Tense Minutes Before F16 pilot Ejects Over Serbia, Hit by SAM

Decklander

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Perhaps, but you seem convinced the USAF is a sorry state of affairs based on one event which occurred in the fog of war under fire. I am very surprised a former naval aviator of the esteemed IN is prepared to render judgment based on youtube video of radio chatter.

Your argument about full transmission power is valid if the stricken F-16 was in the radars field of view. Considering weasels don't fly formation over hostile SAM sites it isn't a surprise to me to learn that the other ships in the flight were not oriented to pick up the stricken F-16 quick enough to meet your expectations.

You claim the AWACS did not know where the stricken F-16 was, I did not hear or see anything in the video to indicate this was the case.
firstly were they weasels? I do know that F-16 does not have 360* coverage of its radar and formation buddies who are behind or on the sides do not paint on the radar. Lastly as you stated the radar was switched off. I had clearly stated that I find it amusing that AWAC also did not know his postion. there are two different callsigns in the video-Hammer formation & Magic and they seem to be using Magnum & Bull's eye as the position reporting points and also may be Bat. The formation seems to be on a SEAD mission as they do call out attacking the triple A site.
I really can't understand the confusion within AWAC as the formation pilots not being aware of his position is understandable. Also if you hear the video, the guys gets hit when the RWR squacks the second time with clear indication that he is being tracked. prior to that you can hear the RWR alert as intermitant indicating search by target acquisition radar of SAM battery. At 3.09 he is tracked for the first time by SAM radar and gets a clear rapid tone followed by intermittant followed by rapid tone and he reports having been hit. you can hear the sound of explosion also in the video when he is hit.
 

death.by.chocolate

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firstly were they weasels? I do know that F-16 does not have 360* coverage of its radar and formation buddies who are behind or on the sides do not paint on the radar. Lastly as you stated the radar was switched off. I had clearly stated that I find it amusing that AWAC also did not know his postion. there are two different callsigns in the video-Hammer formation & Magic and they seem to be using Magnum & Bull's eye as the position reporting points and also may be Bat. The formation seems to be on a SEAD mission as they do call out attacking the triple A site.
I really can't understand the confusion within AWAC as the formation pilots not being aware of his position is understandable. Also if you hear the video, the guys gets hit when the RWR squacks the second time with clear indication that he is being tracked. prior to that you can hear the RWR alert as intermitant indicating search by target acquisition radar of SAM battery. At 3.09 he is tracked for the first time by SAM radar and gets a clear rapid tone followed by intermittant followed by rapid tone and he reports having been hit. you can hear the sound of explosion also in the video when he is hit.
Yes they were Weasels and Magnum isn't a location marker its a radio call to announce the launch of the AGM-88 Maverick.
Again, I did not hear anything in the video to indicate AWACS did not acquire the F-16.
 

Decklander

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Yes they were Weasels and Magnum isn't a location marker its a radio call to announce the launch of the AGM-88 Maverick.
Again, I did not hear anything in the video to indicate AWACS did not acquire the F-16.
Who is magic in the video and why is he asking the position of Hammer three? As you seem to be well aware of USAF tactics and their R/T chatter tell me one thing, Why did the pilots not initiate countermeasures to jam the radar when they had clear warning from the RWR and they knew the position of the radar also? Magnum is followed by location cordinates. was it to indicate the location on the Maverick was fired or to give the position of the launch ac? Magnum to me appeared to be a position reporting point.
Weasals are known to carry very good jammers onboard. Why did they not use it? infact you can hear a pilot from Hammer formation telling Hammer three that triple A is directly under them.
 
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death.by.chocolate

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Who is magic in the video and why is he asking the position of Hammer three? As you seem to be well aware of USAF tactics and their R/T chatter tell me one thing, Why did the pilots not initiate countermeasures to jam the radar when they had clear warning from the RWR and they knew the position of the radar also? Magnum is followed by location cordinates. was it to indicate the location on the Maverick was fired or to give the position of the launch ac? Magnum to me appeared to be a position reporting point.
Weasals are known to carry very good jammers onboard. Why did they not use it? infact you can hear a pilot from Hammer formation telling Hammer three that triple A is directly under them.
Magic is the AWACS, Magic (AWACS) requests Hammer 3 (stricken F-16) to flash (toggle IFF to flash mode). This allows the AWACS operator to distinguish the squawking aircraft (stricken F-16) from other traffic nearby on the operators display. This is all normal normal..nothing here to lead you to the conclusion that the AWACS could not track the aircraft.

As for jammers, there wasn't enough time for the jammers to have any effect on the outcome as you mentioned in your post triple A and SAM was directly under the flight of weasels. Towed decoy would have been far more effective in this scenario but I don't think hammer three was 'walking the dog' when he got hit by the SA-3.
 

p2prada

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They have convinced quiet a lot from the crowd here that their soon to be acquired Rafale is superior to the F22...
Huh? What? I haven't seen anybody "non-French" seriously claim that here, or was I looking at the wrong pages?

A Rafale - F-22 debate will be interesting. I don't think this forum has seen a proper one.
 

Agnostic_Indian

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since I couldn't find a specific thread I am using this one to clear a doubt.

@death.by.chocolate @p2prada @Twinblade
what's the range of anapg 68 for fighter size target.

anapg v (9) has 30% more range than v(5)..operation Manuel of v(5) say range 80-160 nautical mile on most of the air to air modes.

http://www.185th.co.uk/files/Reference/Guide - Radar.pdf
(see page 39)
even if 160 nm is detection range for AWAC, bomber type larget and assuming tracking range is 80%-85% of search range and using radar range - rcs formula - won't that exceed the detection range of bars radar with mki ? what am I missing here ?
 
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