F-16C Viper: ALQ-184(Short) ECM Pod, Jamming & Being Jammed Tutorial | DCS WORLD

[@larsgulbrandsen9441]

Getting jammed by EW aircraft in naval exercises was always fun, you knew you were in some tense moments when half your'e radar screen went white :D

[@grimreapers]

cool

[@The_Conspiracy_Analyst]

Getting to play with the AN/ALQ-99 all day (intermediate troubleshooting) was one of the fonder memories of my time in the Navy. 6705, Consolidated Automated Support System Operator Maintainer and Calibration Technician. I know all of its secrets 🙂 In some instances I would have go check out an M9 from the armory as you needed to be armed when certain classified materiel is in your possession. The fun part is it counted as an armed watch on the duty roster, killed two birds with one stone.

[@harrystone8847]

The -184 has been around for a long time. I was installing them on F-111 aircraft in the 80's. We used a 3 band pod, because the F-111 had decent on board ECM (for the time). The controls were completely different for the F-111. Biggest issue we had was the front flat radome on the middle module (based on the picture in the video) would cave in due to wind loading. An updated radome was tested and put into service. A major important feature of the -184 was that it was programmable in the field. New threat, new program. Could upload it to the pod in about 5 minutes.

[@grimreapers]

Thx Harry!

[@L0ck0nStr4t0s]

yea but since the long pods the ability is pretty crap next to what DRFMs can do these days.

[@radoslawbiernacki]

Guys you absolutely kick other tutorials right into nuts. As always, straight to point with ultimate practical details. You're the best!

[@grimreapers]

that's a nice thing to say :)

[@雷尔夫胡]

home-on-jam In this mode, if the missile seeker loses its function after being interfered by the ECM pod jammer, it will switch to passive search for the jamming source. The missile will fly towards the jamming source until it hits the target. For this reason, most modern fighters use optical fiber towed decoys such as ALE50-ALE55. Optical fiber towed decoy ALE50 has a DRFM digital radio frequency memory and huge RCS signal reflection to drag behind the fighter’s buttocks to attract incoming missiles. Fiber towed decoy replaces chaff. General fighter jets may carry 4 optical fiber towed decoys.

[@L0ck0nStr4t0s]

lol damn I actually was an ECM pod troop in the airforce. Worked on 131s, 184s, 188 training pods but got to spend my last 8 years on 167 and DLQ 9 pods. DRFM tech sure is cool and programming modes from scratch is rewarding. Used to control them in the air on training/ Test missions too.

[@tomhandal2834]

Just ordered my Winwing set. Super Taurus and super libra with extension and mounts. Looking forward to getting it.

[@grimreapers]

Well done!

[@angelarch5352]

So cool and informative! Thank you for this vid and the explanation of it all!

[@grimreapers]

thx

[@gunlovingliberal1706]

I am curious how much of an advantage the ALQ-184 gives in terms of being locked. When flying the Su27 I found ECM gives about a 3-5 mile advantage in terms of being locked and fired on ( at angels 20-30 and hot). This is helpful, but not a game changer.

[@kenhelmers2603]

Thanks Cap & RC

[@Infected_Fox]

Thank you for the help . Well explained💯👍

[@MaxamillionSterling]

Is there any chance that you can add the Boeing EA-18G Growler to the lineup of aircraft that you would use in your simulations?

[@Verathuum]

I’d be curious to see how it compares to the JF-17’s jammer

[@gyratingwolpertiger6851]

The JFs is certainly simpler to employ

[@MrT-hk9wn]

Nice. Thanks!

[@Jdam5]

Bro you always hit the nail on everything in dcs and you make it so understandable for people learning dcs and every aspect of the jet, thanks brother i appreciate it

[@PiSkiS320]

Hey Cap thanks for the video! On other subject, have you noticed the air to air tacan (air refueling) not working with the latest update, or is it just me? All the best for 2022!

[@grimreapers]

Will try, thanks for heads up.

