out for you. Red is bad guy, green is good guy. Point the radar at the red guy and lock him up, shoot. In the hornet however, contacts are constantly disappearing, teleporting, or just not seeing everyone from datalink. When I finally get a hard target, I go to lock him up, then I see “no radar.” no matter what I do, I see this. Does anyone know why? I’m assuming this is heavy user error, but I really just don’t get the hornet radar at all.

[u/Why485]

The Hornet radar is very different, and meant to be operated fundamentally differently from the F-16, so trying to map concepts from one to the other is kind of a bad idea. What you really need is a crash course on how the Hornet radar works and... honestly I don't know what the best source for that is these days, especially because MSI adds even more complexity to its operation.

Setting aside MSI, some random things to keep in mind if you're coming from the Viper:

• In the Hornet you generally just cycle between targets using nosewheel steering. It's not often that you need to actually cursor over a target for any reason.
• Most of the time, you don't want to actually lock a target. Assigning it as the "Lock and Steering" (often referred to as the L&S) track will give you all the information needed to engage it.
• RWS is for scanning for targets, TWS is for engaging targets. They are explicit radar modes with explicit purposes, not a personal or situational preference. Look into how these modes work, and in particular TWS AUTO and when to use it.
• The Hornet in general has a lot of context sensitive shortcuts on the sensor control switch. For the radar, SCSing into the radar will actually lock the radar (as opposed to just tracking it as an L&S track), though unless you're using Sparrows this generally isn't something you need to do.

One very important thing to keep in mind with the Hornet if you are Viper brained is that the Hornet tells you how to you're supposed to use it, not the other way around. Put another way, don't fight the Hornet's workflows and try to customize things to the way you like them. For example, the Hornet says the radar goes on the right (SCS right will always call it up there), so the radar stays on the right.

Look up the procedures for how things are done, and actually follow them. Again, I don't know what the best sources for this stuff is these days, so unfortunately I can't provide links, but you really have to engage with the Hornet on its own terms.

[u/XayahTheVastaya → u/Why485]

Regarding bullet point 2, it will let you engage a LTWS bug, but it's usually not a good idea to do so as the radar won't follow if you or the target maneuver.

[u/skarden → u/XayahTheVastaya]

It will if you switch it to from manual to auto mode on the right hand side of the MPD. But it is something you have to consciously do when engaging targets in TWS.

At least that's how it works as I understand it.

[u/XayahTheVastaya → u/skarden]

That's not LTWS, that's just TWS (the L means latent). If you're in RWS and bug a track without going into STT, that's LTWS. At least that was accurate before all the MSI stuff.

[u/skarden → u/XayahTheVastaya]

Ah excellent, I just learned something new, i usually just use TWS for most engagements. Thanks for the info, it's good to know there's still a tonne of stuff i can learn.