Noticed this am that each time I release a gbu12 a small white triangle appears on my TADS display. Can't find mention of it in the manual. What does it signify exactly?

Markpoint Z, the last location at which weapons were employed.

Switch your CDU to Mark and you can cycle through all of the Mark points you create with TMS Right Short, A - Y. Like Eddie says, the last place you use weps will be Mark Point Zebra.

You can set a few Mark Points and use them to cycle the targets and drop GBU-38's or fire Mavs on one pass haul a$$ - boom boom boom boom.


WC

So, generally I should be designating targets at a distance by generating a mark point for each? Will china hat forward long slave everything to a mark point (when cdu is in mark point mode, I guess?) then just cycle through the mark points releasing a weapon at each. This will only work with mavericks ,right? Am I even beginning to get it? Anyhow having a ball trying to figure this monster out while enjoying the eye candy! Beginning to get comfortable and seeing more details each day. Things sure have come a long way since my old days in falcon 3!

No, you should be doing so when it makes sense to do so. For JDAMs, if you want to drop on multiple targets in one pass, then you need to mark multiple targets. If you need to mark the location of a target for any reason (navigation, weapons employment, etc) do so. If you don't need to (it's just a truck and you're going to hit it with a 65) don't.



Yes and yes.



It will work with anything you want, as long as it makes sense. For example, a markpoint can't track a moving target.

I prefer making a mark point whenever I want to "mark" anything, be it a target or just a general area. Simple reason is that unless your point of interest is directly under a waypoint, you'll have trouble "finding" it again if you have TGP problems of whatever sort, especially the Gimbal Roll. By dropping a mark point, I automatically have a "bookmark this location" that I can access easily.

Are mark points covered in a training mission by chance? Maybe there's one called Mark Points for all I know, can't check from work. I haven't touched them at all yet and I can see bookmarking or dropping multiple JDAMS/Shooting multiple AGM-65s coming in handy from time to time...

*cough*eyeballmk1*cough*

(Not saying that the markpoint isn't useful, just that you shouldn't use it as a crutch)

Edit: On second thought, I was thinking a maneuvering engagement where you'd point the nose at the target. In a situation where you're orbiting at high alt, it's better to make a markpoint indeed.

I don't think there is a training mission for them.

GG, I don't see it as a crutch, I see it as a tool that has its uses, and I prefer using it this way. In a game wherein the eyeball MK1 (or MK2 for me since I wear glasses) is dependent on the graphics engine, screen resolution, etc etc, I'll take what I can. Except for labels, haha!

Yeah, I think you're probably not getting my meaning though.

You don't need to be able to see the targets themselves - you do what's called 'contact flying' ... so you see ground, you see the terrain features of the location your target's at, and that's how you come back to them. If you're using the markpoint instead of this, then it is definitely a crutch.

Like I said, markpoints are definitely useful and useable, but some people (and can't really blame them, they don't know better) use them instead of good flying technique. It's the head-in-the-cockpit/HuD thing

Ah, I got what you meant in your last post, and I realize you did not understand what I said in the first place.

The mark point is not placed to "aid the eyes" back to the target area but rather to get the TGP over a point of interest quickly. It's easy enough to "padlock" an area visually, but if you spent a good time scanning the area and getting the TGP to show you that particular treeline that has the lone Shilka hiding in it, then have to lose track as your TGP goes gimbal roll on you, dropping a mark point and going back to that mark point is easier and faster compared to having to slave the TGP back onto the point of interest manually. Being able to "spot the site" with eyeball is not the issue.

Like I said, a bookmark. Instead of opening a book and flipping through a few pages to get to page 106, you can just put a bookmark there and you can get page 106 in 0.5 seconds all the time, everytime.

I don't use Mark Points often, but they sure can be fun. If you find a bunch of static tanks, for instance, try making Mark Points on a few of them and learn to cycle through the Marks. There's a training mission - Sitting Ducks, that you can experiment with.

This works, too - finding an air defense threat that is displaying on the RWR. Set the TAD in Depressed Mode to get more real estate on the TAD screen. Line the jet up with the RWR symbol and set the TAD to 80 miles. Make a Mark Point right in front of the jet and then another mark Point out about 70 miles.

Take the jet off to the left or right > 30° and make a second set of Mark Points like the first. Then you'll need to turn these four points (or more, depending upon how many times you inadvertently press TMS Right Short) into a flight path, I forget how to off the top of my pointy head, and where the AB line crosses the CD line is where you should be able to find the air defense threat. That is cool stuff.

You can also make a Mark Point, or two, at your present position so you can find it again, which is what - Ice is saying.

WC

Not exactly. Not a mark point on YOUR present position, but rather a mark point on an area of interest, like that static tank targets example you mentioned.

Well you can make a Mark Point at your present position, like what Wrecking Crew was sayin.

WC

Yes you can, but that wasn't the "usefulness" I was citing

Unless you are flying over the target area itself...

This -> "so you can find it again, which is what - Ice is saying", is THAT OK - Ice?

We must be absolutely clear or people will get confused!

WC

Lol, was just being nitpicky. See emphasis and thus possible source of confusion.




Don't mind me, I'm just bored

gawd i guess so im just gonna leave out all punctuation from now on and let you quote me and fill it in so you have something to do while youre waiting for me to go flying with you and so we can get the points across in only two posts lol oh and ill let you know on ts once the c130s are gone so your frame rates dont suffer

ice you know how much i care for you right

oh i am not either

oh just stop

wc

What are you two doing in front of a computer posting instead of playing A-10?

Eddie nails the Mark Z answer.

Has anyone noticed the OTHER mysterious TAD symbol? The white hollow diamond? It seems to be related to datalink SPIs from other aircraft. Usually it's only up briefly before being replaced by the usual two-tier wedding cake "mini SPI."

Noticed the exact same diamond, and noticed the exact same behavior. Maybe someone "on the inside" can confirm for us?

It's a simulation of the the SADL message packet train. The SPI first comes down as a linked coordinate, then is identified as a SPI, IIRC.

Awesome! Thanks. It seemed to be a "preliminary object yet to be refined."