Air to Air Weapons Set up and Employment | DCS World F-4 Phantom

A follow up to my last video regarding how to use the Air to Air Weapons in the ‪@HeatblurSimulations‬ F-4 Phantom. Hope this clears up any confusion from the last.
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Hardware:
intel core i9-13900k, 64GM RAM, Zotac 4090 GPU
Joystick: VKB Gunfighter III with 20cm extension
Pedals: Virpil ACE
Throttle: Virpil Mongoose 3

[@gabrielescoccini7393]

Easy to follow, well explained, straightforward, no unnecessary bullshit ... You are raising the bar of the DCS tutorials with this Combat Ready series! Thanks a lot! 😎👍

[@scionofdorn9101]

My dad and I are USAF vets. He used to work on the F-4 as an aircraft electrician during Vietnam. He says they used to grumble on the flight line about how slow the F-4 was but he always thought they were slick looking. He tells me they used to call the F-102s “lead sleds”. He can’t remember what their nickname for the F-4s were (he’s over 70, so he’s forgotten more about our aircraft than I ever knew). I wouldn’t know, I was a Gulf War combat comms tech. I only saw the flight line when we were loading equipment and people, but I’ll never forget our F-16s and even a pair of A-10s (my personal favorite) coming and going from our base. Your videos are fun because they remind me of my days playing the early flight sims while serving, and listening to my father’s stories about his time in uniform (I joined to follow in his and my grandads’ footsteps; my grandfathers were WW2 and Korean War vets respectively; my WW2 grandad was an Omaha Beach veteran). That growling lock-on reminds me of “Chuck Yeager’s Air Combat” (l loved that sim). I was a Yeager fanboy back in the day. Chasing MiG-15s was tedious business, especially when your Sparrows decided to wander off and touch grass. Pardon me, just “old fart” reminiscing.

[@jackmcfarlane4250]

Where you based at King Abdullahziz in Dahrahn?

[@jamesyoungquist6923]

From another AF vet, thanks for sharing your story. DCS lets us live vicariously through all the historical periods of air power

[@PeterMatthess]

for my first two dcs sessions in the phantom I thought the 'pinky' switch was the right pinky on the stick, rather than the left pinky on the throttle, so here was me trying to keybind the joystick pinky and getting annoyed that it wasn't working! This video was the video i needed to see when the phantom first came out, thankfully someone has actually made this information available now. The manual wasn't helping me either

[@CasmoTV]

Yeah two pinky switches. A first I think!

[@Universal_exports87]

It's beyond complicated. All things considering this weekend I managed to have a pretty successful flight with the Phantom this weekend but I also mapped the F16Viper and the FA18 and was smoking bogies over the Persian Gulf like I was ordering a pizza thanks to all of my lessons in the TOMCAT. It's a great feeling.

[@airline3hum]

Thank you, thank you for deciding to do just one more video! I've watched many on this topic and yours tops them all.

[@philr3510]

I didn’t know about uncaging the Sidewinders, thank you!

[@PrometheanGOld4]

I’ve been having a few hiccups with the Sparrows as of late, this is really a good way for me to point out the mistakes I’ve made and how to fix em for the next sortie! Love the video and I ‘ppreciate it!

[@kiekiek]

This is very helpful. Your last one made me confused when I tried Air/Air myself for the first time. It is a quirky plane.

[@marcosavila8215]

before i needed to watch grim r for these guides but now i watch you, doing a great Job commander

[@homeworxchannel4120]

Great job explaining what to arm for the aim 7! So far you're the only one to do that.

[@mateusfcl]

Great tutorial! I’ve been struggling to find a video tutorial of these weapons specifically (I know the F4 just launched and I also know that there is an in game training mission, but still)! Great, basic, easy to follow, great job!

[@bwheatley1]

Keep this F4 stuff coming. And i can't wait to see your kiowa combat ready series. :)

[@CasmoTV]

Very kind. Thank you for the support!

[@wash_out]

ACM training will be very interesting. It’s really important to train tactics against the specific enemy aircraft types. If this is missing, everybody will be toast quickly in a duel situation.

[@supermendi0078]

Thanks a lot for these last 2 videos. The Phantom has really been a massive headache these days and hopefully after watching these, it'll be a bit less frustrating to use it :)

[@richmallett9265]

Thanks for that extra detail, and taking the time to make another video. You're an absolute diamond 😎👍

[@ysasmendi]

Thanks Casmo, I'm better understanding the previous video after this one!

