An introdution to the Viggen's low-drag bombing modes in DCS If you have any comments, suggestions or questions please drop by my Discord at: / discord
I think doing non-Viggen stuff to understand the "why" is a great way to learn the aircraft. Too many DCS tutorials tell you what buttons to push and very few tell you why you push them. Taking an aircraft outside of its standard envelope is a great way to really learn and understand how it works and how to make it truly dance. I am really looking forward to this series and where you take it.
Two things worthy of note: the amazing system created by the Swedes with old tech, and Heatblur's work to recreate that with perfection in DCS. I hope it makes people give another look at the Viggen.
Totally agree with both. Although I have not mentioned it I. The videos, the Viggen cockpit in VR is quite amazing. All of the switches EXACTLY where they should be...
Thanks for the great content. I really like the way you explain how the system works. I hope there will be videos where you explain the doctrine in detail. Like the F4 phantom natops ground attack tactics. Or the Warsaw pact style ground attack tactics. I love to see you're making bomb runs in a Mig-21 or maybe someday in a su-22.
Haven't followed you for quite a while, used to really enjoy your A4 videos, but kept wishing you would buy another plane! I come back after a long break where I had been flying the F-86 and the Viggen, and bugger me, you're doing F-86 and Viggen videos. What a great start to 2023 for me :-)
The vellow veritcal needle on the ILS (on the Artificial Horizion) can be used for left/right alignment in NAV mode. So good for both laydown and toss attacks. Great video as always
Excellent video. As mentioned elsewhere, it is worth looking at the other CCRP modes, NAV/TOSS in particular. NAV lets you drop on a nav point in level flight - useful for low level bombing in poor visibility. TOSS is useful against highly defended targets- run in low (ideally with a hill between you and target) - pull up - bombs drop automatically - reverse course and go home. Not super accurate but a mode that many other more modern DCS aircraft can't do. The other thing that is worth highlighting when it comes to CCIP is that the Viggen HUD shows first and last bomb positions for the stick (useful when trying to cut a runway, for example) whereas many/most? other DCS aircraft only show the first bomb position and then you have tio guess how long the stick is.
So you bring another Viggen content !! The Viggen deserves all the attention: Thx a lot ! Greetings from France ^^ ps: since the last update the R75 are able to lock terrain structures: it is amazing and will open the spectre of mission for the Viggen with stand off weapons :)
Ive been waiting for a Viggen video from you for so long. Ive been flying the Viggen for a year now, and I had no idea you could hold the release to drop bombs lol. I like using the attitude hold when diving with the Viggen to keep me on target, useful for the radar ranging with gunpods as well.
I purchased the Viggen for use on Enigma's multiplayer server and quickly figured out that the way the Viggen was designed to be used is not the way you would typically use it on Enigma's--that is low level pop up bombing attacks against a predetermined target coordinate versus on-the-fly CAS type missions employing dive bombing. I'm glad you addressed this issue in detail and also did some divebombing without predesignated target points! One thing you really glossed over was what mode you were in with the Master Mode Selector switch--NAV versus ANF.
Thanks for the comment. I have to admit, at this point, I don't remember the details. It has been quite some time since I flew the mission - and the Viggen. Drop by the Discord if you want to chat.
Hi Iain, couple of points..... You may have discovered by now that the Viggen has a couple more 'CCRP' modes that you didn't cover. With the weapon Selector in the 'RR' mode you can either get a NAV release or a Radar release. The difference depends upon the HUD mode selector (NAV/ANF). NAV when you trigger unsage in NAV Hud mode and Radar when in ANF mode. In NAV you essentially bomb the waypoint. True 'traditional' level CCRP, which can also be used for a TOSS attack . Obviously this depends on the accuracy of your nav system. In Radar release you use the radar to track the target in azimuth and release at a pre-set 3km range on the radar scope. Both of these modes are designed to be used level....and HAVE to be level releases. With your PLAN and DIVE, the little circle is a flight director, as someone else said. It's designed to fly you to the release point and also keep you above the SAFETY ALTITUDE. This is set in the ME to either LOW, MED or HIGH. For low drag bombs these are 200, 400, 600m respectively. The heights differ for other weapons. Usually with the Viggen LOW is best...... To use a higher than 10 degree dive angle with the Viggen would be unusual..... In the above mentioned Nav and Radar releases, the safety altitudes serve as the commanded release altitude and the HUD cues force you to release at those specific heights.
