Battery Computer (BCS)¶

The Battery Control System app plans fire missions for a whole battery. It runs on the FDC tablet of the fire direction centre and on the mounted SPG and MLRS tablets (see Tablets).

The BCS is a fire direction computer: it gives you the firing data for every gun of the battery. Guns linked over the datalink get their data straight into their gunner sight (SEND ADJ / SEND FFE); for other guns the fire direction centre passes it on by voice. Each gun lays with its own gunner sight and ammunition handler.

Battery types¶

Workflow¶

1. Battery setup¶

Open Bty Setup:

1. Enter the Battery Callsign and pick the Gun Type (battery type), then SAVE BTY TYPE.
2. Add the guns:
   • Link gun lists the ITC guns of the battery type on your side that are on the datalink, nearest first, with their datalink ID and grid. LINK adds the selected one as the next gun number. A linked gun shows its ID in the gun list (LOST once it is destroyed or gone); its position, elevation and direction come from the vehicle before each calculation, its solutions start at its muzzle, and it only gets the solutions its turret can lay.
   • Guns without ITC fire control (other mods' guns, mortars): enter the Gun #, its grid, elevation and direction, and SAVE GUN. Saving a number that already exists updates that gun (a linked one becomes a hand-entered one); REMOVE deletes the selected one. Hand-entered guns only get the solutions the battery type's guns can lay.

The battery position used for the battery-centre solution is the average of the gun positions.

Every ITC gun and rocket launcher with a mounted tablet (Sholef 2, Sochor 2, Hammer 2, Seara 2, Zamak MRLi and the ITC self-propelled guns of other mods, the CUP M1129 and M270, see Compatibility) joins the datalink by itself. The towed guns (D-30, M119) are just the gun, with no tablet: their crews work by voice, so enter them by hand and pass their data by radio. Guided rockets get their fixed 800 mils quadrant in the BCS as in the launcher's app.

2. New fire mission¶

Open New Firemission and choose the Target Type:

Known Point → Load fills the fields from a stored location. Next saves the target and continues.

3. Engagement¶

Set how the battery engages:

• Ammo Type (shell), its Fuze and the Count of rounds per gun: the linked guns get them as their fire orders
• Sheaf Type: parallel, converged, linear, open or special — where each gun aims relative to the target
• Quick Sheaf, Direction and Length for the sheaf

Next computes the solutions.

4. Solution¶

The solution page shows the selected solution's MAXIMUM ORDINATE, IMPACT ANGLE and TARGET DISTANCE, and per gun the charge, azimuth, deflection, quadrant, time of flight and, for rounds with a time fuze, the fuze setting (FS, see Fire control on the tablet) for the same charge and angle. SLN+ / SLN- step through the solutions (charges, low and high angle). NO SOLUTIONS with the range means the target is out of reach for this battery type; NO SLN on a gun means that gun has no solution for the selected charge and angle (out of range, or a quadrant it cannot lay).

• SEND ADJ sends the firing data of the gun selected in the list (the first gun if none is), for adjusting fire; SEND FFE sends every gun its data, for fire for effect. Each linked gun gets its line as the selected solution in its gunner sight and SPG app, and the round, fuze and count as fire orders (the FCI ORDERS panel in its sight, FDC ORDERS in its ammunition handler); its crew gets a beep and a hint. A hint tells you which guns got the data, which are not linked and which have no solution. After an adjustment, send again. While the solution page is open, each linked gun's row shows its loader status (for example READY TO FIRE ( 1 / 3 )).

• SHOT: a linked gun reports its first shot of the data you sent, which starts SHOT by itself (hint FM0001: SHOT reported by the guns); for guns that are not linked, press it when they report the rounds fired. The page counts down the time to impact (TTI) and the mission list shows the mission as SHOT. Alert To Splash seconds before impact (5 by default, BCS settings) it turns to SPLASH, with a beep and a hint, also while the tablet is closed: the moment to call "splash" to the observer. If the time of flight is shorter, the alert comes right away. Ending the mission or pressing SHOT again cancels the pending alert.

• ADJUST/FFE opens the adjustment page: enter the observer's correction (OT, add/drop, left/right, up/down) to move the target and recalculate.
• END MISSION ends the mission and clears its fire orders on the linked guns; END & SAVE first stores its target as a known point.

Location stores¶

Location Stores keeps known points with a Reference ID, Position, Elevation and whether it is Friendly. ADD NEW adds a point or updates the one with the same ID, REMOVE deletes the selected one. The counter-battery radar app can save detected firing positions here, and targets observers send from the ITC optics arrive here as TGT01, TGT02, … (Sending a target to the FDC).

Russian batteries¶

The Russian battery types (G152 for the Sochor 2, and with RHS or CUP the 2S1, 2S3, D-30 and 2B14) work in the Russian 6000 mil system while the Russian guns in 6000 mils setting is on: the gun lines show azimuth, deflection and quadrant as 15-00, and the OT direction (Shift, Polar, adjustment) and the sheaf direction are entered in it, as 1500 or 15-00. Other batteries use NATO 6400 mils.

Settings¶

BCS Settings: the Firemission Code and Firemission Start number name new missions, Alert To Splash sets how many seconds before impact the splash warning comes (more than 0, default 5). Save stores them; with an invalid Alert To Splash nothing is saved and a hint says why.