64 replies to this topic

[Davegt27]

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I don't think so. I mean, even if you think newer systems are dumb, the AC130 isn't super new, and I think it's not even a modern AESA radar.

The F4 also had heat seekers, right? I mean, I heard back in the day they were janky, but if you could get behind someone and could get the missile to rack their exhaust they could work. The new ones are much better.

the F15 was ahead of the game AESA is just fancy talk for what the F15 radar could do years and years ago

the Low light level TV, the guns and the slave switching system all have to be slewed to look at the same spot
so its an educated guess that they would need the ground function of the fire control radar to operate

also they like to update the airplanes (saw a vid of a B1 with a targeting pod on it last week) so I am sure the
AC130 has been updated

[Snowbluff]

Davegt27, on 08 August 2016 - 10:37 PM, said:

the F15 was ahead of the game AESA is just fancy talk for what the F15 radar could do years and years ago

It is a good plane. Sure, the F15 had a radar, it's just the updated ones provided much better accuracy, range, and reliability, much like how the F4's AIM9s could track IR, but the newer AIM9s do it much more reliably.

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also they like to update the airplanes (saw a vid of a B1 with a targeting pod on it last week) so I am sure the
AC130 has been updated

The radar was an update to the older version. Hell, the whole AC130 is an update to a cargo plane to make it fight. Of course, I don't think the AC130 would need a state of the art radar if it's tracking ground targets at closer ranges.

[MechWarrior319348]

People drink, people use the internet, people talk to other people. People also know things that don't belong where they end up.

[Davegt27]

I guess the point is its reasonable to think in the 31st century multispectral electronics package would encompass
gimbaled lasers and auto cannons all tied together

modern thinking says its a waste to fire a missile without radar lock-on
the same with IR missiles
even firing at the ground all the sensors need to be slewed to the right location

so in the 31st century they might require some form of sensor lock-on for the weapons to
function

[Dino Might]

MWO weapons have unrealistically short range, so we can say the equivalent targeting systems are comparably hampered. Would you need a radar assisted gun lead reticle for a 100m shot on a slow mover in real life? Not really, but then again, your MG would have a range more like 500, and you sure as heck would want it then.

The debate about mechs not needing radar or other comparable systems for targeting because some real planes don't is absurd. The planes and vehicles I use are examples of how targeting computers, in general, work. If you want to space magic another system to get heading and speed data on continuous update, fine. If you want to say that those data are irrelevant, because we don't get lead reticles, I would understand that a lot more. The point and click Kentucky windage system we have is quite different from what I envisioned playing TT and reading the books. I think mechs should have radar or equivalent for guiding missiles and get targeting pippers for aiming ballistic weapons. At the very least, we can agree that the LRMs are SARH versions requiring radar or equivalent sensor input from the firing platform.

Edited by Dino Might, 09 August 2016 - 01:25 AM.