[@-Ripcord-]

Thanks for the followup vid, brother!

[@pawel22ppw]

Best video on A/A weapons so far. Good job!

[@CasmoTV]

Very kind

[@evilbrewer]

Tanks for letting the hickups in the Video - that helps.alot!

[@piotrgromadzki1806]

Great video! Thanks :)

[@pyroscot]

Many thanks Casmo that really helps buddy.

[@arcticsmurf2408]

dont stop, please make more!

[@FloatyBones77]

I couldn’t launch sparrows a few days ago and couldn’t for the life of me figure out why. Turns out I didn’t enable the CW switch. Oops! Didn’t catch that when reading the manual, thanks for this tutorial series, it’s been a great guide for getting the basics of F4 operation down.

[@ruf01au]

great content - thanks Casmo

[@raptoid2863]

Oh god. Can someone explain to me why I can't acquire lock or tone in the instant action with the Mig23 coming straight at me in boresight after CAA button? It looks as if I can get radar lock but I cannot for the life of me figure out why I can hardly ever get the shoot cues. I'm thinking it might be having to do its 3 minute spool up but I'm completely lost.

[@aries144]

Why is Jester losing lock? Is it because the target is notching? If so, isn't that wrong since the F-4E's radar is a pulse and not a pulse doppler?

[@mustezdcs6329]

You are an asset for DCS community. 🫡

[@highrpm666]

My pinky switch isn't bound properly. What is the name of the command in the control options menu?

[@blanchbacker]

I’m not at my pc but you need to bind pinky switch - heat, pinky switch - gun, and pinky switch - radar they’re all separate binds

[@CasmoTV]

Not quite. The pinky switch on the stick is the nose wheel steering/ acquisition. The weapons pinky is on the throttle and you can map a two way to rotate through all the choices.

[@pflaumentv1210]

Quick question here: For some reason when I lock a Target using the Cage + Autoacquisition I am unable to fire the Aim-7 it just goes dumb even after waiting 4 seconds. Any Ideas?

[@CasmoTV]

Could be a question of range. How close are you? Or angles? Closure rate? Hard to say from just a general question. Lots of things could be out of parameters.

[@pflaumentv1210]

Could be that it is just min ranged but if the target is flying straight the Aim-7 should be able to get there even with a maneuvering bandit in 4 miles.

[@djbiscuit1818]

​@@pflaumentv1210 Are you firing downwards into clutter? Sparrow speedgate might not be latching onto the target, look up guides on borsight mode for downwards employment/adjusting the aspect switch.

[@jbucci2009]

at least you can shoot a sparrow. I get nothing with master arm on, delivery mode off, weapon selector on RKT, sight mode AA, long V Jester locked on, shoot cue on frame, CW ON, blue RDY. interlock tried up and down. trigger does shit.

[@CasmoTV]

You’re having a real hard time.

[@gameplansolid]

Anyone have a problem with aim7m not tracking in mulicrew? When I wso for my brother the missile flys straight... have done many lock and shoots with radar tracking aswel.

[@III_DarkAngel]

Yeah, now try doing this in combat. I've looked at every available video, I've done hours of trying to get this to work in DCS and every single missile goes dumb off the rail. I've double and triple checked the list of things to do before and the radar is janking all over the place, the ASE flickers and loses locks, it's just a horrendous system to work with. Really not enjoying this module.

[@fastfed]

CASMO, so you are ONLY using the contex button to lock?? I swear I've been trying for days now and this jet SUCKS at shooting missiles. I am sure its buggy some how. I've tried the cage trick, from heater, using acquisition NWS button, nothing. If he does lock I never get a shoot que. When I can actually shoot a aim7 missile it goes no where. its so hit and miss and I think the devs are trying to recreate the real jet this way, but its stupid and silly

[@Bubbletrolllol]

I cant get jester to lock using context key. he just says copy then nothing. using cage/ CAA combo causes my aim7s to just not track. even after 4 sec within range and ASC. somethings going on

[@CasmoTV]

Idk guys. I didn’t do any fancy editing. You saw what I did and I told you what buttons. 🤷🏻‍♂️ I’d have to see your actions real time to know what you’re missing.

[@fastfed]

@@CasmoTV read the forums, it's a huge issue. I have a bunch of buddies and literally all we get is jester saying "copy" and nothing happens. Did you just say try this in one scenario with a giant 4 engine plane ? Either way seems a lot of people are having this issue , most are embarrassed to be honest about it lol

[@Bubbletrolllol]

@@CasmoTV im not saying anyhting about you, both myself and a buddy are having issues 1 getting jester to lock from radar and 2 sparrows just not tracking.

