Grumman F-14 Tomcat Weapons Operations
This page explains how to operate weapons and the related radar modes for the Grumman F-14 Tomcat.
Version Warning
| Note
Be aware that the documentation in this page refers to the development version of the F-14, which is maintained in a GitHub repository. Some features might therefore not be available, if you use the less frequently updated version from FGAddon. |
The development of the weapons and radar in the F-14 are related to Operation Red Flag, the premier military aviation organization for the flight simulator FlightGear!
Weapons Operation
NB: Especially for gunning you might want to set SAS Roll to off to prevent the plane from oscillating when using aggressive stick input.
NB: In some new versions of FlightGear, the w key is replaced by the m key to select weapons.
M61A1 Vulcan (gun)
- At startup, the ammunition store is filled with 675 round. There is an option on the Fuel and Stores dialog in the Tomcat Controls Menu to allow the gun to be reloaded
- Select HUD A/A Mode on the Display panel, on pilot's right console. A multikey shortcut is also available :AHa. Having the HUD in this mode is not mandatory however when the HUD is in the right mode the guidance symbology will assist with target identification and aiming.
- Select Gun mode with the Stick Weapon Mode Selector (w). A pipper, the G symbol with a number showing approximately the remaining rounds x 100 and a closure rate scale are displayed in the HUD. The closure rate scale is active only if a target has been locked (y) by the radar with TWS AUTO mode (diamond on the HUD).
- Switch Master Arm on cycle with CTRL-w, the X on the G symbol means Master Arm off or in training mode.
- Press e to fire the gun.
AIM-9M Sidewinders
- Select a weapons set using the menu: Tomcat Controls > Fuel and Stores: "FAD light" has 4 sidewinders, "FAD", "FAD heavy" and "Bombcat" have 2 of them.
- Select HUD A/A Mode on the Display panel, on pilot's right console. A multikey shortcut is also available (:AHa).
- Select "SW" mode with the Stick Weapon Mode Selector (w).
- Switch to the RIO view (Ctrl+v).
- Select pylons 1 and 8, down position, on the Armament panel, on RIO's left console. A shortcut toggles these two switches so you can select or deselect all AIM-9 in one keyboard stroke (Ctrl+m) without leaving pilot's view. If you have 4 sidewinders, then after shooting the first 2 you need to toggle the pylons 1 and 8 into the up position.
- Switch back to the pilot's view (Ctrl+v).
- Switch Master Arm on, you hear the search signal of the seeker head, a low volume buzz sound.
- Now prior to be fired, the AIM-9 must have a lock on a target. Multiplayers, AI aircraft, and AI tankers can be locked (radar lock with y). The minimal lock distance is 10 NM, the target must be approximately inside a 80° cone centred on datum line. When locked, the signal buzz volume becomes louder and the 2 red "LOCK" lights at the top of the canopy frame are lit. For best results try to shoot (e) at a 3 to 6 NM range and with the target centred on the aircraft velocity vector (when the 2 red "SHOOT" lights at the top of the canopy frame are lit). The missile will explode at the smaller distance possible. However if this distance is above 70 meters, it will continue its trajectory without guidance.
AIM-7 Sparrow and AIM-54 Phoenix
- Select a weapons set using the menu: Tomcat Controls > Fuel and Stores: "FAD" has 2 Sparrows and 4 Phoenix, "FAD light" has 4 Sparrows, "FAD heavy" has 6 Phoenix.
- Select A/A Mode, master arm etc. as with Sidewinders.
- Select "SP-PH" mode with the Stick Weapon Mode Selector (w).
- Set the appropriate pylons into the up position: 3, 4, 5, 6 for the pylons below the belly, 1 and 8 under the wing in up position for "FAD" (2 Sparrows, the 2 Sidewinders are selected in the down position of 1/8.
- Obtain a radar lock by using y the the next target and Ctrl+y the the previous target.
- Launching the missiles is the same as for the Sidewinders, but there is no growling sound and the max shooting range are larger: up to 30+ nm for the AIM-7_Sparrow
and 100+ nm for the AIM-54_Phoenix .
Bombs
NB: only CCIP mode is implemented - and only dumb low-drag unguided bombs - and only single release.
- Select the right weapons' set using the menu: Tomcat Controls > Fuel and Stores: "Bombcat" has 4 Mk83 bombs.
