Hehe, I bought the FA18C Early and I’m confused on what radar I should be using on it. I’m sort of understanding how to use the Fox-2 missiles on it but do wonder how my Aim-7Ps somehow always miss. I currently use TWS and only TWS. If you have any tips or help, please respond.
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Sparrows are Semi-Active Radar Homing. That means they need a constant hard lock to the target to hit. Using soft-lock (aka TWS) does not update the missile. Now the benefit of the 7P is that it gets IOG and DL. This allows it (way more easily) to relock on a target if you’ve lost the lock.
So… Never use TWS again? Nope. You actually might wanna use it all the time. If you wanna fire a Sparrow you’ll just need to hard lock the enemy while in TWS (Control “Lock Radar On Target” or something). This also allows you to lock someone for a brief moment, fire your Sparrow from 40 km out, and going back to TWS, which allows you to keep better track for yourself on the enemy, and at the end when the Sparrow closes the distance relock the enemy. (This also adds the benefit of stopping the “LAUNCH” warning on enemy RWRs until you relock).
Now, if TWS becomes a hassle you can also reliably use SRC PD (which is, in short, the same thing but without the soft-lock). SRC PD(V) HDN are used when, as per their name, when going Head-On. They perform better in that aspect. So if you want to you can also use them too. But that means that locking them when they’re going cold (away from you) is going to be near impossible/very unreliable.
About Sparrows… I always see people complaining about them. Personally I’ve used a lot of 7F and 7M and I have never had any issues apart from a handful of situations. Sparrows might be a little bit overturned on how they interpret the return signal from the radar(I haven’t actually checked or confirmed this). So that means, that depending on the situation your Sparrow can go for a friendly (even if you haven’t locked him) or for a completely different enemy, simply because they have a stronger return signal.
I hope I actually helped with this :P. Happy hunting