DCS: F-4E Phantom: Pave Spike + Laser guided bombs Tutorial

A Comprehensive guide to operating the Pave Spike Targeting Pod: From setup to controls and Laser guided bomb employment with GBU-12s.
The most rudimentary pod in DCS to date, and most hands on. Next part we'll explore the differences between the different versions and rudimentary to get the most out of your pod!
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[@RedKiteRender]

Minor change for release: If you're not getting steering to target, don't forget to turn on your flight director (Right of the HSI, right knob, place FD horizontal for ON)

[@benjaminnevins5211]

Absolutely amazing video!

[@LAWest]

Not now, babe. RedKite uploaded!

[@DrugConsumer]

men only want 1 thing, and it’s a notification from RedKite.

[@akisakis7980]

@thebrain7441 2 more days and she can find someone else

[@RedKiteRender]

@akisakis7980 Get her a Phantom too, everyone needs a WSO!

[@MemphisBelle291]

​@thebrain7441 simply tell her whats going on and claim a few hours sparetime per day for the first few days, if she denies, show her the yellow/black colored handle 😅

[@agidotexe7167]

I love the look of the Pavespike, looks like a robot from the portal games or something out of starwars, 100% my fav looking TGP

[@RedKiteRender]

I quite like the alarmed Cyclops look of the ATFLIR, but this one has character! i mean, it's basically got an eyelid!

[@agidotexe7167]

@@RedKiteRender 100%

[@wildwehraboo6112]

'6969' "No Go" Gotta love it

[@Coolhand101e]

This is another fine example of professional attention to detail and explanations that show you want people to be able to operate the equipment as intended. Thank you Redkite for a tutorial I will probably watch several times!!

[@andrewmcwilliam1764]

You were made for instructional material like this, Redkite. Perfect cadence and clarity. Didn't think I could ever find such a thing quite so soothing.

[@twofaceddisk799]

Sorry I can’t come into work today! Redkite is teaching me how to not totally suck as a WSO and keep my pilot from yelling at me! 😂

[@the88tench3]

Awesome video! Will have to save this to help with learning the Pave Spike. Like the use of C-130's as the targets. Just need a tornado to buddy lase for now!

[@mikedalgliesh1377]

Thanks Redkite! I wish HB would hurry up with the cold start video though.

[@fortinero3361]

Awesome tutorial mate, as always.

[@Enigma89]

Top tier thumbnail

[@alpenfoxvideo7255]

ahh, Jerster can't use the spike yet? It is one of the features on the F-14 that seriously impressed me, such a frictionless interaction! I hope we'll get something similar

[@RedKiteRender]

He's much improved, but the new system hasn't been integrated into the pod, its quite a different beast to the LANTIRN.

[@alpenfoxvideo7255]

@@RedKiteRender I understand, but the basic interaction is what I meant, it was pretty nice. Q_Eyeballs, Q_Direct, all pretty elegant solutions to the problem

[@RedKiteRender]

@@alpenfoxvideo7255 Currently Jester 2.0 will automatically setup the Pave spike and video, 12vis it for you when you setup the front pit for it. You can then use the Context action button to ask him to lock, and he'll lase for a moment starting track. That's where jester support ends at release. I'd be surprised if humans can 'Q_eyes' in the phantom very effectively. WIll be interested to see how they set him up.

[@AdmiralQuality]

Awesome! I love these not-so-smart weapons! Thanks RedKite!!!

[@jacklavalley8245]

On the f10 map, you can also use "LALT+Left Click" to have the coordinates and ground altitude in a pop up window

[@Deltarious]

Ah yes the "Good enough for government work" pod! To be fair in the late 70s cold war only setting it's surprisingly powerful, even if painfully annoying to work with

[@RedKiteRender]

Yeah! The better you work within the limitations and accept its flaws it's a really powerful tool for the time.

[@jubuttib]

Honestly, the "good enough for government work" was when the WSO would use a handheld laser designator (ALD, Airborne Laser Designator) from the backseat... This was a massive improvement over that. =)

[@RoamingAdhocrat]

​@@jubuttibwait what

[@jubuttib]

@@RoamingAdhocrat Yup, that is a thing they did before pods.

[@Isimus]

Red Kite, sublime, as always!

