I got a few very pixelated recon photos of Husqvarna airfield (yes, I know that's not really the name!) before the SA-15 started coming alive again. I got out of there before it launched on me. I got intercepted by a single F-5, which I was able to dispatch with an AIM-9L Sidewinder.
I streamed some of my mission, but not all of it. This should take you to the part where I was getting the pictures:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1504977267?t=00h27m38s
Snowfox: 061522 SEAD/DEAD Air Superiority and Recon
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Snowfox: 061522 SEAD/DEAD Air Superiority and Recon
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Re: Snowfox: 061522 SEAD/DEAD Air Superiority and Recon
Nice going Xpen!
I had some video but i really didn't have anything of worth to display so I nixed it. I did however post the video of Xpen's showboating in his Harrier! That was impressive.
I would love to get recon images of Havadarya since we have Bandar Abbas imagery. I may try to go in again sometime, we'll see. It's times like this when I wish they had TARPS ready for the Tomcat already. But LANTIRN it is.
Great job everyone in forming up, making your package, and going in with purpose. That's the best I've seen in a while. I formed up with Xpen at Khasab and with good comms and radar work, we were able to smoothly transition into a section. It was timed beautifully--just as Xpen was wheels up I had arrived at Khasab and had circled into joining up. I had been real lax with formation flying lately so this time I made an effort to pay attention to it and not only did I do much better, but I also was reminded that the finesse it takes to land on the boat is the same kind of finesse it takes to fly formation. That experience in practice in both really takes you from being a pilot to a precision pilot.
I enjoyed how the DEAD guys got together and started working the targets and the CAP/escort guys took care of business. Xpen and I decided that as or mission was recce-in-force, that we would orbit nearby in a safe area until the DEAD guys did their thing and cleared the area out for us while the CAP guys continued air coverage.
Xpen and I elected to use Larak Island as our anchor point and circled overland in formation, which was again, quite beautiful. On occasion I was called to help with air to air, to which I only left when cleared by Xpen. 1 of my 2 Phoenixes hit their targets, and I cleaned up the survivors with my Sparrows and Sidewinders. On the first engagement I was forced to trash a shoot because of an SA-15 that shot not one but 2 SAMs at me while I was engaged. I was able to evade them keeping in mind SAM defense tactics that I have to say, if you do them properly and mindfully, they will certainly increase your chances of survival. I beat 2 missiles that were ripple launched at me, I even surprised myself. I'm not saying if you follow the tactics you will always survive, but it's a matter of taking the enemy PK from 90% down to 25%.
Each time after the AA engagements and SAM defenses, I would rush back to Xpen to rejoin and we'd continue on our orbit, waiting for the all clear. Unfortunately, all of our SEAD/DEAD assets were either shot down or had to RTB (or IRL had to leave) so although they had taken out some of the air defenses, there was still at least an SA-15 to go.
I had planned to RTB since I was joker fuel, plus with the AA and SAM engagements I was in, I had only 2 missiles left and 6 flares. Xpen wanted a piece of the action and decided to press to Bandar Abbas since he had some air to ground weapons so he pushed north. As his wingman, I wasn't going to leave him, so I did too even though I really wanted to head home. On the way there we were being intercepted by a group of bandits. Some of them were shot down by an AI F-15, but one survived. I attacked him with a Sparrow shot, which looked like it was tracking well, but then, baed on my targeting camera, it looked like the bandit was able to notch it and lose the missile. He then came at me head on and I had a Sidewinder ready for him but it wasn't getting good tone. I fired anyway, just as he fired. I immediately pulled my head-on IR defense which has worked 80 or 90% of the time: do an off-axis barrel roll while popping flares in idle. That probably would have worked, but recall I only had 6 flares left. And they were not nearly enough to spoof that missile, so I took the hit. I was luckily able to eject.
