DKS ATC: GCI Controlling

GCI mode is for fighter controllers: it puts affiliation, groups and the calls you owe first. Switch to it with Alt+M or the GCI side of the top-bar switch. Everything on this page is worded for your working flight, and every bearing follows the Bearings setting (magnetic by default).

The loop

A GCI controller's work is a loop, and DKS ATC has one tool for each step:

1. See the picture. Groups form on the scope by themselves; the Picture panel lists them in formation order with the names you will say.
2. Pick who you talk to. Make a friendly flight your working flight (W, or click it in Flights).
3. Identify. Declare groups hostile, friend or neutral (F2–F5) as you identify them.
4. Commit. When you decide a flight commits, hover the group and press A. The Call deck words the COMMIT for you to say, then the TARGET that names the group. Mark JUDY (J) when the flight has it.
5. Talk. The Call deck words the next call owed: copy it with C (press again for the next), the PICTURE with P, bogey dope with B.
6. Watch for change. THREAT, MERGED, POP-UP, SPLIT and FADED events, SAM warnings and alerts tell you when the picture moved.

Working flight

The working flight is the friendly flight you are controlling right now. BRAA calls, bogey dope and the Call deck are worded for it, and Home centers the scope on it.

• Pick it with W over a friendly, by clicking it in Flights, or from a friendly's right-click menu (Work this flight). ' and ; step through flights.
• Flights lists your side's flights, humans first, each as CALLSIGN · players with its size, airframe, fuel, the groups it owns and JUDY. Double-click a flight to center on and follow its lead.
• Edit a flight. Click the pencil on a flight's row. Change the callsign or any pilot's name and press Enter. The new names show on every surface (data blocks, strips, lists) and are shared with your side. Empty a field, or use Reset to feed, to go back to what the feed sends. One Ctrl+Z undoes the whole edit. Renaming a flight numbers its aircraft in order (VIPER 2-1, VIPER 2-2…), merged-in aircraft after the flight's own. The same editor lists every aircraft: Split one off, Separate a merged-in one, pick a flight under Merge to join it, or Rejoin a split part.
• Split a flight. Right-click a friendly (on the scope, or its flight's row in Flights) and open Flight ›. Split that aircraft off on its own, or split its element: from a wingman, its own element (VIPER13 + VIPER14); from the lead, each trailing element. The part shows in Flights as its own flight under its lead's callsign (VIPER 1-3) with split from VIPER 1, so you can work it, assign it groups, call JUDY for it and rename it on its own. The original flight keeps its callsign and every group it owned. The split is shared with your side and lasts until you rejoin it.
• Rejoin. Click Rejoin on the split part's row, or use Flight › Rejoin … on any of its aircraft. The groups it owned go back to the original flight; if both had JUDY, the original's stays. Ctrl+Z undoes a split or a rejoin.
• Merge flights. When the mission gives aircraft that fly together their own flights (single-ship client slots under different callsigns), right-click one and open Merge ENFIELD 1 into ›, then pick the flight to join, nearest first. Its aircraft fly in that flight under its callsign, and any groups the merged flight owned go with them. The flight's row shows N merged in: click Separate there, or use Flight › Separate … on a merged aircraft, to send them back to their own flight. Merges are shared with your side; Ctrl+Z undoes one.
• Mission plan. Under Flights, pick the DKS package being flown and its flights fill in (callsign, airframe, task and interflight frequency), matched to live flights by callsign. Nothing is typed by hand.

Declarations

A declaration is what you have said a track is. DKS ATC starts the other side's aircraft as bogey and never declares hostile on its own: hostile is always your call.