[@olroxmo4050]

Thx Cap.

[@grimreapers]

Pleasure

[@dannyd7714]

Something worth mentioning, if you do get fired on, turn your ECM pod off with CMS right, as some missiles have a homing to ECM source feature.

[@grimreapers]

Thanks.

[@-_Nuke_-]

Man I can't wait for TFY and FLIR to come online!

[@Alkaline1989]

Does it mess with GPS at all? Real world example: On the prowler with the ALQ-99 our aircrew had to "decouple" the gps and just use INS otherwise there was the potential to ruin the EGI's.

[@grimreapers]

Wow amazing. No idea TBH

[@hphp31416]

I don't think GPS is really implemented in DCS, it works like magic now.

[@sheheryarkhan5567]

great video!

[@notravstar]

Is a video about the new hmcs steer point / ag system on the way?

[@grimreapers]

Will record that with RC tomorrow, sorry for delay.

[@notravstar]

@@grimreapers no rush, thanks for the update!

[@TheKenigham]

I have a question. Does ECM work to break an active missile's lock heading towards you? is it a good defense against missiles?

[@grimreapers]

Yes but only at ranges above 25 miles. Useless within.

[@S1lverspike]

F18 has it built in 🥴

[@auqanova]

Question: do missiles have different burn through ranged for their radar, meaning that jamming may effect them when they go pitbull? I don't expect it to be much better than chaff for protection, but it could be be good Bonus Question: the hornets jammer irl works very different from simpler noise jammers, is this difference modeled in any capacity? Bonus question 2: do different radars of modernish planes have different burn through ranges(ie mig 29, hornet, viper)

[@UptownDegree]

I would expect the missile radar to be able to burn through at pitbull range.

[@grimreapers]

1) doubt a jammer affects a Fox3 within pitbull range, but not tested 2) all jammers in game just volumetric noise jammers 3) yes, seems to depend on radar power output or something similar BUT beware not fully implemented in all planes yet so expect weird results.

[@ej123a]

lol ive been playing this new update for a while and i ddnt know you have to cms aft until i watchd your video.😂

[@grimreapers]

whoopsy! :)

[@TheOfficial007]

I haven't followed the dev very closely for the f16. What would the other slot carry besides the fuel/JMR/TGP?

[@verycursedplane6557]

Will you make a video explaining the Long?

[@FGtitlis]

yes it is called a burn-through

[@grimreapers]

rgr

[@kensteadman8707]

Do the 6 antennas have directionality? Like do 1, 2, and 3 correspond to the front aspects? Wondering if using only a couple antennas increases the maximal power output? Or do the correspond to frequency range channels?

[@grimreapers]

In real life yes but apparently not modelled in game yet.

[@grimreapers]

Direction.

[@TaeSang_WT]

thank you

[@beckmaxman6466]

There is only one man who would dare give me the raspberry!

[@grimreapers]

LOOOOOOONESTAR!

[@virtualunitedpilot]

what kind of jam does it give? strawberry? blueberry? cranberry? grape?

[@grimreapers]

lol

[@jkasiron2275]

Still catching up with your Taiwan Wargaming series, but just reading more about the technical side of the ALQ-184 and it seems Taiwan got the first foreign sales of this pod for its F-16s in the 90's. Just an interesting coincidence, but it's cool the devs are aware of the plight of simulated Taiwan/Cypress and want to help.

[@grimreapers]

Cool thx

[@firebird2743]

Will a HARM lock onto an aircraft that is jamming?

[@dannyd7714]

HARM's don't target planes.

[@ATP-Flo]

Lol

[@grimreapers]

Neg, HARM can only track ground unit radar frequencies. Plane freqs are very different.

[@SuperJeb98]

Long vs short and pros and cons of this over the other pod (earlier timeframe)?

