by Bill Hewett

  Silent Operation - In Silent Operation, the radar stops transmitting but continues to process received signals. The radar will transmit for a single frame when the TDC [designate] key is pressed. The radar display freezes when SIL is selected and again after an active frame is completed.

Jane's F/A 18 Silent Mode

IFF - When the Identify Friend or Foe probe is activated the bogie's transponder will be interrogated. If a Friend the transponder will respond with a positive return and a tone will be heard. If a Foe no return will be received and no tone heard. Fratricide (causing friendly casualties) is punishable by a minimum of Courts-Martial!

TYPICAL A/A SCENARIO

This scenario starts with you spooled up on the waist catapult of the USS Nimitz, on station in the Indian Ocean. Your mission is to provide Combat Air Patrol a hundred nautical miles out from your Battle Group's patrol route and your rules of engagement permit weapons loose upon negative IFF squawk.

You select zone three afterburner, salute the catapult officer smartly, and in the time it takes you to scan the instruments once you are thundering down the ramp. Drop out of AB, clean up, and you're ready to rock 'n roll!

Upon reaching angels ten you set up your Hornet for air-to-air mode. You select Velocity Search as your initial Radar Mode to scan for any fast movers at maximum range. You pick up the characteristic "blocks" indicating multiple bogies at 80 NM.

DIs F/A 18.

Next you switch to Range While Search to ascertain bogie bearing relative to your aircraft. They're incoming at fifteen degrees angle off your port nose, and closing fast. You maintain lateral separation as you close to 40 NM and initiate an IFF probe - Confirmed Bandits, Tally Ho! Your fine training shows as you immediately switch to Auto Acquisition to automatically lock on to the lead. After all, he must be the brains behind this foolhardy group.

Time to warm up the AIM-120 at 20 NM and to switch to Track While Scan to maintain better overall situational awareness. You target-designate the lead bandit and Single Target Track automatically engages. You bring your nose into the weapon's optimum release zone and fire the missile as soon as you get within parameters. It corkscrews as it tracks on the bandit's reflected radar energy. A miss - damn this guy is good!

Click to continue

Jane's F/A 18 Padlock.

Switch to 'winder and at closure to 12 NM you launch and watch the missile tracks smoothly on the bandit's leading edge radiant energy. Blaam - Good Kill!

Without pausing to rejoice you switch to Air Combat Maneuvering Mode, ("0" key) starting with Wide Acquisition ("7" key) to keep the two remaining bandits in radar view. Fortunately they're still in echelon formation and you concentrate on the new lead.

DIs F/A 18 Padlock.

Bringing up Gunsight Acquisition you switch to your mighty 20 mm Vulcan. Keeping the bandit laterally separated you start a lead turn just prior to the merge. It pays off and you turn inside his arc for an effortless kill.

DIs F/A 18 Padlock.

Unfortunately you've lost SA and you frantically scan the sky; he's out there somewhere! You switch to Vertical Acquisition and voila, he's 5k above you, nose on. No time for a pretty move, you bring your own nose on and switch to Boresight Acquisition to ensure observation of any slight change in the bandit's flight path.

He must be a rookie because he's yawed to starboard. You correct for angular deviation, let the CCIP piper compute a solution, and fire at max effective range. The instant plume of black smoke tells the tale as you quickly employ a guns defense high-G pull out of plane. His too-late fired rounds pass harmlessly by and you savor the easy mop up to come.

Well done Naval Aviator, RTB for a wet cell on the Boss!

Bill Hewett is a General Dynamics Program Manager for US Marine Tactical Data Communications Systems and also a Marine Lieutenant Colonel with over twenty-five years Active/Reserve service. As a Marine he flew A-4M Skyhawk jet attack aircraft with the active duty VMA-211 Wake Island Avengers and was an airborne forward air controller (Fast-FAC) with the reserve VMA-312 Fighting Cocks. During Desert Storm he led a composite Air Strike Control squadron, MASS-6 Det A.

He is an electrical engineer and graduate of the Naval War College. Bill has been active in the flight simulation community as a beta tester, technical writer, and consultant. He has worked on titles for both the Mac and PC platforms, notably Microprose FalconMC, GSC F/A-18 Hornet series, DI Apache, iMagic iF-22 & iF-18, and the non-released Eidos Flying Nightmares (AV8B Harrier) and Janes A-10. Bill is married with three children and also enjoys woodworking, racquetball, skiing, and private flying.

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