• Bandit or hostile. In brevity a BANDIT is an aircraft identified as enemy; a HOSTILE is an enemy you are cleared to fire on. Declare BANDIT when you know it is the enemy but the flight is not yet cleared; the calls then say "bandit".
• A declaration key applies to the hovered or selected contact's whole group. To declare one aircraft, right-click it › Declare TN …, or use its row in Properties › Members. An aircraft declared differently from the rest of its group breaks out as its own group, so every group on the scope has one identity; declare them the same and they rejoin.
• With nothing hovered or selected, the key arms: the next click applies it, and Shift+click sweeps everything within 30 px.
• Ctrl+Shift+F2 declares every bogey hostile in one step.
• Ctrl+Z undoes any declaration, assignment, JUDY, rename or BRAA you made (never another controller's).
• Declarations are shared with the other controllers on your side (see Positions & Teamwork).

Groups

DKS ATC groups hostile, bogey and unknown aircraft flying together, and keeps the same group from frame to frame even as members join and leave.

• What makes a group. Aircraft within 3 NM of each other form one group, as in the brevity definition of GROUP. Once grouped, they stay together out to 3.5 NM, so a pair flying right on the line does not flicker between one group and two.

• Altitude and heading. Altitude does not split a group. Aircraft stacked inside 3 NM are one group, and the PICTURE calls them a STACK when they are 10,000 ft or more apart. A turn does not split a group either. Two separate groups whose headings differ by more than 30° do not merge as they cross.

• Group names (GCI). A group has no name until a controller gives it one, as in brevity: until then the scope shows its lead's track number and strength ("TN 8627 ×2"; every aircraft keeps its own TN) and calls say "group" with its position. It gets a name when you:

  • call a labeled PICTURE (acknowledge it with P): every group it reads takes the picture's name ("NORTH GROUP", "LEAD GROUP");
  • commit a flight on it: the name the picture gives it among the groups called ("SOUTHWEST GROUP"), said in the TARGET call;
  • rename it from its right-click menu.

  Once named, the group is called that everywhere (data block, Flights, alerts, every call) and the name holds while it moves. It is dropped when you call a new picture that no longer uses it (unless a flight is committed on the group), or when the group is killed or leaves the picture. Names are shared with the other controllers on the session. In ATC mode groups keep their bullseye-sector labels.

• Split and move. Pull a track out of its group (Grouping › Split from …), or move it into another with Move to group ›, which lists the nearest groups of its side. A moved track takes its new group's declaration. A split or move lasts 20 minutes of mission time, then the automatic grouping takes over again. It is also dropped if the track leaves the picture, or, for a move, if the track you moved it next to leaves.

• Strength. A group's block shows how many it holds (3x).

The PICTURE

The Picture panel builds the PICTURE call from the current groups. P focuses the panel, copies the call and acknowledges it. The brief picks one of two styles.

Navy (the default)

The way fleet controllers give it: a count, then each group off bullseye, with no labels and no names.

Picture, three groups, track east, hostile. Group ROCK 235/30, 10 thousand. Group ROCK 278/50, 15 thousand. Group ROCK 305/65, 30 thousand.

• Most threatening first. The picture reads the groups that will reach a friendly soonest (hot groups ahead of nearer cold ones), up to the brief's Groups called (5 unless you brief another). The rest are counted: "Plus three more groups."
• Said once. A track or declaration every group shares follows the count instead of being repeated on each group.
• Commit to the picture, then target. The COMMIT is to the whole picture: "VIPER 1, commit." The flight answers with its own commit. If it does not target a group itself, the TARGET call assigns one and names it: "VIPER 1, target northwest group, ROCK 334/45, 8 thousand." The Picture panel shows a compass name for each group ("NORTHWEST GROUP"); the TARGET is where the group gets it, at the bullseye position the picture gave, so the flight knows which group is meant. THREAT, MERGED and FADED calls use the same name after that.
• No packages. Groups are never gathered into packages.

Labeled

The multi-service presentation, with picture labels and positional names. Drills always use it, because they teach the labels.