[@billcedarheath387]

In all my USAF days on F-4Es I never saw any writing on the canopies. Crew Chiefs took time and effort cleaning them during their pre-flight. They would have lost their mind if there was grease pencil on them when they got them back. Kneeboards existed so there was no need for the canopy to be a notepad. It was standard for us to have wing tanks on the outboard stations and the GBUs on the inboards. Also, glad to see the laser code to be set on the ground as it should be. 🏆

[@RedKiteRender]

The Grease pencil is a 'first' for Digital Combat Simulator, and specifically only available in the Phantom, which releases to the public on Tuesday so we're all clamouring for excuses to use it. We don't actually have kneeboards/notepads to write on in the sim!

[@billcedarheath387]

@@RedKiteRender I “fly” in DCS with a real kneeboard to write notes. The grease pencil might be a first in DCS, but it isn’t realistic from my history and more of useless novelty.

[@goonsquad1234]

@@billcedarheath387 It was used extremely heavily by F-14s doing FAC-A, maybe in your experience it's a novelty but that doesn't mean it wasn't used anywhere...

[@billcedarheath387]

@@goonsquad1234 I didn’t say it wasn’t and that’s why I qualified my comment as from my point of view and not a blanket statement for everyone. It’s an F-4E and not a Tomcat. They seem to have gotten it backwards. 🤣

[@goonsquad1234]

@@billcedarheath387 Yeah that's fair, I think it's more a case of them using all their new tech in the F-4, and then they can backport it to their other modules

[@crazykiwi1472]

Umm, feeling seriously in over my head after watching this video. Hope the Jester version of controlling the TGP does not take too long. Think I will be practicing iron bombs in the meantime. 🤯

[@grogjin1307]

I'm in love.

[@peterwassmuth4014]

Awesome Thank you for Sharing! 💯✴

[@droneforfun5384]

Good video thank you

[@Raiders1917]

Everyone used to the F-16C, F-15E, and F/A-18C pods are in for a wake-up, lol. And I think even the F-14B even gets a Litning pod.

[@kilux85]

Followed that amazing guide (as usual!) to the dot but couldn't get my bombs to track for the life of me. Turns out if you set a different laser code than 1688 in the mission editor (or via rearming menu) the bombs are still on 1688. This is a known issue according to the Heatblur discord. The only way to use a different laser code is via the ground crew menu.

[@SasquaTch_AS]

1:17 HOLY BOMBS!!!!

[@ziepex7009]

Thanks RK, you are a legend, full weapons guide soon...? 👀

[@JoJo-vm8vk]

I got the answer for 12-VIS/ WRCS/ 9-VIS switch. In WRCS, you must input an offset (N/S & E/W in feet) into WRCS, then fly over the IP and the WSO should press Freeze then Target Insert onto Cursor Control Panel. Jester can’t do that yet, you need a WSO. But that’s not the easiest way.

[@flightsimstuff5417]

Ummmm....say again all after "Let's get set up"... Whew. I'll be back here, a lot, I'm sure. Nice work.

[@tflashtube]

Mmmh still in doubt if I will try to learn to setup the Pave Spike or pursue a PhD? 😁

[@RedKiteRender]

Make it a Phantom PhD!

[@YlmazDALKIRANscallion]

Thank you!

[@baremetalmafia]

Tomorrow bois!!!! One more day!

[@kosmos224]

Jeez, the Tomcat is ancient but this make that plane looks like a sort of ultra-mega-high-tech plane compared to the Phantom 😁

[@ghostrider1827]

LOL... FACTS!! And at the time the Tomcat was ulta high tech. Remember it was the 1st fighter to start using microprocessors.

[@RedKiteRender]

I never got the Tomcat is ancient angle, it was more than cutting edge at the time! It stands up against DCS's more modern modules.

[@ghostrider1827]

​ @RedKiteRender Without question. And the D model could easily still be in service today with its radar upgrade to the APG71..the IRST, New flight avionics and the fact the D's were hot off the assembly line. I know HB will do a D. I feel it in my heart.

[@RW-zn8vy]

@@ghostrider1827it would prob be an E model by now

[@GameKnighted]

Amazing!

[@billh308]

This video makes me want to fly a F35

[@RedKiteRender]

There's a pretty neat one for MSFS2020, if you want combat though, VtolVR is the cloest you'll get!

[@billh308]

@@RedKiteRender VTOL VR is surprisingly good

[@RedKiteRender]

Indeed! I fly it from time to time with friends not so into flight sims. Feels like a classic survey sim from the 90s.

