Strike Fighters 2 Tutorial: Radars, RWR, and Missiles

An in-depth look at avionics from the 50s, 60s, and 70s, including brief looks at Soviet and British Radars. I thought this might be helpful to people to have this information in one place. Early cold war radars were different enough from modern sets that even if we're familiar with modern equipment, the old sets, may be telling us information that we don't even realize. Even I've learned things recently that I had never bothered to look up, so I've simply tried to make a video that would have helped me out at the beginning.
(*oops* Radar Range is cycled with Page Down, not Page Up.)
For further reading, here is an article detailing the radar and RWR of F-4s:
combatace.com/...
Here is a Vietnam vintage pilot training film on the RWR:
• Video
Here is another on Gunnery and the radar gunsight:
• F 4 Phantom Flight Ch...
Also don't forget to check out your SF2 manuals, which can be found in the game folder under "Manuals."
If you have more questions about modern radars, take a look in KZbin for DCS videos. Those guys love pushing and prodding at avionics, so there's a wealth of deep-dive information out there. They may also cover Soviet Radars more thoroughly than I did, though I myself was having trouble coming up with clear information.

[@zadeindia7601]

Thanks for making AA Modes of Radar of F-4 Phantoms so much more easier to use.

[@SadenIsWatchin]

Firing sparrows in SF 2 can be incredibly frustrating at first. Took me a while to realize my sparrows were diving into the ground because I was pointing at the ground during my attack run.

[@bazej1080]

Ground radar implementation was impresive those times.

[@TarnishUK]

A little bit of trivia for you. The English Electric Lightning in the video is in the colours of 74 Squadron Royal Air Force. In the mid 1980s the RAF took delivery of a number of former US Navy F4J Phantoms to supplement the UK air defence fleet when an RAF Phantom flight was established in the Falklands after the 1982 war with Argentina. The F4Js were allocated to the reactivated 74 Sqn based at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire. There was at least one Vietnam MiG killer among those airframes and I think I'm right in saying that that aircraft is the one now on display at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford having since been returned to US Navy markings.

[@devinhorner2358]

Dude, I can't wait to fly with the RAF in a Europe campaign. Your notes will be just as interesting as the flying.

[@frosty5122]

Wow, I didn't even know that the air-to-air gunsight actually utilizes the radar to calculate range. I always thought that they were somehow inaccurate (I never hit any bandits with them), so I never used the air-to-air gunsight mode when I'm going for a gun kill (I used the caged mode instead). Very informational and helpful video here, thank you for this video 👍

[@legatusedits4222]

Thanks mate. Yesterday i downloaded NATO 5 for sf2 and im trying to remember some things. This is very helpful!

[@Perktube1]

Back in the eighties i was standing guard overnight at a hangar at a US naval aitfield in Japan after being assigned to a carrier. There was an ass ortment of planes there. One was an F-4 next to an F-14, next to an F-18. The other guard told me stoties about how mexhanics loved the F-4 becausr how tough it was, how they could drop their toolboxes on the wing and never worry abouy damage. The f-18, however was treated with kid gloves because that composite wing was able to dent if you weren't paying attention and had a big wrench.

[@DavidKing-ph8or]

All very interesting stuff. I have had this game for years and still learnt a lot from this video. Especially the F4 RWR gear, I can't believe I never noticed the billboard underneath before. Good work mate.

[@devinhorner2358]

Thanks, I'm in the same boat. I first bought Wings over Vietnam something like 15 years ago and it was only 2 weeks ago that I read about Closing Rate circle and gap.

[@a.h.2276]

dude out here making it look easy, sweet skills my dude.

[@wardogangsta3992]

Finally someone made a video explaining these radars and how they work I always tried to figure out how they'd work I always get shot down or shot down a friendly by mistake this video helps out a lot thanks amigo

[@gregoryboyek622]

Cool stuff as always! If you're going to be doing more flying in the Germany CE terrain, I'd recommend the NATO Fighters 5 package and Rend's Germany Terrain, both available at CombatAce. FYI, the F-14/15/16 radars are not electronically phased array antennas (the contemporary Mig-31 is though), but rather pulse-Doppler. The F-14's remarkable TWS capabilities were a result of the significant advantage provided by the early solid-state microprocessors developed by Intel.

