Important Item missing from our F-16's
Posted: Sun May 15, 2016 7:31 pm
Maybe someone else can shed some light to this and why we have never been privy to the fact we have never had the towed decoy modeled in our sim. Maybe it's so classified we can't even talk about it. In a book "Viper Pilot" I recently got to read. The author and pilot made several references to the "Decoy". Searching for more info on the net info was kind of hard to find. If we had it in the sim it would have been a game changer for sure.
The AN/ALE-50, nicknamed "Little Buddy," is a towed decoy designed to counter incoming RF missiles. Carried in an under-wing pylon and deployed at the end of a long tow rope, the ALE-50 exploits an RF missile's basic targeting function—that is, locking on and tracking their targets by continually pinging them with radar—by presenting a target with a massive radar cross section compared to the plane pulling it. The RF missile interprets this larger cross section as a bigger plane (and presumably more valuable target) and locks onto the decoy instead. First developed in 1988, the US Air Force, Navy, and Marines now all employ this countermeasure in their F-16, F/A-18E/F, and B-1B aircraft. It's seen action in Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq and has successfully intercepted missiles in both training and actual combat. And while the $22,000 price tag affixed to each of the 27,000 ALE-50 units Raytheon has already delivered to the military might seem steep, compared to losing a $66.3 million Super Hornet, they're a steal. [Raytheon - Wiki - Defense Industry Daily]
The AN/ALE-50, nicknamed "Little Buddy," is a towed decoy designed to counter incoming RF missiles. Carried in an under-wing pylon and deployed at the end of a long tow rope, the ALE-50 exploits an RF missile's basic targeting function—that is, locking on and tracking their targets by continually pinging them with radar—by presenting a target with a massive radar cross section compared to the plane pulling it. The RF missile interprets this larger cross section as a bigger plane (and presumably more valuable target) and locks onto the decoy instead. First developed in 1988, the US Air Force, Navy, and Marines now all employ this countermeasure in their F-16, F/A-18E/F, and B-1B aircraft. It's seen action in Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq and has successfully intercepted missiles in both training and actual combat. And while the $22,000 price tag affixed to each of the 27,000 ALE-50 units Raytheon has already delivered to the military might seem steep, compared to losing a $66.3 million Super Hornet, they're a steal. [Raytheon - Wiki - Defense Industry Daily]
Seriously, I think that's what the two toggles next to the Chaff and Flare Toggles on the CMDS panel are reserved for. The two to the left of the Chaff/Flare toggles? -----Yeah those.....I think it's what they're scheduled for. It would cause a whole hell of a lot of issues with Missile Modeling in addition to someone accidentally deploying them in a tight formation......oops....I can hear it now.....