yeah ofc, but still i’m pretty sure (not 100% as I have relatively limited IRST use) that something like look-down vs look-up ranges aren’t modeled. Even though i’m pretty sure a target contrasting with the warm ground vs a target contrasting with the sky would be vastly different lock ranges.
I think its relative to something like a non-afterburning mig15 at XXX KPH. Like, that’s the range the IRST should be able to lock. But for actual game purposes, yes its kinda pointless.
I think that correlates to the radar mode and it was overlooked when they added the IRST mode. IRST should not have a range limitation regardless, as shown in the manual. Only bug there is that it states a 10km limit in the GUI when there is none.
Not really, depends on the IRST of course. Some have multiple elements that allow them to differentiate between background radiation and that which they expect the target to give off. Pretty easy to do for jets.
lets talk about visible light for example. You can see someone with a flash light at night. Yes? However the farther they are, the smaller light, yes? Harder to see even at night, yes?
Now Switch it today. It gets really hard. Yes? Same exact principle with IRST. The farther an object is, the harder it is to detect.
Just because the camera may see something does not mean it can engage such a small object. It may not even register it as a target in the first place. Do understand this?
Let me remind you all there is more Infared light than visible light in the world around us.
We’re still talking about the IRST ranges right?
Well to follow the analogy. No, you’d have a hard time seeing a flashlight at range in the day, but you’d probably still be able to see a floodlight.
Isn’t an IRST (or IR seeker) fundamentally just an infrared contrast seeker that looks for ‘bright’ areas (of a given wavelength)? Certainly at range it won’t be able to make out that contrast as the infrared light dissipates, but the more light there is the further away it should be able to detect a contrast.
Like I thought before, wouldn’t be harder to find a ‘dim’ target relative to the warm, emissive ground than a comparably ‘dim’ target relative to the (not as?) emissive empty sky?
Sun is the flood light. Infinitely small objects flying under it’s shine in the infinitely vast sky are the handheld flashlights.
Even so, unless a target is flying into or away from an emissive point, like the sun, moon, ground, etc, would it matter?
Unless that ‘floodlight’ is directly in my field of view, I can still see the flashlights. Granted, some scattered light might make it a bit harder, but IRSTs have much smaller fields of view than the human eye.
(Granted, its thermal infared here but its the same idea)
Looking into the sun, or at the ground, trees, etc, you might have a hard time finding the ‘flashlight’ but contrasting it with relatively cold, dim sky would be easier, no?
Also do we have an IRST/IR topic on the forums?
To get more on-topic again, isn’t the MiG-29 SMT missing:
The SMT in-game is the definitive 9-19, so why is it lacking basic LGBs and the a2g radar function (that’s already present in-game on Su39)?
Do we even have any aircraft (apart from helis) with A2G mode implemented?
SU-39 can fit Kopyo-25 radar pod which has A2G modes
And it has the integrated laser so can actually make use of it to an extent.
Because mig has nothing to lgb be guided by
I seem to have gotten the IRST’s laser rangefinder confused with a targeting pod.
They really never made a TGP for it?
Modern russian IRSTs sorta can be used as tergeting pod but SMT as far as we know has old IRST.
French PDLCT (probably mockup) once was shown on SMT (most likely 9-17) and Sapsan once lay near 9-18, that’s all.
dang, well they should implement the a2g radar mode then
Matra as an example goes as far as to say that the Magic 2 is “not sensitive to solar radiation”. The Magic 1 before it was “resistant to solar radiation”. This was in the early 80s, I’m sure America and Russia both could have come up with solutions for doing infrared search and track without interference from the sun before this.
If you look at the sun, then yes, it catches.But most often the plane flies at some angle to the sun and in IRST all infrared signatures are perfectly visible
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yeah, it does and does not. However, keep in mind that regardless of flying away from an emissive point, everything in the known universe and on planet earth that has a temperature above absolute zero emits infrared.
Regarding the sun.
It is reflecting against the surface of the earth constantly. Off of waters and even the snow atop mountains becomes an emissive point. Clouds with water vapor emit IR signatures themselves and are reflected from the sun.
No matter where you look. You are being bombarded by infrared. The computer screen we look at and a glass of water emit infrared.
That is way too much distortion at long ranges. Though we are looking for a jet engine in the sky at many miles.
Keep in mind that just because a pilot can see an AB target with his own eyes using IRST does not mean the IRST’s logic can as well. Just like cameras can pick up things not visible to the human eye and vice versa. When a pilot says they are able to see and differentiate targets at great distances does not mean the IRST will compute it as a target and be able to translate that to the fire control and engage it.
Radar is superior. Not many things on earth emit radio/microwaves naturally and man can manipulate radio waves to diffract around obstacles and follow along the earth’s surface. We can even bounce radio waves off the ionosphere back down over the horizon.
Yes, the sun emits everything including radio/microwaves, but we are predominately shielded by those solar and cosmic radiations by earth’s magnetic field and atmosphere.
The fact of the matter is that the pilot does not see her through her eyes.Heat is also electromagnetic radiation
IRST does just that. Transmits the angular coordinates of the target to the computer of the weapon system
Yes, but IRST looks for a type of electromagnetic radiation that is common amongst all objects on earth. Every object and living organism on planet earth emits infrared.
What makes you think the computer in the Mig 29 is powerful enough to differentiate through all the distortion to pick a tiny object out in the vast ocean of infrared light? What makes you think the camera is good enough as well?
