Avimimus

There is an interesting analysis from the same time period found in reports looking at the effectiveness of the proposed Yak-45 (This would be for a variant acting as a replacement to the Mig-27). I thought it might be worth a read/translation. Among the findings are that the SPPU gunpods were expected to be quite a bit more effective than conventional strafing and that the S-25 was expected to be more effective against an unarmoured point target than the B8/S-8. From: Авиа Космическое Обозрение. Андрей Юргенсон. Як-45: Штурмовик и истребитель

One thing Sir: Canada is a Backwoods country... just because the majority of the well off population is clustered in a handful of cities with excellent connectivity doesn't change that. Considering that my mother is from a fly-in community, and many of my friends have irregular (or slow and expensive) access I find it extremely insulting to have their experience dismissed entirely. You are the one using the word hick and treating their access to the product as being dismiss-able. Honestly, if this is the case then I think I'm out (and I've been a fan/follower of ED since 1995)!

I recognise that you guys want (and benefit from) copy protection. However, I have two concerns: 1) If I get AV-8B my DCS install will require four (4) DRM systems: - I have to install starforce protected Black Shark (so I can upgrade to Black Shark 2). - I have to install A-10C from steam so that DCS will pick up that I have the license. - I'll have my other DCS modules and their keys (managed directly by ED). - I'll have the new AV-8 system. This is really unwieldy... is there any way we could have a single DRM scheme and be able to move all of our licenses onto that single scheme? 2) How often will it have to connect to the internet? I very much value the ability to run offline. This is important in many parts of Canada as internet connections can be highly unreliable or even non-existent. If regular checks on a reliable/fast connection are required I may opt to not get the module. I've heard it is checking every four days... is there any option to offer an alternative (e.g. DVD or dongle based authentication) to allow it to be run off-line?

Ah, well, I'll donate the price of the gear to charity if I get it. Which is kind-of nice given that I'm currently unemployed.

Can't help but to agree with this! :)

These are from?

It is a shame that we'll likely never see most of these (although F/A-18 is announced). Those theatres would be great though! So many aircraft have seen use in Syria and Afghanistan. It'd be fascinating to have more realistic COIN/CAS campaigns as well.

This is a bit out of date - but flying the A-10A I'd often carry 7 or 14 M151s. The idea was that if I was surprised by AAA, I'd ripple the entire load. It is faster than a Maverick at close range and has a higher first shot PK than the GAU-8... not sure how it is with the A-10C though.

It is quite plausible that the RBK can't be reprogrammed in flight. However, this is also an issue with the FC3 level of modelling. The A-10A suffers from a similar problem. There is no way to set the release parametres in the loadout screen prior to take-off either!

You are absolutely right sir! I'd forgotten and my mind had filled in the details with rumours of a prototype which probably doesn't exist! As for the original question - I looked up the specs and that rate of fire, muzzle velocity, and weight of the bullets are all comparable with the M134 - so you should have twice the firepower from the Mi-8 compared to the UH-1...

I always loved the Jaguar. A Sepecat Jaguar vs. Su-17 pack would be perfect!

True the A-16 argument doesn't work that well because PGMs were much less common. Hey, anyone remember the plan to put 3xGPU/5s on an F-15? They also tried mounting them to F-5s...

I wasn't able to do it: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=151728 Someone might though. I'd rather like an F-51 myself.

I still miss the TM myself ...I remember back after Flanker 2.5 when there were screenshots of 'Su-39' before it was cancelled!

I will buy this if you finish it.

Are you talking about the 12.7mm or 5.56mm miniguns? The 12.7mm ones should have a more effective maximum range than the 7.62mm ones on the Huey, but the 5.56mm ones should have less effective range.

I'm very much into COIN. I'd love the IA-58 (probably even more than the OV-10). Honestly, given the number of trainers, and light helicopters we're seeing built the DCS engine should evolve to support COIN. Sure, it is nice to have fast jets, carriers, or bombers - but we can have both - and the IA-58 is one of the great CAS aircraft of the century, and provides a nice intermediate level aircraft capable of fighting both the Su-25 and helicopters.

Also another question: Is there any way to set the MDB or KMGU release rate using ground crews? I know the FCS doesn't allow it - however, I presume the settings can be changed on the ground (as with the RBK bombs)

Okay, wait a moment. I'm now more confused then ever. There are at least two factors here: The trigger system, and the ballistic computer. - According to the triggers, the guns and air-to-air missiles can always be carried (they are on a separate box). - The trigger system for air-to-ground weapons allows selecting any pair of hardpoints. - One can also set the ballistic computer to one of two pre-sets (bomb or rocket). As I understand it from previous posts, this could be used for two types of bombs or two types of rockets (despite the labelling of the bombs). Also, this shouldn't have a bearing on air-to-ground missiles at all (because they don't use the ballistic computer). So, if this is correct (and I may be wrong): - If you had three types of rockets, and only two firing computer modes - then the third type of rocket wouldn't have a misleading gunsight. That is the only problem. Correct? So, you could still theoretically use the fixed sights ('8' key) for manual aiming and override. - Ideally you should only carry two types of unguided bombs or rockets per sortie (to be realistic), but you can carry other types of weapons. This is my current understanding - but it is mainly guesswork. Can anyone provide corrections? Note: I may be confusing some of this with post I've read on the Ka-50.

Any information on the new SM3 upgrade?

Plus the 23mm cannon pod.

I wasn't aware they were still flying given the lack of spares. Anyone know how much they've been modified over the years?

Pah - I modded Il-2 to have a flyable Po-2/U-2 biplane with two Molotov cocktails... to take out a truck you'd have to hit it directly with the burning bottle (and before the fuze burned down). It was a lot of fun - you just had to limit your expectations to taking out one or two vehicles though! Compared to that this thing will be like an entire artillery formation! Just be happy to bag five trucks! ...That said, I'll be tempted to mod the Su-25 and put 8 PK-3 pods on it for a total of 24 guns...

I would just like more control over cluster bomb setting for the Su-25 and A-10a... they used to work better prior to DCS...

Funny that - I was already avoiding loading such weapons on the inner most hardpoints for just that reason. I guess my instincts are right! I guess I should probably avoid the inner-most two pairs of hardpoints? Any word on the S-13? A salvo of those produces a lot of gas!