[@devinhorner2358]

My mistake! I thought that the pulse-Doppler was a kind of phased array.

[@devinhorner2358]

Oh and yes, I do have the NATO 5, I'm excited to dig into it at some point. I just happened to use the Germany map in my base install as a simple background for the tutorial. But I don't have the Rend terrain so I'll look into it for sure.

[@gregoryboyek622]

@@devinhorner2358 combatace.com/forums/topic/82151-germany-terrain-rework-part-1-of-3/ Happy flying!

[@devinhorner2358]

@@gregoryboyek622 First, the new terrain looks great, thanks for the recommend! Second, right in the Wikipedia article on Pulse-Doppler it clearly states, "Doppler is incompatible with most electronically steered phase-array antenna." haha So had I done my due diligence I would have seen this and not confused them. Oh well. It was only a tutorial and a sidebar to what I was trying to get across, anyway.

[@gregoryboyek622]

@@devinhorner2358 haha no sweat! I'm just a bit of an avionics geek. Keep up the good work and I'm looking forward to your next video!

[@thejetfighter]

Nice tutorial, very well explained. 😀

[@dominicdaley5702]

Damn, Ive been playing this game since I was 16. Now 27 and I know idea how to properly use the radar. Gonna download and play again

[@jbol2454]

Thank you so much for this, really appreciate this video.

[@rwd76]

An excellent video and I learnt a lot. One interesting aspect of this is that the US Air Force of the Vietnam war period adopted a policy that a trained pilot could fly any type of plane. After the specialist fighter pilots rotated through near the start of the war, they then started using bomber and transport plane pilots by familiarising them for a few months with F-4s. This should have included dog fighting and proper air combat, but this is risky and people were killed, and Colonels commanding air bases were not going to be promoted while this happened so they stopped it. And that is why the military bureaucracy sent people into combat without training against threats they would face. So if you want the full USAF campaign experience, don't practice.

[@Eihort]

Going to pile onto the phased array discussion with a necro post. The F-14 AWG-9 absolutely mechanically scans. What made the difference and allowed TWS tracking was the coupling with a digital computer system. The radar is still mechanically scanning, however, the processor electronics, thanks to the computer, can now remember and update the tracks for you and compare them to previous returns to get more data (building a track file). The disadvantage and reason RWS (Range While Scan) modes continued to be used on 80s-90s jets was that the building of that track file took several sweeps and hits to even display the contact. RWS will display a contact sooner as all it's looking for is a hit, however, it has zero vector information and in some cases no altitude information either. You are completely correct that the phased array electronically moves the beam instead of mechanically moving the antenna. It does depend entirely on the design and implementation of the radar whether it uses some or all of the radar power to do so (not limited to Active or Passive arrays). Using Pulse Doppler with Phased Arrays is completely possible, as the issues can be compensated for.

[@devinhorner2358]

New information and discussions are always welcome here, no matter how old the video! Thanks for sharing. The world of aviation radars is a deep hole of specialized knowledge that I don't know anything about. I remember being fascinated when reading about phased arrays, and specifically my interest was regarding my ship. The reason the Enterprise had her distinctively square superstructure was because of her original phased array radar panels. I don't remember if I talk about that in the video, but that was neat to learn about.

[@Arbitrage31]

Excellent brief!

[@Oesau1]

It looks so simple here. Are you playing hard or normal? This video is a great help, I'm slowly realizing my mistakes. I have problems with visual detection, I simply notice the target too late when I want to fire with a sidewinder. I have succeeded a couple of times, but I also had to use the map, which is not practical. The situation is especially complicated in dense clouds.

[@devinhorner2358]

All options on hard here (except the HUD). Try spotting other planes and targets with the targeting on to get used to it. When you take the HUD away you may find it easier to spot things when you know what to look for. You can also still target a nearest enemy and use the F4 key to lock the view onto it. You don't need to keep the view, but it helps point you towards bad guys if you need it. Just some thoughts

[@Oesau1]

@@devinhorner2358 Thanks, im trying.

[@jbol2454]

This is brilliant thank you. Are you using a keyboard or a joystick btw?

