tflash

Thanks for the info JimMack! And of course I will give it a go when the P-51 is out!

Well, no need to keep arguing about this: I agree the main thing we need is radio communication woth other planes; so a VHF radio that can have the right frequenties would do the job.

Since I do like to fly the vanilla Su-25 often in Lockon, it's not that I would shy away from some rustic navigation. It's just that we live in the 21st century and it would be rather unrealistic if you would actually try to fly a P-51D in combat today, make the effort to remount the guns and get them going, and fail to install a GPS kit that you can buy for less than 1000$. And OK, GPS jamming does exist but is not really to be expected common in a scenario where you would be flying a P-51D today. The Collins pilots do not seem to me some newbies shying away from serious aviation, no?

To fly the P-51D today in DCS, I would expect some off-the-shelf avionics to be modelled; such as a modern radio and a GPS kit. See e.g. this video from 2:00 onwards

Look at the radios and GPS. Seems logical to include that if you fly a warbird today! ( hint hint )

Training at Eglin within a month? http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/25/lockheed-fighter-idUSL2E8DP08Y20120225 That will be a great milestone, then it gets very real indeed!

250th C-130J delvered: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Security-Industry/2012/02/20/Lockheed-delivers-250th-C-130J/UPI-80331329752235/ Imho the most relevant airplane ever!

Seems like a LM description of the F-35 to me ;)

To come back to topic, an mmW radar like the one on Longbow Apache would be very useful on an aircraft like A-10, if you were to fight tank concentrations. British Tornado jets hit multiple tanks in one pass in Libya using the mmW seeker on the Brimstone missile. A modern radar can track multiple targets, assign them automatically to each individual weapon so that you can ripple launch them in a volley. A current A-10C cannot do this in all weather like the Tornado or the Apache.

Super Swift!!!!

Wow, did you see the chopper pickup to climbers at the cliff? Incredible! kind of mountain bus stop.

Nice article indeed on one of Russia's smartest programmes! Specially the Ka-52 / Mistral combo will pack some relevant punch!

Interesting quote from: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2012/02/116_104306.html "Randy Howard, Lockheed Martin’s director of the Korea F-35 Campaign, also acknowledged that the external carriage may come as an option for Korea. “Lockheed Martin did not cancel it, the U.S. government prioritized it,” Howard said, explaining why doubts have been raised over the development of the F-35’s external hard points. “The F-35 is designed to carry weapons internally. That’s what it does, and that’s why it is stealthy.” He argued that the F-35’s primary attribute, the ability to penetrate into the enemy’s territory without being detected, will be significantly compromised if Korea chooses to mount weapons externally. “If you carry weapons externally, you are not stealthy. That’s not normally how you are going to operate F-35s,” he said. Not that I am wiling to overestimate this, but it seems a departure from the previous perception that the F-35 would be stealthy on first-day-of-war, and once air opposition degraded, would be loaded with external payload for more traditional tasks. It now seems the new capabilities will be the core mission and perhaps also the basic way to deal with any mission. The classic missions will in that case be redefined in a "5th generation" way. In that sense the F-35 does'nt "replace" 4th gen aircraft, but it will in the long run redefine air combat and make these 4th gen systems and the approach they are based on obsolete. We are definitely talking late 2000twenties then.

Well, I'm not so sure: we are having a lot of fun "flying" aircraft from our comfy seats at home, don't we? And we are not even flying over a real terrain. Add to that that most flying on F-22 and F-35 is already in the simulator!

I guess the F-35 will be a capability in its own right long before it can effectively take over the role of current aircraft like A-10. Don't forget the A-10 is capable of a different way of doing CAS than other 4th gen aircraft, that fly faster and are less time overhead (Mirage 2000 eg needs a 3 mile circle pattern to be able to stay aloft over the target zone). Before one has developped good CAS procedures with a fifth gen aircraft that engages from much higher altitudes with visor targetting (still completely immatre), it will take a decade or more (if gestation time of F-16, Typhoon, Rafale are an indication). I'm not sure what the F-35 will be operationally capable of in 2020, but it will certainly not be CAS and even not SEAD. I guess it will be limited QRA and first-day-of-conflict strike. It is much more likely that by then UAV remote piloting tech and sensor situational awareness will have evolved in such a way that a follow-on predator can do the A-10's job, however with certainly less payload.

My guess is stardate -310832.87

Are you guys really wanna sell us F-35 as an A-10 replacement? I don't buy it! On the other hand it is unsurprising that A-10 squadrons are decommissioned now that the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan are winding down. It just makes for a whole lot of sorties less to generate, just make the math and you will find that you have many airframes in excess. It is only logical that they would prefer to retain more multi-mission aircraft such as the F-16 in readiness, they are going to upgrade about 200 of them to cope with the F-35 delays.

But it is also important for the correct targeting and fuzing of a laser-guided munition, no?

Or maybe 3D overlay the images that come from different networked sensors? Would be very helpful to get precise geolocation data for exact height etc.

But that could more easily be provided: I guess indeed that would be a most welcome addition: a nice, detailed map that you could use to study the mission. Can be a PDF or something which youthen would use outside the game, or indeed a browsable kneeboard.

Thanks for the info, I will certainly try these out!

I think the logic is very sound: DCS is an environment where you can model air combat. Arguably, the P-51D has seen more combat than many of the aircraft currently modelled. It is a sensible what-if scenario to fly and fight with an accurately modelled P-51D in DCS, just as flying the A-10C or Ka-50 in combat over the Caucasus is a sensible what-if scenario. And then again: let's wait and try it out?

Imho there are more P-51's flying today than there are Su-25T's. So there really is nothing unrealistic about modelling a P-51D for DCS.

Is the A2A Spitfire for FSX good? I have the RealAir one, and wonder whether it is worth to fly the A2A version?

I'm totally into the female JTAC! I already imagine trying to dial in her phone number as an UTM grid code :D We would need other JTAC names too, then, such as "Lady Gaga", "Catwoman", "Bamby", "Ice Queen", "Cinderella" or so ...