[BY DESIGN] aircraft attacking opportunity target while RoE say no

[Rongor]

I have a flight of 2 HARM loaded F-16 closing in North Korea. They are following the plotted course.
Meanwhile there are bandits taking off on an airfield abeam.
While attacking opportunity targets is set to No in the RoE, I noticed that those F-16 just dropped AMRAAMs towards these aircraft. By the way they did this while EMCON is set passive.
RoE say don't attack opportunity targets, as I actually intended to prevent exactly this situation happening. Why they fired at all is unclear to me. I don't see how this was in self-defence, since their status is stating "on plotted course" and not "engaged, defensive". Also they weren't attacked at all.
So why did they fire the AIM-120 and how to prevent that?

Is there something wrong? Or is there simply no opportunity target, as my F-16 lack a task, they only judge by their loadouts and therefore regard any air target as legit?

running v1.11SR7/906.26 on steam

[RoryAndersonCDT]

Thanks rongor, logged.

[ComDev]

Hi Rongor, thanks for your feedback [8D]

I believe the behaviour you see is by design.

If you turn on Targeting Vectors (via Map Settings -> Targeting Vectors -> Selected Unit) you can see how units are adding potential targets to their internal targets list.

Ships on ASuW missions will add all ships within the patrol area and within weapon range, aircraft on strike missions will add the mission targets, etc. Target types and/or specific targets that aren't of interest are skipped unless you turn on Opportunity Targets. With Opportunity Targets, all contacts will be engaged.

However, aircraft and missiles are always considered to be a threat, and are added to the target list by units that carry anti-aircraft weapons regardless of 'Opportunity Targets' setting. As such, your units will shoot at the first chance they get.

If you want to stop the F-16s from taking long-range shots, you can either set Weapons Hold via the Doctrine window, or update the WRA and limit the AMRAAM range to 20nm or whatever:

http://www.warfaresims.com/?p=3598

[Rongor]

Hey Emsoy, thanks for the reply.

I admit, I already suspected it to work that way but it is good to have it now verified by you.
My first idea when opening the thread was, that my pilots unnecessarily attracted attention from red contacts which seemed unaware of them so far. I will now set RoE accordingly to prevent that in the future and put WCS on HOLD.

May I ask 2 follow up questions:

Also I was a bit surprised, how the AMRAAMs even got their lock onto the target while their hosts didn't use their radars at all (which would normally be required for a target lock and missile launch authorization). I assume the target location was delivered by network data?

How is network data handled in regard of radio silence? Can transmitting of data network traffic be picked up by ELINT and therefore alert the enemy of the transmitter (in CMANO and/or real world)
So far I regarded sensor control as a way to achieve radio silence but this incident showed me, it maybe is not? Or did we simply not have to worry about data link radio silence but then this will all change with the upcoming Chains of War? Will intentional radio silence of those 2 F-16 play a role then in my described situation to keep them hidden effectively? Looking forward to get these new features[:)]

[ComDev]

On #1, this is a known issue. The database has been updated and the actual in-game implementation should start soon.

On #2, the answer is No, not implemented yet