[@rossmum]

The green bar on the Izumrud might be a rudimentary nod to ground returns, perhaps? The Izumrud set is horribly prone to it at altitudes below about 5,000ft and what passes for a "filter" actually just tilts the antenna further upwards (as does the Sapfir in the MiG-21). On the real set, the two-antenna design provides an (extremely) rudimentary form of TWS - the radar will automatically lock anything inside the lock box where the axes merge, but can still track targets outside it with the scanning antenna. Later single-antenna sets like the Sapfir lack this feature, and the Soviets would reintroduce TWS as we now know it on much later designs. Also, oh man, a Lightning! I think this is one old game I'm gonna need to keep an eye out for. I get most of my jet fix from DCS these days, but I'm pretty sure I played the Vietnam part of this game when I was in high school and we're still waiting on a lot of these older birds to make an appearance...

[@devinhorner2358]

Thanks, theres very I little info that I could find (at least for free). One of the green lines definitely correlates to radar altitude, but some other yellow blobs appear occasionally and I cant figure out if they represent something or if their just garbage returns of some kind. I'll become more familiar once I start using them in the VPAF campaign.

[@vintis88]

Good stuff. Only minor (and I mean minor) quibble I have is that the F-3 Demon wasn't really a Korean War-era aircraft. Its first flight was in 1951 (during the war), but wasn't introduced until 1956 and was taken out of service in 1964, right before the Vietnam War (all according to Wikipedia, anyway). I'd call the F-3 more of an post-Korean War/pre-Vietnam War aircraft.

[@devinhorner2358]

Word. I don't know much about it yet, but it was included in the Korea addon so I threw it in there. I wanted an older example of the radar screen. Someday I hope to do Korea episodes and then I'll be diving into the research hardcore :)

[@devinhorner2358]

My confusion was even worse, the Demon wasn't included with the Korea pack all. It comes with the Formosa Straight campaigns which take place in '59. So I was all over the map with that one.

[@brayanfelipeserrano6486]

The F3D skynight which had a similar designation to the Demon did particite on the Korean War.

[@McGrump]

You just keep putting out consistently excellent content, sir. It's been a few years since I've played SF2 but you're really giving me the itch to reinstall. I do have a question for you, though it might be a nitpick. You mentioned the Sparrow being a beam riding missile, but weren't they (semi-active) radar homing from the beginning? Is that a meaningless distinction or am I missing something about the early Sparrows? I'm totally willing to accept either being the case. At any rate keep up the awesome work. Here's looking forward to the next video (and possibly digging in my couch for change for a new joystick). Good hunting!

[@devinhorner2358]

Perhaps I've messed up the jargon myself. My understanding was that "riding the beam" described the semi-active missile riding the radar beam directed from the aircraft. At least that's what made sense to me

[@McGrump]

Thanks for the reply. I've been curious lately about early missile guidance systems so the question stuck in my brain. Just started reading The Hunter Killers by Dan Hampton, and the early SAM threat and Wild Weasel program seem like such a neat and terrifying evolution of the air war to me. As far as beam-riding vs. homing I'll have to look into it further but it may just be a question of jargon. I always associated beam-riding with command line-of-sight systems where the guidance sensor looks aft of the missile to keep it centered in the beam (either radar or laser), whereas homing systems have sensors looking forward for the beam's return off the target. Either way I just wanted to pick your brain since I've already learned a bunch from watching your content. Again, really appreciate the great videos.

[@devinhorner2358]

@@McGrump That's a good point about the sensor looking aft and laser guiding. From a cursory Wiki inspection it seems that both would fall under the same category, that any munition that's being guided from an aircraft instead of homing itself is considered "beam riding." A radar beam would indeed be considered a Line-of-sight beam, so I think its all talking about the same thing: a munition being guided from an outside source instead of self-guiding.

