We'll pretty much EU prime time.
And I do not agree. The range of the pilot radar is 6k the same as the huge red icon that would float above the bombers head. I fail to see what has changed in this scenario unless you mean flying upside down to spot the bomber if it happens to be below you?
Well, that's the thing. You're generally scanning the most likely area for him to be. He isn't always exactly where you think he is. A fair bit of finding the guy is taking educated guesses. When you guess right it looks like magic. When you don't, you're quite often a ways out of position. If things go spectacularly wrong, it's possible to miss seeing the guy's icon if you're looking too hard in the wrong direction. With the dar the way it was last night, that would be much less of a concern.
You still need to scan for dots. Dots show well before icons.
HiTech
It's beneficial if you see him sooner, but it's not really needed. Seeing him at dot range is the ideal. 10,000 yards vs 6,000. But if you didn't see him against the background or whatever, 6,000 is still plenty of range to set up for him most of the time.
But if you're spending most of your time scanning from 12 to 3 o'clock and he happened to slip by at 5 o'clock low against a non-contrasting background 5000 yards behind you because you were a bit early, instead of you going further and further out of position until you realize you missed him, you get that dot on your clipboard showing him behind you and reverse. Possibly without ever having seen the dot or icon.
Wiley.