• Labels. The call opens with the label, such as "Two groups azimuth 12." The word "picture" is not spoken before it; "Picture clean." keeps it.
• Azimuth or range. Two groups wider than they are deep are AZIMUTH; deeper than wide, RANGE. When one sits behind and to the side of the other, the label adds an echelon direction ("two groups range 10, echelon southeast").
• Three or more groups. WALL and LADDER cover three or more groups. A VIC or CHAMPAGNE needs its trailing groups swept back about 45° or more; anything shallower is a WALL. WEIGHTED is added when a group sits out of position in a vic, champagne, wall or ladder.
• Leading edge. When a gap of 20 NM or more opens behind the front groups, the front groups are called in detail and the rest as a follow-on.
• Packages. Groups more than the bounding range (40 NM unless you brief another) from every other group form separate packages. The call names the packages first ("Two packages range 90."), then describes each package with its own label and groups. When every group is alone (none within 40 NM of another), they are not packages: the call is plain "Six groups", each by compass name, nearest first.
• Names. Side-by-side groups take the four cardinal names: NORTH and SOUTH, or EAST and WEST. Groups in trail are LEAD and TRAIL. A small wobble in the threat axis does not rename them.
• Order and dimensions. The group nearest your fighters is called first. When two are level, the one nearer the bullseye goes first. Widths and depths are whole miles. With more than three groups, only the three closest are given a bullseye position.
• Track. A track every group shares follows the label ("Two groups azimuth 12, track west.").
• Groups called. The brief's cap applies here too: the most threatening groups are shaped and read, and the rest are counted.

Both styles

• Brief. Under Brief in the Picture panel, set the picture style (Navy or Labeled), how many groups it reads, the bounding range (Labeled only: groups farther apart are called as packages), and the THREAT time and miss distance (a group that will pass within that distance of a flight inside that time is a THREAT). They are kept with your settings, and the Call deck and the Log use the same numbers.
• Threat sector. Set the sector in the Picture panel (where the wedge starts, its axis, width and depth); it is drawn on the scope and the PICTURE covers only groups inside it. Without one the PICTURE covers the whole scope and is marked approximate.
• Changes. When the picture changes (a group appears, splits or fades, or the picture goes clean), the top bar shows PICTURE CHANGED until you acknowledge the new one.
• Hover a row to light that group up on the scope.

BRAA and bogey dope

• Quick measure. Right-drag between two points for bearing and range, snapping to contacts. Alt+click measures in legs, as on the planner map.
• Hooked BRAA. Ctrl+right-drag between two tracks (or Hook BRAA in a menu) hooks a BRAA that follows both ends. The BRAA panel lists every hook with bearing, range, altitude, aspect (HOT, FLANK, BEAM or DRAG), closure, the intercept heading and the time to intercept. Shift+right-click a BRAA's label deletes it.
• BRAA to the nearest groups. While you work a flight, dashed lines run from its lead to the five nearest hostile, bogey or unknown groups within 200 NM, each labeled with its BRAA and colored by aspect: red HOT, amber FLANK, orange BEAM, gray DRAG. Turn them off under Layers › BRAA to nearest groups.
• Bogey dope. B (or Bogey dope in a friendly's menu) hooks a BRAA from the friendly to the nearest hostile, bogey or unknown group and words the answer, said as "bogey" until you declare it. The range is to the group's nearest contact. The group's fill-ins follow (HEAVY and the count, HIGH, FAST). With a friendly and a non-friendly inside 5 NM of the flight, the answer is "furball". The Call deck gives the same answer when it is for the working flight.

Words follow brevity (ATP 1-02.1):

• "Angels" is a friendly's altitude in thousands of feet. "Cherubs" is a friendly below 1,000 ft above the ground. Other groups are "25 thousand".
• An aspect of 30° or less is HOT. Up to 70° is FLANK. Up to 120° is BEAM. Above that is DRAG.
• A group is called a STACK when its altitudes span 10,000 ft or more.
• HIGH is above 40,000 ft. FAST is 600 to 900 kt. VERY FAST is above 900 kt.
• North is spoken "360", never "000", as brevity says it. Readouts on the scope (BRAA lines, the ruler, data blocks) print 000, like every other DKS map.

