Fire control radar

The radar sits in the dome above the rotor. Only aircraft with it fitted can use it: see Variants and customisation. What it shows is described on the FCR page.

Who controls it

The radar is shared, and only one crew station controls it at a time: the owner.

• The crew station that last selected the FCR as its sight owns it.
• The CPG also owns it while linked with TADS as the sight (TADS-L). See Sights and acquisition.
• Taking the radar from the other crew station stops its scan.
• Selecting a different sight gives it up and stops the scan.

Only the owner can scan, change the mode or scan size, slew the centreline and step the next-to-shoot target. The other crew station’s radar keys do nothing.

Before it will scan

• AC and DC power, and an undamaged radar.
• In the air, or GND ORIDE on when on the ground.

A radar that loses power or is damaged shows FCR FAIL on the HAD and the FCR FAULT advisory.

Scanning

How	Binding	Behaviour
Single scan	FCR Single ScanShift+R	One scan burst, then it stops by itself. Press again to stop early.
Continuous scan	Toggle active sensorsgame binding	Keeps scanning until you toggle it off.

While the radar transmits, the HAD shows FCR XMIT.

A scan burst is a number of full sweeps of the sector, there and back. In GTM and RMAP it is 2 sweeps in Wide and Medium, 3 in Narrow and 4 in Zoom; in ATM always 2. The antenna turns at 60° a second (120° in TPM), so a wide GTM sweep takes 3 seconds and a single scan about 6. It first slews to the edge of the sector before the sweep starts.

Targets are updated each time a sweep completes. Starting a new scan clears the old targets.

Modes

Select the mode with the mode keys. Changing mode stops a running scan.

Mode	Binding	Use
GTM	Ground Targeting Mode (GTM)Z+5	Ground targets.
ATM	Air Targeting Mode (ATM)Z+6	Aircraft and helicopters, all round.
RMAP	Radar Map Mode (RMAP)Z+7	Ground targets over a picture of the terrain. Select RMAP again to turn the picture on or off.
TPM	Terrain Profiles Mode (TPM)Z+8	Terrain profile for flying low at night. No targets.

Scan size

The scan size sets the width of the sector. A new size stops a running scan and takes effect from the next one.

Size	Binding	GTM and RMAP	ATM
Wide	FCR Scan Size Wide (W)unbound	90°	All round, except about 12° either side of the tail
Medium	FCR Scan Size Medium (M)unbound	45°	180°
Narrow	FCR Scan Size Narrow (N)unbound	30°	90°
Zoom	FCR Scan Size Zoom (Z)unbound	15°	45°

The scan size bindings have no default key. Use the radial menu, or bind them yourself.

TPM chooses its own width: 180° below 45 kt, 90° above 55 kt.

What it sees

• Range 500 m to 8 km, and it needs line of sight.
• Stationary ground targets show out to 6 km. Moving targets and aircraft show out to 8 km.
• GTM and RMAP ignore anything more than 25° above the antenna. ATM shows only aircraft and helicopters that are moving, down to 22.5° below the antenna.
• Targets are classed as tracked, wheeled, helicopter, aircraft or air defence. Anything else is unknown.

Detection is not certain. Each scan burst a target may show bright, dim or not at all:

• Moving targets stand out from the ground, and show bright most of the time.
• Stationary targets are harder. They show better in the smaller scan sizes, and keep their best result from the last three scan bursts.
• A few false returns from the ground (clutter) appear in GTM and RMAP.

Priority and the next-to-shoot target

Targets are ranked: bright before dim, then air defence, wheeled, tracked, helicopter, aircraft, unknown. The FCR page, the helmet and the TSD’s NAV phase show the top 16; the TSD’s ATK phase shows them all.

The highest-priority target is the next to shoot (NTS), and the one after it the alternate (ANTS). Step the NTS through the top 16 with L1 NTS on the FCR page or Lock targetgame binding, as the owner with FCR as your sight. The NTS stays on its target as long as that target remains in the top 16.

L4 TGT on the FCR page stores the NTS as a target point, the next free from T01 to T50.

With FCR as your sight, a new NTS also becomes your range source, and the radar-guided Hellfires are fired at it: see AGM-114 Hellfire.

The centreline

The centreline is where the middle of the scan sector points.

• Slew it with L2 and R2 on the FCR page: 90° a press in Wide, 22.5° in Medium, 15° in Narrow, 7.5° in Zoom. Slewing stops a running scan.
• A slewed centreline holds its compass bearing as the aircraft turns. Slew it back to the nose and it follows the nose again.
• It cannot be slewed in TPM or in wide ATM.

Some sight settings point it for you:

• Pilot: you can slew it only with FXD as your acquisition source. Otherwise it follows your acquisition source (your head, with PHS), updating at most four times a second and not during a scan. Selecting the FCR as sight points it along your acquisition source.
• CPG: you cannot slew it while slaved or in TADS-L. Slaved with FCR as the sight, it points along your acquisition source. In TADS-L it follows the TADS.

On the helmet

T1 C SCP on the FCR page puts the radar’s targets on your helmet and the VIDEO page, or in TPM the terrain profile lines and obstacles. It is your own setting; the other crew station’s is separate. The HAD shows CSCOPE while it is on.

Using it with the TADS

With FCR-L (FCR as the sight, linked), pressing Sight SlaveShift+F slaves the TADS onto the NTS, so the CPG can look at each radar target before engaging. With TADS-L, the radar scans wherever the TADS is pointing.