[@justince89]

I’m having the same issues with Jester

[@gnr2871]

Thank you for this. I’ve been struggling to understand sidewinder employment in this aircraft. Sometimes it works for me, but most of the time it doesn’t. I wasn’t uncaging the missile so I had to be ultra precise when I would launch. This makes my life a lot easier.

[@Super_Jayhawk]

Same. I missed the uncage option in the manual. Ugh.

[@Astax]

It's alright jester, we did it 😂😂😂

[@grizzly4736]

I'm here because of the Covey 41 mission. I've watched this 4 times now and it's the best instruction I've gotten on AIM-7 usage. Thank you Casmo.

[@JJay-m1x]

i did everything like in your video. jester won't find anything and won't lock onto anything. "no can do". i don't know what i'm doing wrong.... it's driving me nuts

[@paulwinterscheidt]

Thanks for the video. This is exactly what I was looking for.

[@Jasperjvr2010]

Great video, just helps so much to get going with the F-4

[@Snowy57]

Just what I need right now. Thank you!

[@sp00f64]

Thanks for showing us the basics on ATA, Casmo!

[@hugocastanheira5680]

I keep having Jester losing lock as well, like in your video, is there any particular reason for this?

[@CasmoTV]

Probably a combination of game bugs with real world “this radar isn’t the best”

[@ItsDburch]

This is the best a2a toutorial ive seen yet. Thank you

[@DecibeldB]

Why don't you just mapped emergency Jett button instead? If it's for use in case you get bounce

[@CasmoTV]

You can do that too but I’d rather have a choice.

[@HercDriver]

Perfect, this was exactly the information I was looking for that the training mission was missing.

[@CasmoTV]

Glad I could help!

[@dmonte012]

Thanks for the info on how to set up the gun!

[@EvansRG78]

Thank you so much!! Been needing this.

[@ziepex7009]

dude cas ur an absolute legend

[@phillperry487]

Cheers mate, another great vid

[@ultimatum1895]

Bro what is that outro/credits song its fuckin beatitful, it sounds like FM-84

[@CasmoTV]

“We began as wanderers”. Cherry the penguin.

[@ultimatum1895]

@@CasmoTV thank you!

[@hueyfoo]

Is there a shortcut key to skip all the pre-settings for A/A combat?

[@CasmoTV]

Yes. The War Thunder button.

[@hueyfoo]

@@CasmoTV LOL. It'd be too easy!! What I meant was during the bomb or rocket attack and your WSO warns there is a MIG on our 6. A short cut would become handy. Cheers

[@djbiscuit1818]

​@@hueyfoothere IS a button for that, it's called the CAGE button. That being said, it doesn't do everything for you, you'll want to check the manual to see exactly what it does.

[@kevoman4980]

good info

[@kidheart1238]

Doesn't the big yellow button beside taxi lights switch on the front left jettison external tanks?

[@CasmoTV]

Can’t say, don’t know.

[@christhenademan13]

cant for the life of me get the radar weapon light on what am i doing wrong

[@CasmoTV]

Idk. Did you follow my steps?

[@twifosp1]

One thing to know is if you are low altitude the f4 radar doesn’t have look down and shoot capability. It’s very hard to hit any sparrows at lower altitude

[@odysseus9797]

So the heatseekers cant be slaved to a radar lock? not even the newer models?

[@CasmoTV]

None here I believe. It’s old school.

[@Ares200A]

"Should a radar lock be achieved, the sight will display the range bar on the right side as previously described, with 20,000' indicated at the top, and 3,000' range indicated at the bottom. With a radar lock on, the radar will display a pair of strobes signifying Rmax and Rmin for the Sidewinder against the target under current launch conditions." and you get the ASE. So you get some "steering cues" but on the other hand you illuminate the whole time. but yeah no slave to the radar. Sidewinder will only look BSL afaik.

[@CasmoTV]

@@Ares200A exactly. The seeker doesn’t follow the radar and the reticle doesn’t move with the seeker.

[@gotanon9659]

​@@CasmoTV Pretty sure that only came with the implementation of Sidewinder Expanded Aquistion Mode (SEAM) im just unsure what year and block it was implemented for the USAF F-4 Phantom

[@gotanon9659]

@@CasmoTV Just wondering do you know what Block of F-4 is simulated in DCS?

[@Ares200A]

Thank you Covey 4-1 ! 😉 @CasmoTV