[@KjllShot]

Ok I've got a question/request, ive had a look and there doesn't seem to be anything on this so hopefully it hasn't been covered already, but is it possible to use the a4 shrike agm against enemy air to air radar? I'v tried it myself but I'm not proficient enough at dcs to know if I'm giving it the best chance of working or not.

[@grimreapers]

Will investigate but if modelled correctly should only be able to track ground frequencies.

[@michaelwestmoreland2530]

Wait. Wingman jamming? TAG TEAM jamming? God damn...Electronic Warfare sounds like it's own entire world we've never simulated before.

[@swedishbones8937]

Is it raspberry or strawberry jam? Or something else? You didn't cover this part!

[@grimreapers]

hehe

[@caesarstokes5683]

I wonder how effective this is for the AMRAM missile housing radars. Once the AMRAM coverts to T timer its using its own radar. im sure it cant be more powerful than the f16 onboard radar. Interesting.

[@georud54]

Is mode 1 or 2 any use against a radar using TWS and fox 3 missiles?

[@ATP-Flo]

No because in TWS they don't lock up on you and thus the jammer will not gl active. The missile goes active at some point and the jammer will kick in. Don't know what happens to the missile then though. I guess it just homes on jam and kills anyway. So no, the Jammer will only work against STT locks or when in mode 3.

[@arguy3297]

@@ATP-Flo yeah missile would be within 10nm for the most part and burn through

[@TomislavGudelj]

@@arguy3297 Don't be so sure, jammers have far more power at their disposal then active radar seeker, burn through is far from guaranteed at distance where seeker would turn on and acquire the target.

[@arguy3297]

@@TomislavGudelj it's a game and I'm just going off my experience.

[@vaclavvacin9938]

I have a problem when i use it for multiple takeoff it usualy disable my radar that it only works in close combat (boresight) not bvr. Any tips how to fix that ?

[@British_Dragon-4K-Simulations]

XMIT 1 doesn't stop your FCR from working. Only 2 & 3 does. The ALQ-184 doesn't work withing visual range.

[@Scoobydcs]

doesnt it have internal jammer?

[@minaeshak2605]

Can modes one and two jam radars in TWS ?

[@PeteV80]

Whats the difference between short and long?

[@grimreapers]

none

[@RichardG713]

Low band in long pod.

[@jimmywan87]

But you can still get data from link 16, right? Stupid question, can you lock and launch just using link 16 data?

[@grimreapers]

Not in this era of plane, in a Super Hornet/F35 etc yes

[@grimreapers]

^^ at least that I am aware of.

[@jimmywan87]

Coz in the rather realistic gripen E/F promo video it seems that one aircraft can dictate which aircraft to engage which enemy.

[@calmterror]

Does having more then one pod do anything?

[@neelz]

No

[@grimreapers]

It will only ever use 1.

[@torjones1701]

So... SPJ1 is Strawberry, and SPJ2 is Raspberry? If you are Jamming, can you be targeted by HARMs or similar?

[@grimreapers]

LONESTAR!!!!! neg, ground targets only.

[@Chetan_Joshi]

Can it break the lock when the opponent is locking in TWS mode?

[@grimreapers]

Yes but I believe you have to use XMIT mode 3.

[@Chetan_Joshi]

@@grimreapers thanks!!

[@jayphi4095]

Very good explanation about the presently simulated stuff but don’t try extrapolating explanations at the end of video about relationship between radars and jammer you are fully outside the reality …..globally speaking and compared with FC radars, while F16 radar is far from being fully simulated (lack of VS and ULS for example but the mod is not finished…), EW and particularly ECM behavior is very poorly simulated in DCS. Even staying in open source area it could be done much better by ED and mod providers.

[@tenevas666]

Pas de vidéo en Français ;) et je comprends rien. Dommage

[@thatsnotpunny4921]

hey cap, new war games idea. modern US civil war - Trump tries to overthrow Biden?

[@grimreapers]

eek may get in trouble for that one...

[@British-Dragon-Simulations]

"I agree!"

[@eckiger_luki6424]

:D