Level Bombing

[Tazak]

Trying to move some strike aircraft over to level bombing (going to use the F-15E Eagle as the example), trying to get the F-15E to act like the (US15)F-111F Aardvark does in level bombing mode - i.e. it drops (chucks?) the LGB with a range of nearly 15km while remaining out of range of short range AAA/SAM note: I've noticed that SAM range needs to be over 5km to engage level bombers

For clarity, using the F-15E in the strike role sends the aircraft down within range of AAA/SAMs, so in my mind removing the gun and changing it from a AIR-AT to a AIR-LB should make it behave like the F111

So using (US19) F-15E Eagle Changed both the SU Type and CompID from AIR-AT to AIR-LB, while removing AG6 from the weapons list (AG6 is the 20mm gun) leaving it with 2 stacks of AO9*4 (or 8x GBU-12 Paveway II in normal speak), when using the F-15E as a level bomber it still behaves like a strike aircraft coming within range of nearby AAA/SAMs

What have I missed???

[Tazak]

Figured it out....

Okay here are the details. I wanted to explore an different approach to 'standoff airstrikes' taking full advantage of ranges offered by air-surface missiles or LGB being 'chucked' rather then dropped.

Image below hopefully explains better.

Okay here was the 'problem' - within NATO before the gulf war there was a split in tactics used by different nations CAS mainly that the Brits and Germans preferred a low level approach before popping up at the last minute to release weapons (putting them into close proximity to every AAA/SAM nearby) while the US preferred a standoff approach where they approached at medium height and released weapons at near max range thus avoiding a fair amount of AAA/SAM. The US A10 is one of the few exceptions to this.

In game at present a CAS strike regardless of its standoff weapons load appears to close within range of its shortest range weapon before firing, this puts the aircraft into AAA/SAM range. For aircraft like the A10, this isn't too much of an issue, imagine however the ear bashing a F15E pilot would get for carrying out a gun strafing run and putting his aircraft (and himself) within AAA range when his loadout was 4x guided bombs that he could launch from 14km away.....I'm not saying a F15E cant or shouldn't do gun runs on ground targets, its just a huge needless risk for an expensive plane and highly trained pilot

[Tazak]

First I tried removing all close range weapons from an aircraft leaving just ASM (F-16 with AGM65 only on its weapon load), however the aircraft still closes with range of every nearby AAA/SAM

After experimenting with level bombing, it turns out that level bombing still uses guns (if part of the weapon loadouts) but get "out of range" messages from enemy AAA/SAM - seemed strange to fire guns from high altitude anyway

So removing guns from level bombers is a no brainer, but then I tried to simulate the F15E dropping LGB using a standoff profile and finally figure out how to convert an aircraft from a strike profile to a level bomber profile (naming within the engine refers to CAS as strike) which within certain limits does represent a standoff attack very well.

How:

Within the user data sheet on the 'Units' tab you need to edit 4 things.
1. remove all close range weapons, guns, unguided iron bombs, rockets etc. This should leave just range guided weapons like LGBs or Mavericks
2. Change the 'SU Type' from AIR-AT to AIR-LB
3. Change the 'CompID' from AIR-AT to AIR-LB
4. In the 'Specials' add " ,LB" (remember to add a blank space before the coma!!)
save and load the scenario editor, the aircraft will now appear under 'Level Bombers' and will carry out standoff attacks out of range of short range AAA/SAM

Limitations:
This only works if you use ranged guided weapons, using close range or guns looks weird when you see "out of range" messages from AAA/SAMs
Only longer range SAMs can reach level bombers so it can make aircraft appear invulnerable..if using a rock/paper/lizard/spock/scissors approach remember to give the other player decent range SAMs

Attached is the test scenario where you can see the difference in standoff attacks between level bombing and CAS vs SA15/SA13/MANPAD/ZSU-23-4

[CapnDarwin]

Tazak, check to see if the Level Bombers have a LB special. To simulate a standoff payload you could try the LO (low observable) special to reduce detection of the aircraft. Not perfect, but it should work.

[Tazak]

ORIGINAL: Capn Darwin

Tazak, check to see if the Level Bombers have a LB special. To simulate a standoff payload you could try the LO (low observable) special to reduce detection of the aircraft. Not perfect, but it should work.

Yea that special is what was tripping me up - missed it completely

will try the LO approach and see what the results are.

[WildCatNL]

Tazak,

are you sure bomb chucking (releasing them 4km from the target) was done in the CAS role?

I can understand how this was done for strategic precision bombing against static targets, perhaps for deep interdiction against troop concentrations in follow-on forces.
But not for close air support near the front-line in a volatile situation, with plenty of opportunity for the air and ground elements to misunderstand each other.

Are you asking for a deep strike ability?

William

[Tazak]

ORIGINAL: W1ll14m

Are you asking for a deep strike ability?

No, not going down that rabbit hole although dropping bridges with 2000lb bombs would be nice [;)]

Maybe using LGB was a wrong example on my part, I was trying a different approach to standoff attacks over the current strike approach where aircraft place themselves in harms way when they don't need too.

[CapnDarwin]

I don't see bridge plinking any time soon... [X(]