I believe Hammer took out that bandit. They had been distracted enough that Xpen was able to get in and get his recon shots, and maybe pickle off a few as well. He returned to Khasab and did a victory lap around Khasab in a hover:
So the one thing that I realized the most in this hop is that even though you have tone, or you have that good lock, or you have a perfect intercept, or your bandit is on your nose, or you have even a Phoenix missile--that doesn't guarantee a kill. The point is PK. You may fire that AMRAAM because you got the shoot cue in your HUD, but if the target is 20 miles away and your PK is 60%, whereas at 15 miles away your PK is 90%, then it's better to wait the 5 miles to shoot. This is of course subjective; the takeaway here is to give your missile the very best chance it has to kill the target. Give it extra speed to start out with by shooting while fast so it has added kinetic energy to make it to the target and still enough juice to maneuver. Give it less dense air to fly through by firing from up high rather than have it have to muscle its way in at thicker air at lower altitudes. Give it longer motor burn time by firing close to the target if you can afford to do so. Etc. etc...I had realized this just a few days ago while listening to either the Fighter Pilot Podcast or the F-14 Tomcast when one of the TOPGUN pilots mentioned the same thing. I just realized that the only time I did that lat night was when I fired the Phoenixes, and even then I didn't do it ideally. But that last bandit that I fired the Sparrow at which missed was a perfect example of me not giving the Sparrow the best PK I could give it. I simply fired because he was in range. I had to consider the other conditions--my speed, my altitude, his TA and ATA--and all in a literal instant--but I didn't. So my Sparrow got spoofed and the rest is history.
Also I think I should have established with Xpen more who was doing what, who was lead and who was wingman. I just kind of laid back and let Xpen take over but really we should have been clear and verbal about who was who, we all should be. At one point because of communication, I thought we were heading back to rearm and refuel, but we had circled Lark and so I didn't say anything much. It wasn't until I finally asked when I found out that we weren't. The communication was there but we weren't communicating enough.
But all in all, I think we did well and I think I need to pay more attention to sticking to the training and training lessons learned.
Great job everyone!
v6,
boNes
I had some video but i really didn't have anything of worth to display so I nixed it. I did however post the video of Xpen's showboating in his Harrier! That was impressive.
I would love to get recon images of Havadarya since we have Bandar Abbas imagery. I may try to go in again sometime, we'll see. It's times like this when I wish they had TARPS ready for the Tomcat already. But LANTIRN it is.
Great job everyone in forming up, making your package, and going in with purpose. That's the best I've seen in a while. I formed up with Xpen at Khasab and with good comms and radar work, we were able to smoothly transition into a section. It was timed beautifully--just as Xpen was wheels up I had arrived at Khasab and had circled into joining up. I had been real lax with formation flying lately so this time I made an effort to pay attention to it and not only did I do much better, but I also was reminded that the finesse it takes to land on the boat is the same kind of finesse it takes to fly formation. That experience in practice in both really takes you from being a pilot to a precision pilot.
I enjoyed how the DEAD guys got together and started working the targets and the CAP/escort guys took care of business. Xpen and I decided that as or mission was recce-in-force, that we would orbit nearby in a safe area until the DEAD guys did their thing and cleared the area out for us while the CAP guys continued air coverage.
Xpen and I elected to use Larak Island as our anchor point and circled overland in formation, which was again, quite beautiful. On occasion I was called to help with air to air, to which I only left when cleared by Xpen. 1 of my 2 Phoenixes hit their targets, and I cleaned up the survivors with my Sparrows and Sidewinders. On the first engagement I was forced to trash a shoot because of an SA-15 that shot not one but 2 SAMs at me while I was engaged. I was able to evade them keeping in mind SAM defense tactics that I have to say, if you do them properly and mindfully, they will certainly increase your chances of survival. I beat 2 missiles that were ripple launched at me, I even surprised myself. I'm not saying if you follow the tactics you will always survive, but it's a matter of taking the enemy PK from 90% down to 25%.
Each time after the AA engagements and SAM defenses, I would rush back to Xpen to rejoin and we'd continue on our orbit, waiting for the all clear. Unfortunately, all of our SEAD/DEAD assets were either shot down or had to RTB (or IRL had to leave) so although they had taken out some of the air defenses, there was still at least an SA-15 to go.