- Master arm on
- Select A/G Mode
- Select "Off" mode with the Stick Weapon Mode Selector (yes, off - you will still be able to pull the trigger in A/G mode).
- Set the appropriate pylons into the up position: 3, 4, 5, 6.
- No need for locking with the radar. There is a CCIP in the HUD.
- Set wing sweep to manual and 55 deg.
- Make sure you are high above terrain (e.g. 10000 ft) and initiate a steep dive to 40 degs. Deploy speed brakes in order not to get too fast. Make sure wings are levelled, otherwise the bomb will not hit even though the pipper is on the target (there is currently no vertical bomb fall line implemented in the HUD).
- Release the bomb when the target is within the circle around the bottom of the HUD and before you reach 2000 ft above ground.
Find out what is working for you - it is not that simple.
Radar Scan Modes
Key Bindings
y: Next target
⇧ Shift+y: Cycle azimuth field width
⇧ Shift+u: Undesignate (very useful for PAL mode)
i: Tilt radar up
⇧ Shift+i: Tilt radar down
⇧ Shift+d: Cycle number of bars
Ctrl+n: Cycle radar scan modes
d: Pilot Auto Lockon mode (PAL) [click Ctrl+n to exit]
r: Single Target Track mode (STT)
⇧ Shift+e and r: Radar range when not in PAL mode.
q: Radar standby
Modes
Use Ctrl+n to cycle between radar scan modes (alternatively press the corresponding buttons on the RIO's front console).
| Mode | Notes |
|---|---|
| PD SEARCH | Has the longest RCS sensitivity of the modes. Will only show targets that has above/below a certain closure-rate. Notchable. Will not show targets altitude or heading. |
| RWS | Medium RCS sensitivity. Notchable. |
| P SEARCH | Basically a ground/sea radar. Cannot be notched. |
| PAL | Scans the area around the HUD, fixed at 10nm range. Automatically enters STT for anything it sees. Note that when in this mode, none of the RIO mode push buttons will lit up. |
| P STT | Single target track. Cannot be notched, wont produce closure-rate output. |
| PD STT | Single target track. Can be notched. |
| TWS MAN | Once a target has been scanned twice within some seconds, groundtrack (headings) is displayed on TID. Only has 2 options for bars/az combinations. Has the shortest RCS sensitivity of the modes. Notchable. |
| TWS AUTO | Is disabled / does not work. |
Missile Notes
- AIM-7 needs STT mode.
- AIM-9 needs STT mode or TWS mode with something selected. Or radar in standby, then it will lock onto whatever is at bore.
- AIM-54 need either STT or TWS with something selected (in which case it will go active immediately with reduced range).
How to Notch
Notching means flying manoeuvrers to make an aircraft less detectable on radar/evade it. It is sometimes called beaming.
If you are flying against an F-14, keep the F-14 on your 3 or 9 o'clock and make sure that seen from the F-14 point of view that he will see terrain behind you.
Datalink
Aircraft on datalink that are inside the radar field will be shown on TID (even if the radar is standby). The backseater needs to take care to enter the datalink channel at the top of the right panel (IFF is taken care of by the pilot at the top of the pilot's right panel).
Misc
RWS/TWS MAN/PDSearch/PSearch will able to show 19 targets, MP or not. TWS can show groundtrack on max 10 of them.
Radar elevation, commanded and actual, is shown on gauge left of DDD display. It is in relation to horizon in all modes except PAL.
Each mode remembers its own bars and az settings. So if you switch to 1 bar in RWS, and then switch to PD SEARCH it might have 8 bars, when you switch back to RWS you will have 1 bar again. Radar antennae elevation/azimuth is shared between modes though.
Moving Radar Azimuth Field Left and Right
There are no key bindings for moving the radar azimuth field left and right when not 120. To use this, enable it from FG joystick dialog.
Dual Control
When connecting as a Radar Intercept Officer (RIO aka. WSO ), the pilot will no longer be able to control the radar - it is all done from the dual control RIO MP seat. The RIO is able to control the station switches.
Make sure that you as a RIO do not switch modes and stuff too fast, allow for a short moment for each change you make to propagate to the pilot.
If the RIO selects something and it fails pilot screen will show selection handover fails, the pilot could try to press y to repeat the handover and if successful, and then ask RIO to cycle modes if RIO had commanded STT, to make the pilots radar try to enter STT again.