Do Israeli F-16s have lasers with their TGP? The reason I ask is that I dropped a GBU but the laser didn't seem to fire at 8 seconds, which is what the laser was set to. Additionally, pressing the first trigger detent didn't seem to fire the laser; at least the 'L' on the TGP never flashed. However, most (not all) of my GBUs did seem to hit the target with decent accuracy, suggesting that some sort of guidance was employed (or that I was quite lucky with my CCRP release).

Thanks in advance for your help!

AFAIK the BMS TGP is the AN/AAQ-14 or similar TGP that's the same for all F-16 variants. Test by aiming the TGP at a ground track and pressing the first trigger detent to manually lase. If the L flashes test a GBU-12 drop and guide with manual laser. If THAT works then confirm your FCC is set to auto lase for LGBs and your auto lase time is 10 sec or greater (as little as 5 will actually work but let's be accurate to doctrine). Auto lase time is part of the data cartridge so it's possible that it was set at 0 accidentally.

Hi Frederf, thanks for the help. I am still having issues.

I just flew a BAI mission in the Israeli theater. I was armed with GBUs and a TGP. I turned on Master Arm and the Laser Arm. I found some moving targets on the FCR in GM mode close to my target steerpoint, locked one, switched to the TGP as SOI, ground stabilized with TMS-Up and dropped a GBU in CCRP mode when my flight path marker met the firing cue on the HUD. The laser did not fire at 10 seconds nor did a first detent trigger pull activate the laser. In the ICP, I went into List, hit 0 for Misc, and then 5 for Laser, which showed the laser code and a laser time of 10 seconds. It seemed like everything was set up properly but no laser for my GBUs (which all missed their moving target).

You state that I need to confirm my FCC is set to auto lase for LGBs. How do I do that?

Thanks again for your help!

Oh, and just in case it helps, I can drop GBU's without problems in the Korean theater. Everything works as expected; auto-lase triggers at 10 seconds and a trigger pull will manually trigger the laser. But that is not the case for me in Israel

What altitude are you? - Are you using the same TGP in both? - the AAQ-14 could only be used under 24kft - where as the AAQ-33 I use in Korea BMS can lase much higher than this.

In Israel, I was flying at around 20,000 feet (baro), but I tried dropping GBUs at different altitudes (anywhere between 22,000 - 10,000 feet) with the same results.

As for the type of TGP used in both theaters, I'm not sure if they are the same. I simply check the TGP checkbox in the Loadout screen; it doesn't tell me the specific model of TGP that it is using.

I'm currently playing Falcon BMS in the ITO theater, in the campaign against Syria to be more precise and so far I'm not having any problems with LGBs. Well, so far I only used LGBs in one mission against a static target (an aircraft repair facility) and despite being a static target I can confirm that the L symbol was present and it flashed 8 seconds before impact as it should and the bombs hit exactly were I was aiming so this confirms that the LBGs are working as expected on my end.

BTW, when playing in the ITO theater do you activate the "Flight models patch" in the "Israel Theater Settings.exe" file?
This patch changes many things regarding Israeli (and other) aircraft used in ITO, changing things such as number of Chaffs and Flares used by Israeli F-16s, among many other things so I wouldn't be much surprised if such patch (or the lack of it) somehow affected the laser designation.

Thanks for the feedback. I tried it with both the flight model patch on and off with the same results. I'll try again; perhaps I'll create a demo video of what I am experiencing if it still persists.

Are you using ITO 0.991?

Alright, I think I found the problem. It appears that the F16C-30I, which is the aircraft I was flying, can carry GBU-31, GBU-32, and GBU-38 JDAMS. It seems like the JDAMS do not enable the laser to fire. However, F16D-40I can carry GBU-12, 24, etc and indeed the TGP and laser work. So problem solved.

I guess my real question should be: how do you deploy JDAMS, although I'm sure I can figure that out with a bit of research.

Thanks for the help, everybody!

Actually I didn't update my ITO theater to 0.991, I'm still using 0.99

Well if you're trying to use laser designation on JDAMs than no wonder that you won't see the weapon guiding into the laser spot since JDAMs are GPS guided weapons and not laser guided (well there are some JDAM variants that together with the GPS also have a Laser seeker but I don't know if such variants are even modeled in Falcon BMS).
GPS guided weapons follow a pre-determined point (coordinates) which is set before the actual weapon launch and after being launched the JDAM is totally and completely autonomous and therefore GPS weapons can't follow moving targets which means that GPS guided weapons are only useful against static targets hence why Laser guided bombs are still used and will still be used in the future (despite the fire-and-forget and all weather capabilities of GPS guided weapons).

JDAMs I suggest manual release (not CCRP) on precision steerpoints on static targets. Use CCRP to know you're in bomb range and switch to MAN to release. Bomb should land right on the lat/long loaded in the DTC.

Erm, JDAMs don't need the laser in order to find their target as they home in on GPS coordinates. The downside is they cannot hit moving targets as others have said, but the upside is that 1) you don't need to loiter and lase and 2) you can drop 4 JDAMs in one pass and hit 4 different targets which increases your survivability due to one-pass-haul-ass. Due to the restrictions on when you can use a laser-guided bomb, I think it's better to just carry CBUs instead.

I did not know that the different aircraft types were limited to different bomb loads.... where'd you get that info?

Laser JDAM are GBU-54/55/56 - not in BMS by default that I have seen

Thanks for the info.
I also don't remember to have seen such JDAM variants on Falcon BMS.

I got the info from the loadout screen when I joined different squadrons with different blocks of F16s. In the Israeli theater, my airbase has two squadrons to choose from, an F16-30I squadron and an F16-40I squadron. When I choose the 30I squadron and modify the loadout, I am only presented with JDAM GBU variants, there is no option to choose non-JDAMs because they are not present in the loadout screen. However, if I join the 40I squadron, I can choose LGB GBUs as they are available in the loadout.

It has been a learning experience for me and I have since flown a mission successfully using JDAMs. I like the tactic of lofting them and cycling the steerpoints for each one so that they hit their distinct targets. Pretty cool!

Ah, I see. Thanks for that info. I don't play much on ITO.