I’ve seen people complain about (x) plane not having ACM mode (e.g F-8E) multiple times. I have always preffered just using a narrow SRC beam to lock targets, so why do people want ACM so bad?
For many players it’s faster locking and if you flying with radar off, you can switch to ACM and back to off with one button.
Not everything has a narrow scan (such as Mig-23s, Mig-29s, and some stuff with TWS), and it can be alot easier to lock the target you want to if your radar is picking up multiple planes. It also helps lock the plane better if there is ground clutter too iirc.
There’s also the benefit if not alerting the enemy to your presence until you get close.
I too often prefer a manual lock over ACM but the main advantage of ACM is that it just doesn’t give a crap.
I find SRC, PD SRC and TWS, even in a narrow mode will just miss a target or not lock quite right, or can just take a few extra seconds but in ACM, you point your nose at the target and job done. With the sheer pace that can occur at top tier, the difference that can make which might be little more than a second or 2 could be the difference between having a shot opportunity and a missile connecting and it not
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