I have little reason to believe that the all the images you have posted are for track. From reading the material, which I have done many times, it seems to only be for search. The one with Figure 7 may say “auto tracking” and “auto following” upon translation, but upon looking at the context and all other sources I think the translation is doing some deceiving. For example tracking a target in TWS, or following the horizon and PSR-31/Delta H commands, which is mentioned many times in the previous section.
Why would the scale of the antenna rhombus on the HUD (specifically mentioned as STT/track mode, and from the same combat employment manual you reference) otherwise be +/-70 degrees? Why would the weapon complex textbook, certainly affiliated with MiG, from the red banner academy of Zhukovsky, give the azimuth limits of +/-70 degrees every chance it gets including both internal radar measurements and information passed to ILS-31? Why would a Polish manual from the Krakow museum explicitly used by maintenance personal say the azimuth limits are required to be +/-70 degrees? If by Ukrainian source you possibly mean the PowerPoint from Kiev National Aviation Academy that Over Scan translated, it also says +/-70 degrees. These are not “secondary commercial sources” as you claim.
Yes it does say the “scan sector” is limited 65 degrees from the nose, and covers a 50 degree arc, in “search” mode however not track. It is not “scanning” in STT. Your images display the search sectors and bars, which do not exist in track/STT, even if I ignore context from the descriptions.
So many other sources repeat it, you say it is “observed” but not measured? I have only spoken of internal measurements of the radar, and information passed to ILS-31.
In addition, I do not know what the radar “being limited” has to do with it being “incapable of tracking along its full azimuth.” I do not believe a radar being able to use its full azimuth as measured both inside the radar and as information sent to the HUD is some black magic that the Soviet Union was incapable of doing in the 80s.
The information I have read and presented seems to affirm this from multiple sources, so I believe it, whatever some may think of its technology. I have also shown two sources of its ability to accurately aim its radar antenna within 15 minutes of an arc, if you think that “innacurate” for a 3.5 degree beam width monopulse antenna it is your opinion and you are welcome to it.