I had planned to RTB since I was joker fuel, plus with the AA and SAM engagements I was in, I had only 2 missiles left and 6 flares. Xpen wanted a piece of the action and decided to press to Bandar Abbas since he had some air to ground weapons so he pushed north. As his wingman, I wasn't going to leave him, so I did too even though I really wanted to head home. On the way there we were being intercepted by a group of bandits. Some of them were shot down by an AI F-15, but one survived. I attacked him with a Sparrow shot, which looked like it was tracking well, but then, baed on my targeting camera, it looked like the bandit was able to notch it and lose the missile. He then came at me head on and I had a Sidewinder ready for him but it wasn't getting good tone. I fired anyway, just as he fired. I immediately pulled my head-on IR defense which has worked 80 or 90% of the time: do an off-axis barrel roll while popping flares in idle. That probably would have worked, but recall I only had 6 flares left. And they were not nearly enough to spoof that missile, so I took the hit. I was luckily able to eject.
I believe Hammer took out that bandit. They had been distracted enough that Xpen was able to get in and get his recon shots, and maybe pickle off a few as well. He returned to Khasab and did a victory lap around Khasab in a hover:
So the one thing that I realized the most in this hop is that even though you have tone, or you have that good lock, or you have a perfect intercept, or your bandit is on your nose, or you have even a Phoenix missile--that doesn't guarantee a kill. The point is PK. You may fire that AMRAAM because you got the shoot cue in your HUD, but if the target is 20 miles away and your PK is 60%, whereas at 15 miles away your PK is 90%, then it's better to wait the 5 miles to shoot. This is of course subjective; the takeaway here is to give your missile the very best chance it has to kill the target. Give it extra speed to start out with by shooting while fast so it has added kinetic energy to make it to the target and still enough juice to maneuver. Give it less dense air to fly through by firing from up high rather than have it have to muscle its way in at thicker air at lower altitudes. Give it longer motor burn time by firing close to the target if you can afford to do so. Etc. etc...I had realized this just a few days ago while listening to either the Fighter Pilot Podcast or the F-14 Tomcast when one of the TOPGUN pilots mentioned the same thing. I just realized that the only time I did that lat night was when I fired the Phoenixes, and even then I didn't do it ideally. But that last bandit that I fired the Sparrow at which missed was a perfect example of me not giving the Sparrow the best PK I could give it. I simply fired because he was in range. I had to consider the other conditions--my speed, my altitude, his TA and ATA--and all in a literal instant--but I didn't. So my Sparrow got spoofed and the rest is history.
Also I think I should have established with Xpen more who was doing what, who was lead and who was wingman. I just kind of laid back and let Xpen take over but really we should have been clear and verbal about who was who, we all should be. At one point because of communication, I thought we were heading back to rearm and refuel, but we had circled Lark and so I didn't say anything much. It wasn't until I finally asked when I found out that we weren't. The communication was there but we weren't communicating enough.
But all in all, I think we did well and I think I need to pay more attention to sticking to the training and training lessons learned.
Great job everyone!
v6,
boNes
"Also, I would prefer a back seater over the extra gas any day. I would have 80 pounds of flesh to eat and a pair of glasses to start a fire." --F/A-18 Hornet pilot
Re: Snowfox: 061522 SEAD/DEAD Air Superiority and Recon
I had a rather poor showing last night but not every sortie is perfect. I did have a nice landing at that airbase.
While I feel the Mi24 is better suited to supporting ground troops, I did feel I snuck in under enemy radar on that last mission and the F4's never did really get a bead on me. I was way off on my bomb dropping and the AA was my demise. Not much to do there when I was so low. I think it can be an effective weapon for strikes based on how things went but only if the target location is easier to see. In that twilight I just couldn't find the targets.
The SA installations were my demise in the F18 and my first attempt with HARMs was poor. Most of everyone else's HARMs got shot down.
What I think would really work would be GPS JDAMs. if we could get a direct bead on the exact location via intel or pilot observation, JDAM's could be preprogrammed and take that thing out from high alt.
