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Unfamiliar word? Select a dotted-underlined term for its meaning.
Start with the correct aircraft and control
- Find the E identity and confirm that the aircraft is the E-3D Sentry. GADGET with a K identity is the Nimrod, not the AWACS. Press G for ACTIVE OPS if you need to check aircraft and task details.
- Right-click the E-3D track to open its context menu.
- If it shows L11: OFF, select that control. In this version the AWACS L11 control switches this aircraft’s radar contribution on, enables Link-11 and selects the active AWACS.
- Reopen the menu to confirm L11: ON, or read the AWACS L11 message in ASMA. Then observe fresh updates in the area it can cover.
RINGS: ON/OFF only shows or hides the range guide. It is not the radar/link switch. An airborne sensor still has coverage limits; enabling it does not guarantee every aircraft will appear.
Check what it is actually doing
Open ACTIVE OPS with G. Check the E-3D’s actual position, current task and L11 state, then look for fresh reports in the area you are watching. A task destination or status label alone does not show which contacts it is currently reporting.
Check the display before launching another aircraft
Open ASMA if needed (default M) and click A/C once to clear any single-sortie restriction. If ATC is selected, leaving it ends the current controller conversation. Select the E-3D first if no aircraft is selected or hooked. Press the current solo-data shortcut once; the default is Delete. Read the new ASMA message from that press. If it says TRACK DATA SOLO ON, press once more and check for a new TRACK DATA SOLO OFF message. An earlier message is history, not the current setting. If you changed the key, find Solo Track Data (Selected/Hooked) in SETTINGS → KEYBOARD. For an identity filter you enabled, right-click its active button to remove that filter. Follow the decluttering steps to check what each control changes.
Capture an unresolved problem
Record the game version, E-3D callsign, task, position and L11 state, plus an ASMA screenshot. Explain which contacts you expected and whether ground radars cover them. Avoid repeatedly launching replacements before you know what is missing.
If the right-click menu will not open
- Left-click the E-3D and confirm its callsign and type in Flight Info. Choose AC Control in the same aircraft panel.
- Read L11: ON/OFF there. If it is OFF and you want this E-3D to provide radar reports, choose it once, then check ON. This also enables the game’s Link-11 reporting connection. It does not guarantee a fresh report for every aircraft.
- Use ENABLE RIGHT CLICK MENU if you want to restore the context menu. You can use the aircraft-panel control without first enabling that menu.
- Keep Rings: ON/OFF separate: it changes the range guide, not whether this aircraft’s radar is on.
There is also a fixed Shift + right-click shortcut over the E-3D. With its radar off, this enables it and Link-11. With its radar already on, it toggles rings instead. It is not an on/off radar shortcut. Use the labelled controls when learning, and finish or cancel any waiting map-target selection first; right-click can cancel that selection.
Seeing the E-3D does not prove it is reporting other aircraft
The game can keep the E-3D’s own position updated even when its radar is off. Its own moving symbol therefore does not prove that other aircraft are being detected and reported. L11: ON describes this aircraft’s radar setting; it is not a promise of complete coverage or a fresh report for every contact. Check the working position, current task and fresh updates together. If the simulation is paused, use the time controls before expecting the picture to develop.
Why do position symbols or white plots disappear when I select another track?
Selecting an E-3D chooses the position symbols and history plots drawn for its reports. Selecting another aircraft can clear those AWACS symbols and plots while aircraft tracks still receive reports. That display change is not an order to switch the E-3D’s radar off. Select the intended E-3D again and watch later updates. You do not need to launch a replacement just because the white plots cleared. Read white track information and white EW plots as separate cues.
Match the symptom to the next check
| What you see | Check next |
|---|---|
| Rings are visible, but expected contacts are missing | Read L11 on the actual E-3D. Rings alone do not enable the sensor. Compare its current position with the area you tasked it to cover. |
| The E-3D moves, but no other tracks appear | Its own position can be reported separately. Check L11, task, working position and whether fresh reports arrive. |
| Position symbols or white plots clear after clicking another aircraft | Select the intended E-3D again. Its displayed symbols and plots can clear without stopping radar reports. |
| Nearby tracks remain green | AWACS does not add a separate report for a contact that ground radar has just reported. Green tracks where their coverage overlaps are not, by themselves, proof of an AWACS failure. |
| The AEW place label is visible, but the E-3D is elsewhere | The label is the requested working point, not the aircraft. Follow the departure and task checks and judge the actual E-3D position. |
| One track flashes or vanishes while others update | Use faded-track checks and display and sensor checks. One missing contact does not prove that the whole AWACS contribution has failed. |
If L11 is ON but the expected reporting still does not return, keep the save and the evidence. Record whether this followed a load, a new task, a selection change or a return to base. Do not repeatedly switch the sensor off and on while relying on it for coverage.
Observe the display without changing the aircraft’s task
- Use an ordinary session with an airborne E-3D already working. Leave its task and sensor setting unchanged; read L11 and its callsign. In TRACK LIST, note the E-3D and comparison aircraft’s starting hook buttons: ✔ means hooked; + means not hooked.
- With the simulation running, select that E-3D and watch the area it covers over fresh updates. Note which tracks and white plots you can actually see.
- Select one nearby aircraft. Check whether position symbols or white plots clear while its track information remains. A missing plot alone is not a lost aircraft.
- Select the same E-3D again and compare later updates. Not every nearby contact must become white: ground coverage and other display settings still matter.
- After comparing the views, open TRACK LIST and check those same two aircraft rows. If a map click changed a hook from the starting state you noted, click that row’s ✔ or + button once to put it back. Do not keep clicking the scope to restore the white plots. No RETASK, RTB or new launch is needed for this observation.