The Call deck

The Call deck says the next call you owe the working flight, worded and ready to copy, then what is coming next.

C copies the next call you have not copied yet, top first, so pressing it twice after a commit copies the COMMIT and then the TARGET. A copied call shows a check; once every call is copied, C copies the top one again. Next for the flight lists the groups that will matter next with their time and range, and Session scorecard at the foot of the deck counts how long hostile, bogey or unknown groups went with no flight assigned, and names any that faded while nobody was working them.

Commit and JUDY

• A commits the working flight on the hovered or selected group (also Commit in the group's right-click menu and in Properties). You decide when: commit criteria, tasking and ROE are yours. The flight then owns the group, and the Call deck words the calls for a minute: the COMMIT, to the picture ("VIPER 1, commit."), then the TARGET that names the group. Say the TARGET if the flight has not targeted a group itself. In the Navy picture it gives the group's bullseye position ("VIPER 1, target north group, ROCK 278/50, 15 thousand."), in the labeled picture its BRAA from the flight ("VIPER 1, target north group, BRAA 090/30, 15 thousand, hot."). A flight that is already committed only gets the TARGET for another group. A committed group is targeted, so it no longer raises THREAT. A never commits a flight on a friendly group, its own included. A committed group's symbol is drawn fainter: that group is on the flight's own radar, so the ones nobody is working stay the loudest thing on the scope.

• J marks JUDY: the flight has the intercept, so calls about that group to that flight go quiet and you stay off their frequency.

• Ending a commit. Right-click the group and pick Release VIPER 1 (or Release in the Picture panel's row menu). A commit also ends on its own once its group has been gone from the picture for 10 seconds (killed, or faded and done coasting) or its flight is shot down or lands. It does not end at the merge: the fight is still on.

• A committed group splits. The commit stays on the part that keeps the group's name, and the SPLIT alert says so ("VIPER 1's group NORTH is now 2 groups; the commit stays on group NORTH") so you can commit another flight on the rest or move this one.

• Pairing on the scope. Every commit is drawn the way MIL-STD-2525 draws a pairing, so you can see who is on what without the Call deck:

  • a pairing line from the flight's lead to the group: dashed while committed, thin and solid after JUDY;
  • an engagement bar in red on top of the group: the owning flight ("VIPER 1"), "R:VIPER 1" when another controller made the commit, "VIPER 1 J" after JUDY;
  • when a committed group is killed or fades, its bar turns orange where it was last seen for 10 seconds.

  Turn it off under Layers › Commit pairing (on by default in GCI mode).

• Assignments and JUDY are shared. A controller who leaves keeps their groups; anyone can release them with one click in Controllers.

Weapons ROE

The ROE badge in the top bar (GCI mode) shows the weapons ROE set for your side: free, tight or hold, with what each means and who set it. Click it to change it; the change is shared with every controller on your side.

Group events

Events run on mission time, so pausing or speeding up a recording never fires stray calls, and rewinding never raises them again.

Events also appear as alerts; see Alerts & Squawks.

NAV GRID

The NAV GRID is a position-reporting grid anchored on the bullseye or a point you place. Open it from the NAV GRID panel or Shift+N.

• Fan (LotATC style): sectors across a threat axis with rings. A cell's code is its center bearing to the nearest 10° plus the ring letter, so a contact about 070 at 60 NM with 50 NM rings reads 07B. Every contact in a cell shares its code. The F-14 TID codes a contact by its own bearing instead, so the two can differ by a digit. Each sector is at least 10° wide, so no two cells share a code.
• Keypad: lettered columns and numbered rows, each cell split into a 3 × 3 telephone keypad (C4-7), rotatable.

The cursor shows the code under the pointer, and with Code in data blocks on, each block shows its track's cell ({navgrid}). Share sends your grid to the other controllers.