Still, I had an enjoyable time last night. I will keep practicing and up my knowledge on firing HARMs.
While I feel the Mi24 is better suited to supporting ground troops, I did feel I snuck in under enemy radar on that last mission and the F4's never did really get a bead on me. I was way off on my bomb dropping and the AA was my demise. Not much to do there when I was so low. I think it can be an effective weapon for strikes based on how things went but only if the target location is easier to see. In that twilight I just couldn't find the targets.
The SA installations were my demise in the F18 and my first attempt with HARMs was poor. Most of everyone else's HARMs got shot down.
What I think would really work would be GPS JDAMs. if we could get a direct bead on the exact location via intel or pilot observation, JDAM's could be preprogrammed and take that thing out from high alt.
Still, I had an enjoyable time last night. I will keep practicing and up my knowledge on firing HARMs.
Re: Snowfox: 061522 SEAD/DEAD Air Superiority and Recon
I did get some vids of harrier action but will post this evening.
Re: Snowfox: 061522 SEAD/DEAD Air Superiority and Recon
Oh one more thing I need to troubleshoot is that in multiplayer, the sim would not let me get into the gunner seat in the Mi24 to turn on the countermeasures. So, I had no defense at any time in that thing.
Re: Snowfox: 061522 SEAD/DEAD Air Superiority and Recon
Thanks for sharing the video of my Harrier shanigans. Ironially, that was pretty terrible for me. I am really rusty having not flown the Harrier much in the past two months due to all my hardware / software issues. I have some rust to work off. Another thing that made my performance during the hover harder than usual was the lighting. I could not see the pavement well. When I hover, I don't watch the HUD much... I use my Mark I eyeballs. The shadow between those mountains made it hard for me perceive the depth, range, and position over the pavement. It was probably more that than anything else. Even my touchdowns were sloppy and risking damage to the undercarriage. I will have to make a video showing what I am really capable of. I also do this crazy stunt where I can hover in a vertical attitude while 50 feet off the deck. This is fantasy as no real Harrier pilot would do this and the real plane probably would not be able to pull it off. Nobody really knows because it has never been attempted in real life as far as I know. But it is a fun trick in DCS. I can also do the "bow" where the jet hovers in a nose low attitude. That is a real thing.
Agree with Bones that we should have communicated a little more, and I am equally responsible for that. It was fun nonetheless. Formation flying is something I have done a TON of, but for a flight lead that is nearly the easiest job. It is a lot more work to be the wingman. I have been in tight formations with 20 human pilots before. That is some insane formation flying. And I have done aerobatic maneuvers while in that formation (slow rolls, loops, etc). Despite having hundreds upon hundreds of formation flying hours, I absolutely suck at AAR (air to air refueling), especially so in the Harrier. The designer of the fuel probe on the AV-8B deserves a special room in hell. LOL
Agree with Bones that we should have communicated a little more, and I am equally responsible for that. It was fun nonetheless. Formation flying is something I have done a TON of, but for a flight lead that is nearly the easiest job. It is a lot more work to be the wingman. I have been in tight formations with 20 human pilots before. That is some insane formation flying. And I have done aerobatic maneuvers while in that formation (slow rolls, loops, etc). Despite having hundreds upon hundreds of formation flying hours, I absolutely suck at AAR (air to air refueling), especially so in the Harrier. The designer of the fuel probe on the AV-8B deserves a special room in hell. LOL
Re: Snowfox: 061522 SEAD/DEAD Air Superiority and Recon
This may be an ED limitation. The Tomcat had that issue since it came out and it was only fixed about 2 months ago.
v6,
boNes
"Also, I would prefer a back seater over the extra gas any day. I would have 80 pounds of flesh to eat and a pair of glasses to start a fire." --F/A-18 Hornet pilot
Re: Snowfox: 061522 SEAD/DEAD Air Superiority and Recon
Here is the Harrier video finally.
Its actually intriguing to me and my be my next aircraft purchase. the MI8 also looks like a great aircraft for a masochist.
Its actually intriguing to me and my be my next aircraft purchase. the MI8 also looks like a great aircraft for a masochist.