[@McGrump]

I think (and I can't stress "think" enough here) the distinction comes from what the sensor is paying attention to which itself alters the guidance behavior. If it's riding the beam then it's flight path is tied to the beam's path and follows it to target. On the other hand a homing system looks only at the signal bounced off the target (regardless of the signal's source) and uses that reference point in space and it's relative motion to calculate an intercept solution. It also occurs to me that "riding the beam" might be a jargon term that is applied to both even if it's (maybe) technically inaccurate. At least that's my best stab at it. I'm also wondering if those early AA missiles (eg: AIM-9B, AIM-7D, AA-2A...) with vacuum tube electronics even had much in the way of intercept calculation, or if they just vectored the missile straight at the target. Damnit Horner, you're making me want to learn more and more!

[@devinhorner2358]

@@McGrump Then I have done my job :)

[@truenewtype2239]

Thanks we appreciate the info wanted to find out how to use TWS.

[@forzabackstage5232]

great video!

[@tomasluiso8924]

Hello, how are you? I have a question, where could I install Strike Fighter Simulator 2? I have Project 1 but it is very boring because the planes do not vary that much and it has very bad quality and realism. I can only fly. I don't have the default planes like the f4 or the a4, the f14, 18, 16 and 15, could you tell me how do I install simulator 2? thank you

[@penghoo1116]

great, very helpful!

[@miatownsend_valrise]

By the way is there a tactic to lose a lunched SAM? All i can do is to decrease altitude to a very low

[@40.trananhvu67]

My plane just change weapon and sight mode by itself, how do i solve it

[@barron8006]

i didn't think the f4 radar could distinguish ground clutter? First plane that could do that was the mig 23.

[@brycedahlke9078]

So I tried the link by supernova and it worked but I have no engine noise unless I pan the view. Other sfx dont work either (guns, awacs, wingman. I can't seem to find info on it anywhere. Any ideas to how I might fix that?

[@viperx3461]

Awesome as usual! I noticed you are playing in Europe, maybe we will see some "Cold War Gone Hot" action in the future?

[@devinhorner2358]

That's my hope. I would like to start an RAF series. Honestly I don't know much about post-WWII European aircraft, so I'm excited to learn more.

[@viperx3461]

@@devinhorner2358 Neat, I'm looking forward to it! I played a campaign in the Lightning F. 6, which turned out rather interesting with its speed and supercruise capability. If you ever decide to play with the French, the Mirages are really fun too, fast and relatively maneuverable. I'm sure you will have a great time with whatever you pick.

[@JoeCool_1962]

great job, what about firing anti ship missiles please

[@mohamadal-mishwit1444]

I really like you videos, I would like you to make a video of techniques avoiding Air to Air missiles and SAM.

[@devinhorner2358]

Thanks, I really should get around to making a video about that. In the meantime, I found this video (and it's part 2) helpful. It's from a different game and the weapons are more modern, but the basic ideas are the same. kzbin.info/www/bejne/d5KYZYKqf5V6g8k

[@miatownsend_valrise]

Thanksssss

[@shawdawg3675]

Wonderful guide. I was wondering, is there any setting/instrument for these older planes that tell you how many rounds are left in your gun?

[@devinhorner2358]

Not that I've ever seen, but I also have never looked for one. There may be a mod out there somewhere, but historically there were no indications to the pilot.

[@theunseenwalrus5768]

doesn't give me that little text box telling me its range. Pls help

[@devinhorner2358]

Under options if you set the HUD to normal, the boxes and markers will show up. You can cycle them on and off in flight with Alt+D

[@sebgooney]

Thanks for your videos! I downloaded the game, start to look at it and appeciate your tutorials. Could you tell me how you activate the fps counter you have at the end of the video?

[@devinhorner2358]

Alt-D cycles the in-game HUD and the fps info in flight

[@hanibelsoun9370]

Hi Devin. I have a question about the SAMs. When I add certain SAM, like SA-2, it does not fire at me. It looks like though they are inactive, even though I designated it as red. Can you please help me with this issue? Thanks a lot.

[@devinhorner2358]

I don't know for sure because I haven't tried that myself. Are you just placing the missiles on the launch rails? Off the top of my head I would suggest making sure you have a guidance radar for them, like the Bar Lock or whatever the newer versions are

[@hanibelsoun9370]

Hi Devin. Yes, I did. I do not know which radar I am supposed to choose. Do you have any idea?

