Auto-Dectectable

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DWReese
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Auto-Dectectable

Post by DWReese »

Hi guys,

I have a question for all of the scenario designers out there.

When you are creating a scenario with mobile radar units that are often photographed by satellite in the exact same spot most of the time, do you tend designate them as being auto-detectable, or not? Do you have a general rule-of-thumb that every mobile unit is not auto-detectable? How do you handle it when designing scenarios?

Doug
mikmykWS
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RE: Auto-Dectectable

Post by mikmykWS »

I'd leave it as undetectable because it could move.

You could use lua to provide a detection prior to and get the saw but not seen effect. Add and delete a spotter unit or something like that.
Mike
Yokes
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RE: Auto-Dectectable

Post by Yokes »

I would leave them as not auto-detected unless it was a surprise attack situation. I imagine a smart opponent would keep their mobile radars in one or two locations during peacetime, but as soon as the fighting started they would start moving them around.

Yokes
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SeaQueen
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RE: Auto-Dectectable

Post by SeaQueen »

I leave them undetected because as mikmyk said, they could move. If there are these sorts of units in a scenario, then plotting their position is one mission that you need to perform, necessitating some sort of intelligence, surveillance or reconnaissance capability in the scenario. That might mean adding satellites, aircraft, SOF or other platforms which can locate the mobile units of interest. Part of the game is not just destroying things, but finding them and targeting them. I think sometimes that gets lost. Depending on the type of unit, though, locating them can be quite resource consuming.
DWReese
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RE: Auto-Dectectable

Post by DWReese »

I agree with what you are saying about locating things. In fact, I'm more interested in those than the actual battle itself.

Lately, I have been experiencing some kind of anomaly whereby a/c are unable to locate a full-fledged radar unit which is constantly radiating. Since the search radar is always turned on, it would seem that the unit should be listed as detectable. I have always had it as such. Recently, I decided to make the unit not automatically detected, and now the incoming a/c can't seem to even get a smell of the radar. I'm not certain what is causing this. I broke the scenario down and took it piece by piece, but some of these active radar units aren't being located.

Like I said, it probably doesn't matter because in real life if the unit was radiating all of the time, then it should be detectable.

Any more thoughts specifically concerning this?

Doug
thewood1
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RE: Auto-Dectectable

Post by thewood1 »

RWRs and even EW aircraft sensors are typially designed configured along specific radar bands for most likely threats. You need to research a little about that alignment.
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SeaQueen
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RE: Auto-Dectectable

Post by SeaQueen »

The fundamental issue is detectable by what? As was said before, the band pass of the sensing platform matters. A system might be set up to detect tracking radars but not search radars, for example, which might operate in different frequency bands. There might also be line of sight issues depending on what the terrain is like and what altitude you're flying at. Maybe the adversaries you're interested in lack sensing platforms to detect search radars entirely. If that's the case, then it might suggest that they don't plan on attacking search radars.
DWReese
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RE: Auto-Dectectable

Post by DWReese »

I wasn't playing a real scenario.

I set up the situation in the desert over northern Africa, so there was little elevation. The max elevation was less than 400 feet. The radar unit was a big air Russian search radar used for early detection. It is a 1L119 Nebo SVU. The planes were a F-16I and a EA-18G Growler. Both flew right on by.

There has to be a reasonable explanation for this. I never observed this before, as I ALWAYS made the units DETECTABLE because their radars were always on, thus I never noticed this before.

I am now trying to see if the test scenario is somehow corrupted, so I am starting all over with all new units and a new venue.

As I said before, it would appear to me, however, that if a radar unit was in place to detect air threats, then it would be turned on all of the time, so (mobile or fixed) it should probably just be marked as being detectable anyway.

Thanks again for interest, and your help.

Doug
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SeaQueen
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RE: Auto-Dectectable

Post by SeaQueen »

Sounds like a band pass issue to me.
jimcarravall
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RE: Auto-Dectectable

Post by jimcarravall »

ORIGINAL: SeaQueen

, , , Part of the game is not just destroying things, but finding them and targeting them. I think sometimes that gets lost. Depending on the type of unit, though, locating them can be quite resource consuming.

Successful completion of a combat operation requires a significant amount of preparation before the first shot is fired.

Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act.


Take care,

jim
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