For PLAN mode that pitch cue attempts to get you at the selected safety altitude in the ME at release. For M61 medium that's 400m height above target. Low is 200m, high is 600m. It also helps you keep azimuth if you're in those parameters, which makes it a little easier than the A4E
Not sure I would call myself a Viggen purist, but possibly an expert. And this is easily the best Viggen "tutorial" or introduction I have seen in a very long while! The training setup isn't non-Viggen at all! Obviously pilots didn't go straight to pop up attack straight out of TIS (basically swedish OCU), someone had to take them to the range first. I'm looking forward to more content and am very curious if that training range mission is available somewhere? Getting data on the actual accuracy of the drops would help my aiming I think. ^^' The only thing I really have to point out is that the HUD glass is usually meant to be in the up position for everything except takeoff, high drag level bombing and landings. You seemed to be pretty high in your seat, but maybe that was intentional. If you ever need some obscure fact checked against the Swedish manuals or want stories about Viggen or swedish cold war realities from interviews in Swedish, I'd be happy to go library diving for you.
That is a very kind offer. Thanks very much. I may well have some questions. I am pleased that you enjoyed the video. The test range mission is available on my Discord channel.
Your bombing ranges are always a great place to start with, and learn exactly how to accurately drop bombs when you have all the time in the world and no threats. The real interesting fun starts when you face AAA or SAMs, that's when you have to use pop-up points at the the very latest point, the bare minimum altitude for the intended weapon, and the fastest release speed you can get away with. Be great if you augment your range missions with these at some point.
As a side note, the Harrier's Ccip diving mode is similar to this CCRP mode on the Viggen. You put the piper on the target and the computer determines when to release the bombs.
You highlight by far the biggest gripe I have with the DCS documentation at large, it almost never even touches on doctrine over just telling the pilot when to flip what switch. I'm hoping we will as a community get around to having proper explanations of how to use the things in a fight. I am also doing an intensive Viggen course these days since the UFO perfomance fix, and I can see you are ignoring some commands from the HUD in the dive release. The ring indicator when unsafe and trigger pulled acts like a flight director, it is designed to command a pullup like a Dive toss delivery and not following it yields the flashing double side bars on the reticle, which order an immediate recovery. You mention load factor during the attack run, but I see that nose bobbing a bit. There's a USAF Phantom video around online covering air gunnery which I'm sure you are already familiar with, which mentions a
Thanks. Very helpful info. As you say I am ignoring some of the steering cues. Specifically those that seem to make me miss the target when I follow them! This is why I like practicing on the range where I have dropped literally hundreds of bombs from a dozen different aircraft. It's always the same problem, it's just the symbology that changes. The only thing that is "right" is whatever puts rounds on the target.
23:37 You say that "in the previous mode raising the trigger safety just turned the radar on", which AFAIK isn't quite true. The way to know whether radar ranging is being used or not is to see if there's a vertical "fin" above the pipper on the HUD. No fin = no radar ranging. Fin = radar ranging. On your previous runs you could see the fin on the HUD well before you flipped the safety, indicating that radar ranging was already being used. Not exactly sure WHAT flipping the safety does in that mode, but it shouldn't turn on the radar.
What's confused me most about DYK mode is the conflicting nature of the documentation and implementation. Unsafing the trigger is supposed to designate the target, yet the bombs drop at the pipper at release. I think it isn't working right as a result. Either your designating the target, or the bombs release on pipper. Either the manual or the implementation is wrong, hence the confusion. Also, steering order is supposed to command 4g pullup at release, but rarely ever does.