[@devinhorner2358]

@@hanibelsoun9370 my mistake it's the Fan Song radar that is used for targeting with the sa-2. Putting one of those down might help. You'll have to experiment, I don't know if you have to link the radar to the missile sites somehow

[@hanibelsoun9370]

I will be doing what you have told me; then I will inform you about the result.

[@hanibelsoun9370]

Hi Devin. Yes, you were correct. As soon as I added a Fan Song Radar-F, missiles got active. I think that each radar corresponds with certain SAM missile. Thank you for your help.

[@ruggerorandisi7785]

I play SF2 ODS and I know how to shoot “Fox 3” missiles, switching to track-while-scan and taking down enemies even BVR. But when I switch to “Fox 1” missiles like the AIM-7M Sparrow I cannot shoot it unless I switch to air combat mode, that tracks enemies only at 5 miles or less. How do I shoot sparrows further away since the M version has a range up to 53 miles? Thank you

[@devinhorner2358]

You have to switch back to full search mode, then you can fire. You may have to re-acquire the target, but once you know who you're shooting at its pretty fast.

[@ruggerorandisi7785]

@@devinhorner2358 ah ok I’ll do it then Thank you very much

[@ruggerorandisi7785]

@@devinhorner2358 ok so I tried and it doesn’t work apparently I tried to lock on aircrafts both in search and track-while-scan and I can’t still shoot the Sparrow The only way is still the air combat mode The good thing is that I just found out that you can scale the range of air combat mode radar up to 40 miles in the F15, but in the Tomcat it’s locked to just 5 miles So what can I do?

[@devinhorner2358]

@@ruggerorandisi7785 I just went experimenting in the F-14A+, and I found that the missiles weren't firing at 54 miles because the range was set wrong in the files. Or possibly they had a shorter range in 1991? I don't know much about newer missiles. I got mine to fire at 35 nm, locked up in air search mode. If you want to change the range, go to your mod folder (users/name/saved games/thirdwire/objects/AIM-7M/AIM-7M Data.ini. In there you can scroll around to find max firing range and set it to 85 KM (the number are in meters). EDIT: this actually only seems to have gotten range up to 38 miles, so experiment with it and see what you can do with it. Beyond that I'm out of ideas at the moment

[@ruggerorandisi7785]

@@devinhorner2358 great! Thank you a lot :D

[@hanibelsoun9370]

Hi there. Thanks a lot for your video. How do I turn the external fuel tank lights inside the F-4E cockpit? What I mean is the three lights that are located at the top left side of the F-4E cockpit. Thanks a lot.

[@devinhorner2358]

I'm not sure exactly, but I think they might be illuminated when there are tanks attached, and they extinguish when you drop them

[@Falcoyeahh]

23:21 how to play with migs?

[@alekbubnov9776]

thnx 4 the manual

[@zort_rik]

Hello there! how are you doing ? I have a question. How do you launch air-to-air or air-to-ground missiles & bombs on planes in strike fighters 2? What are the keys? I'll be glad if you answer. Nice video

[@devinhorner2358]

Cycle through air to ground weapons with \, air air with Backspace, I think. Enter launches. Under options you can also check or change your keybindings by clicking on "Customize" under controls

[@zort_rik]

@@devinhorner2358 thankyou

[@s3viking214]

Does this game work on windows 10? I have WoE and tried to play it on my laptop but I got terrible Fps

[@devinhorner2358]

Yes, my newer videos are on Windows 10. I transferred everything to a new computer with no problem. From what i've heard Wings over Europe and Wings over Vietnam are so old and incompatible FPS just grinds to a halt. FS2 clips along at 60 fps no problem, though

[@s3viking214]

@@devinhorner2358 ah ok thx. Also that's pretty cool that the missiles can fail. They seemed to never fail I'm WoE. Even when I modded them to have a high failure rate. I'm definitely gonna have to try out this version of SF.