[@pjhaebe]

Can you do a control mapping for the F4 if possible. I’m losing my mind trying to figure out why I really need and what I don’t outside of the obvious flight controls

[@JoJo-vm8vk]

Thanks for the tutorial 👍🏻 But for pod cueing, you only covered 12-VIS and 9-VIS then said we can’t slew the pod to coordinates. However, HB manual says that in WRCS mode the pod can be slewed to radar cursor or manually entered coordinates. Yet they don’t say how ?

[@joespeed1952]

Now I gotta find a Pilot / WSO. The easy part is flying the sim. The hard part is finding someone to fly *with*

[@RedKiteRender]

Wingman finder and various other groups exist to help, or, you can always bind the WSO controls to an extra joystick (for the moment HB are allowing WSO controls in the front pit until Jester support for pods is added)

[@magnumredskull]

Great Video. But how would it work in Direct Mode?... That would be great to see as well.

[@RedKiteRender]

Direct mode, you do a normal direct manual bomb release, but you have the TGP aimed at your target too. There's no interaction with Direct and the Pavespike. So you fly the manual attack and use the laser to insure the hit after release.

[@jiritvaroh139]

Can't make the target-pod to work 😢, I turn it on but it is not possible to steer it.. ????

[@PredatorFly]

I didn't understand at minute 11:51 how you move the device on the pilot side and zoom on a certain point on the ground...

[@Cavthena]

damn that camera has a better visual than modern pods lol

[@RedKiteRender]

Gotta remember this is a big TV camera, doesn't need to squeeze in an IR camera beside it and we're attacking targets from lower ranges/altitude.

[@Cavthena]

@@RedKiteRender Sure a big camera from the 60s. It's hard to believe that it would be this much clearer, even at reduced ranges. Then again I noticed the picture is clearer in your F-14 video too. Either my screen sucks or 3rd party modules are just that much better than ED modules.

[@paristo]

@@Cavthena I doubt the clarity as well. I counted quarter of the lines and I got 60 line pairs, So to half-way it is about 120 line pairs, and full vertical is 240 line pairs then. I do worry that ED will never implement proper resolutions for their targeting pods, and the dynamic range limitations.

[@leonardoetc3565]

Will the f-4 have a data link pod so we can control the AGM-62 after releasing it? Until now I've only seen videos of fire and forget mode

[@RedKiteRender]

The DMAS variant (included) will be able to with GBU-15s + datalink pod. But that's some time later. We have just the DSCG version for now, no man in the loop weapons.

[@leonardoetc3565]

@@RedKiteRender Awesome! Thanks for reply! I know it's kind of an obsolete weapon system by today's standards, but for me it's a lot of fun.

[@mikeck4609]

Good lord…this is the most involved and convoluted laser guided bomb system in dCS. What happensd to “turn on pod. Put crosshair on target. Drop bomb and turn on laser”? Forget it, I’ll use walleys. Lol

[@RedKiteRender]

These are the early days of pods and LGBs. They've not figured out how to do it best yet. That said it is more or less pod on, crosshair on tgt, laser, bomb, hit. It's just there's a bunch of operational limitations that influence the process.

[@travisj2370]

love the phantom hate the complexity to doing the most basic of tasks

[@fifthcohortlegion12]

To be fair, back then this was anything but basic

[@RoamingAdhocrat]

the phantom *is* complexity doing basic tasks, that's what the aircraft is

[@norwegianwiking]

Still no one has done a cold start tutorial, assuming they've been quarantined until release?

[@RedKiteRender]

Waiting on heatblur for that one, sadly it's taking a while.

[@WaffenCat]

Спасибо за видео! Привет из Сибири ❄️🇷🇺🤙🏻 Вопрос - будет в будущем контейнер работать (поворачиваться) через РИО (при помощи TrackIR)? Как это реализовано сейчас на F-14.

[@FlyBaddy]

Meanwhile on the Hornet it’s a couple of buttons and you’re pushing mud. How spoiled we are with modern equipment 😹

[@soliitudegaming7275]

Struggling to see why I would ever use anything except AGM 65s... this seems like way more work for the same result.

[@RedKiteRender]

Some hardened targets will require larger LGBs, easier to hit buildings. And, Mavericks are not as plentiful in supply, so campaign/story/mission limitations. In reality the Mavs were also far less reliable at tracking what you want them too, DCS makes them too perfect.

