interesting article about problems of PLAAF

Wingman said:

Hey Crobato, do you have pics of the Chinese Su-27SK cockpit? I don't think I've ever seen the L006 before. Does it tell the specific type of the threat? Instead of the category, e.g. does it tell you it's an F-15 instead of "fighter" like on the old Su-27 RWRs? Also, does it show all threats simultaneously as opposed to one at a time? Does it give range estimates?

I know the J-11 cockpit looks much cleaner, but I readthat only one of the screens is an MFD, the other is an extended display

Also, the author never said it doesn't have an HUD. He said it doesn't have an HSD (if that's what 空情显示系统 translates to)
Su-27 does have a steam gauge style HSD but not the modern LCD styles like on most Western fighters. It has a nav system but I'm talking about the HSD that displays enemy SAM range circles, bogeys detected by your allies and datalinked to you (though that's displayed on radar screen), waypoints, territories, etc.

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You can see it in this cockpit.



Right side of the dashboard. Trace a line between the pilot's nose to his wrist. See the elongated pilot square? That is a pretty standard L006 Beryoza.

An RWR cannot tell you if it is an F-15 or an F-16, unless it happens to know the specific frequency attached to a particular fighter. Given that radars are continually being upgraded, the frequencies of an F-15A will be different from an F-15E.

The RWR can at least tell you that it is a fighter, a SAM unit, a long frequency radar search unit, or even a ship, that is scanning you. It can tell you what mode the radar is on to you, whether it has just found you or is already locking on to you. It can tell you bearing, and from intensity, the rough distance though it is up for the pilot to make a guesstimate based on the intensity. It can tell you if a missile has gone live and has locked on to you. And yes, it will show you all threats simultaneously, though the most threatening one will tell you the most loudly.

To say that the RWR can only detect threats 90 degrees is just plain wrong. He is correct that that the RWR works in bearings of 20 degrees, but it goes full circle. The lights are arranged in a circle around an outline of a plane, with each light set at 20 degrees of each other. If you have two lights going off right next to each other, the threat indicator showing one radar, this indicates that the radar illuminating you is between the two lights. In effect, it is working in bearings of 10 degrees. One light for every 20 degrees, and two lights for anything in between.

You can learn to play with this intuitively with a flight sim like Lock-On. Actually you will find that it is pretty cool. Along with the other features like HMS, using your IRST, etc,.

crobato said:

You can see it in this cockpit.

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But that's the J-11A, not the Su-27SK delivered from Russia. What about the ones delivered from Russia? Also, I can't see the RWR very clearly, but it still looks somewhat similar to the old one

An RWR cannot tell you if it is an F-15 or an F-16, unless it happens to know the specific frequency attached to a particular fighter. Given that radars are continually being upgraded, the frequencies of an F-15A will be different from an F-15E.

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Yeah the American RWRs do that. They display the exact type of the threat, as well as a unique beep pattern for the threat, and they also tell you if the threat's missiles are in range to fire at you. It also informs you the direction of the missile's seeker, if it's ARH. I think they're constantly being updated using intel collected from radar signatures of various enemy jets. It was probably what the EP-3 in 2001 was doing before it collided with Chinese fighters

You can learn to play with this intuitively with a flight sim like Lock-On. Actually you will find that it is pretty cool. Along with the other features like HMS, using your IRST, etc,.

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I do play LOMAC, and I must say, the Su-27's RWR/Radar suite is not as good as the F-15's (unless a Mainstay is around), and the avionics of the F-15 is very simplified in LOMAC. The F-16 avionics in Falcon 4.0 + some realism patches shows how much better the situation awareness is in American jets. The F-16 HSD shows threat circles of enemy SAMs, the positions of your wingmen, aircraft detected by your flight and transmitted to you via datalink, waypoints, your radar coverage, and where the front lines are. In the later models there's even a feature on your radar that can, if the target aircraft is in the correct aspect, tell you the exact type that the aircraft you're locking on to is.

that's because the Americans keep a pretty extensive signal library.

Yeah the American RWRs do that. They display the exact type of the threat, as well as a unique beep pattern for the threat, and they also tell you if the threat's missiles are in range to fire at you. It also informs you the direction of the missile's seeker, if it's ARH. I think they're constantly being updated using intel collected from radar signatures of various enemy jets. It was probably what the EP-3 in 2001 was doing before it collided with Chinese fighters

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The Su-27 RWR can tell the type of threats, but won't distinguish different kinds of fighters or SAMs. Will also tell you direction and closeness of the missile seeker, but that's relatively easy, since Continious Wave Illumination is rather easy to catch and distinguish. However it won't give you any numbers. You are pretty much guesstimating based on the intensity of the signal.

The J-11As should have the same RWR as the Su-27s imported from Russia. There might be minor refinements and improvements but remains basically the same. The Su-30MKKs use a more advanced RWR. The J-11s still have the same RWRs as the Su-27s near the engine intake and at the tail. The Su-30MKK does not have the fin shaped RWRs
near the engine intake and the cockpit does not show the same RWR either. I believe the one for the Su-30MKK is called "Pastel".

I misinterpreted the article. The RWR can detect threats full 180 degrees but cannot display past 90 left or right although it would still warn you of rear threats and if the threat is above, below or level of you. The image above does not show the green lights between the lines that indicate secondary threats.