[@ruggerorandisi7785]

Sorry me for bothering you again but I have a little issue: if I fly the ODS F14A or F14A+ the bottom display in which you can see the various radar modes is sort of bugged, it just displays a sort of “compass” with current heading and other informations. If I wanna see the radar I have to look at the upper right corner of the monitor, where it’s shown by default unless you turn it off or disable the HUD, but it’s not physically inside the cockpit if you know what I mean. The only way I can get it working on the inside instead of just seeing it on the HUD is to fly the default North Atlantic F14A Tomcat, but the ones from the ODS mod do not have it. Do you know why or have you any idea of how to make them work properly? Thank you a lot again my friend for helping me once more🙏🏻

[@devinhorner2358]

Hi James, I was noticing that too. I don't know how to fix that, or if it even is possible. I as also noticing that the HUD seemed a little bare for a modern fighter. That just might be how those particular cockpits were made. My only thought at the moment might be to try switching the whole cockpit from the North Atlantic F-14 in the files. Or maybe there is a good cockpit mod out there to replace it. Sorry I can't be more helpful but I barely spend any time flying modern jets so I haven't tried troubleshooting them yet.

[@devinhorner2358]

Oh, dude! I just figured it out! Use your bracket [ ] keys to cycle the two displays

[@ruggerorandisi7785]

@@devinhorner2358 ah good to hear that,I thought it was just a problem of mine, I’ll see what I can do. Thank you anyways btw 😃

[@ruggerorandisi7785]

@@devinhorner2358 oh my god really? That’s awesome to hear! But I think I changed the bindings What are those brackets set for by default on keyboard?

[@devinhorner2358]

@@ruggerorandisi7785 They are the bomb ripple and salvo keys

[@hanibelsoun9370]

Hi there. Thanks a lot for your video. How do I get rid of speed loss when I am pulling Gs in F-4E? When I am flying with F-4E_72, I do not have that issue, but If I fly with F-4E IRAF; then the issue is there. Can you help me with this issue? Thanks a lot.

[@devinhorner2358]

Later F-4E's were fitted with leading edge slats that helped with maneuverability, but earlier ones (and probably the export ones?) did not have them, which could explain the difference. I had to re-learn how to fly the F-4 specifically, because it requires some special handling. Give it a real light touch in turns. Optimum turning speed is 480 kts, so minimize your G's to hold that speed. You're going to bleed speed and drop down under 480 eventually, and once you do, pulling back on the stick will just shed more speed and might even put it into a spin (which can be unrecoverable). Watching your G load and using energy management is key in the F-4. Go vertical a lot, try to use gravity to pull you down through turns, and if you run out of speed, dive or climb level so you can build kts and come back around for another pass. The F-4's power means you can usually separate from a fight and re-engage on your own terms. There's a great training video out there that I learned from, I'll try to find it and post the link.

[@devinhorner2358]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/qoLchIOHh7B3Zq8

[@hanibelsoun9370]

@@devinhorner2358 Thank you so much for the information. The video was great. I truly appreciate you.

[@alansouza07]

Where found this game?

[@devinhorner2358]

Thirdwire.com under the windows 7 tab in the store

[@ВадимЕмельянов-к3ц]

Videocard?

[@losclipsdeaitor4023]

Hellow you can do a tutorial of how to use the weapon editor?

[@devinhorner2358]

I'm sorry to say, I don't know anything about the weapon editor and I've never installed it, so I'm not the person to go to. I suggest looking in the forums at CombatAce.com. I'll bet you can find some stuff and maybe the original author over there.

[@losclipsdeaitor4023]

@@devinhorner2358 ok thanks but I have a problem with combatace with all the mails with which I tried to make the account when I hit the confirm button takes me to the combat ace page and tells me that I have to confirm my account thing that I have already done that led me to suspend my accounts and not be able to enter the page because every time I enter says suspended forgive if it is written wrong is that I am using the translator because I speak Spanish xd

[@devinhorner2358]

@@losclipsdeaitor4023 Ok, I understand. The program can be downloaded from Thirdwire.com here: thirdwire.com/downloads_tools.htm If you get it from Thirdwire, maybe it comes with a manual. If not, maybe you can contact them directly for information. I'm sorry I'm not more help. I just don't know anything at all about the editing programs :(

[@globalvirtualmilitary2051]

How do I use GBU-12?

[@devinhorner2358]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/rXetfYJ3oKuXr6M

[@DemCampurz]

dis is why im always getting killed (rwr section)

[@notirus101]

aw man i though it was easy like the mobile version

[@banenstars5974]

ADfIckx-_70 me irqa fcres 🔥🌌🎆