[@aghostofrazgriz5137]

Well, my Go To Code of 1113 will NOT designate on the bombs for the F-4. Idk why I can set them on the Hornet but the Crew chief can't use that code. Oh well. Edit: cannot set a code below 1511. Just cannot be done in the Phantom. Try it yourself.

[@RedKiteRender]

When recorded (pre-release) 1111 worked per the manual. Looks like the release has a bug, unfortunate.

[@RSharpe]

Is it possible to do this all from the pilot's seat right now, and if so how do we go about doing this?

[@descentmvm]

i think its bugged. Tried it 30 times now from front seat and used all the tutorials even some german one including the manual. FFS why dont they just fucking add a manual laser keybind this things a fucking pos.

[@utley]

so the pod NEEDS to be powered on at startup if mounted??

[@RedKiteRender]

Unless you want to bonk your poor gimbal around and damage it, yes! It uses electric brakes to stay stowed.

[@benargee]

​@@RedKiteRender is the gimbal bouncing damage actually simulated?

[@shamudude2017]

How does one set up the controls for the Phantom? Keybinds I mean, there dosent seem to be a keybind tutorial anywhere

[@RedKiteRender]

I'll get a video on that soon, is something i've been considering. A good starter is anything on the real stick/throttle, if in doubt try and mirror the positioning onto your own hardware.

[@shamudude2017]

@@RedKiteRender I got the X56 but I dont really know what all the controls mean for the phantom

[@cowansimstudio]

Anyone able to do this multicrew? getting serious desync issues and the antenna hand controller seems double bound as its totally uncontrollable

[@cowboy10uk]

great vid, and yes im late to the party again. Does anyone know if the Phantom can do Drop gpus for others lasing? just wondering how i could get my release cue if i was dropping onto someones elses laser? Looking at using the Kiowa to lase some targets and use Phantom to drop some LGBs from high altitude.

[@RedKiteRender]

If someone else is lasing, you're best off dive tossing a gbu-12 onto the target area visually. There's no laser spot tracker on the Pavespike. So the Kiowa will have to give you visual references to find it. Or, you might be able to directly see the laser with NVGs depending on the laser mode.

[@wraith444]

I swear I'm doing something wrong, in my attempts I can mount the pod but it won't turn on for some reason... EDIT: Turns out I was leaving it in BIT 0.

[@serpicowasright4029]

1234 like my luggage and SAC launch codes.

[@nrosko]

That does not look easy.

[@RedKiteRender]

Depends how complex the attack is, the operation is pretty simple, the techniques to use it however will take some effort. Part 2 will cover the specifics. I feel these need talking about, because otherwise it'll be easy to get confused frustrated by a feature you don't understand, like the laser overrides logic.

[@jakubdabrowski3846]

Looks like this tutorial is for multi crew, human pilot and human WSO. For those who prefer to fly alone, it's even more difficult.

[@Cessna152ful]

when will we get jester support? That seems kinda.. nessesary

[@Hustler9g]

Through that whole video I'm pretty sure he was just running it from the front seat with the temporary pilot control binds

[@Czar66]

The workload seems lighter than the Lantirn though... You point at the target with the plane -> track & lase -> drop bombs.

[@RedKiteRender]

Yes this was all solo, a really simple attack, could be put nose on target, pull full action trigger, pull up, hold bomb release, minor slew corrections - release and impact.

[@fastfed]

Not one person was able fo follow this guide , lol.

[@RedKiteRender]

It only requires a basic knowledge of the cockpit, everything that's not absolute basics is carefully pointed out where in the pit it is. In honesty I'd expected some creator basic intro videos to have released by this point, but it's been a bit of a rush on everyone's part and we're still waiting for Heatblur's cold and dark startup video.

[@fastfed]

@@RedKiteRender agree. What are they waiting for with a simple startup video. I know it's going to be pretty easy and very much like the f5. The problem is none of us have this jet so no one will understand anything at this point

[@Hustler9g]

​@@fastfedgreat thing is you can always come back when you've gotten used to the core systems of the jet

[@SuperCheater7]

Nobody is going to fly this...

[@Don_Hector]

lol how wrong you are 😂

[@SuperCheater7]

@Don_Hector Says Don_Hector 7 months after my comment was posted. Lil late arent you.

[@Don_Hector]

@@SuperCheater7 I’m not late if I’m proving you wrong? This sort of thing takes time

[@SuperCheater7]

@Don_Hector Im sure it takes you time XD

[@Don_Hector]

@ are you ok? Just annoyed you can’t learn a few extra steps?