Dudikoff

I'd presume it's because it has a launch rail, so it can't really be dropped (i.e. catapulted off).

Since you didn't mention the 80s context (which to be fair might be implied given the thread), I was commenting from today's perspective where the new air-launched ASM's are faster and longer ranged while at the same time USN fighters have gotten slower, shorter legged, shorter armed and with less time on station than was the case back then (F-14s with AIM-54s), compounded with the lack of a proper tanker aircraft.

Loss rate of 50%? I'm curious how you came up with that figure with slow Super Hornets/F-35Cs against newer fighter air-launched ASM missiles with supposed ranges of 300+ km? And that's not even taking other threats like subs, ballistic anti-ship missiles, etc. into consideration. You don't really have to sink the carrier, it's enough to have a large enough threat to force it to stay away in some open waters to make it ineffective, even more so with the abysmal attack radius of its current fighters.

Well..

Yeah, I felt the same way thinking about it. The UFC is such a prominent part of the pilot's cockpit so it's not something you can easily ignore and the MFD-styled one is not what I wanted from my F-15E experience. I'm definitely not going to be pre-ordering it or paying the full price for the later UFC one if that's the only option.

Perhaps the OP should have provided some context beyond the simple analog/digital keywords. If I understood correctly, the old UFC was only getting replaced starting from 2010 so realistically that would put Razbam's F-15E into the scenarios placed within the last ten years (thus, not even matching the in-game F16 and F/A-18 which are from mid 2000s). On the other hand, it probably took years before all the UFCs were upgraded so an analog UFC would be valid for most of the 2010s as well. So, going with the digital one makes no sense, IMHO. If anything, it should be provided as an option over the analog one and not as the sole variant.

One advantage Alienware has is the external GPU case which runs over a proprietary PCI-E connection, rather than the TB3 (where the controller gets overwhelmed). So, given that you have a pretty good CPU, you can definitely get some extra mileage off that thing later on.

I really don't know what you've said somewhere or not, but again I'm simply sharing yesterday's news article about upcoming Ryzen variants (which are a reaction to a better than expected performing Comet Lake CPUs presumably) to help the OP with his purchasing decision. These new CPUs will supposedly have their boost values increased by 200 and 300 MHz respectfully so these particular CPUs which are getting a refresh do not have boost clocks up to 4.8 yet obviously. As this seems to bother you, I suggest you take it up with AMD as it's their decision.

I'm not sure what you're arguing there and with whom. All I said is that if the OP is considering the Ryzen route as well, AMD will release slightly up-clocked variants soon. They will obviously offer performance somewhat closer to Intel's, whether enough, it depends on the individual buyer's preference and needs.

If you're willing to consider that route, there are actually a few higher-clocked XT Ryzens to be released soon to counter Intel's Comet Lake K CPUs. 3900XT will have their boost clocks pushed to 4.8 GHz, while 3700XT and 3600XT will have their boost clocks at 4.7. https://www.notebookcheck.net/Rumored-clockspeeds-leak-for-4-8-GHz-AMD-Ryzen-9-3900XT-4-7-GHz-Ryzen-7-3700XT-and-Ryzen-5-3600XT-Upclocked-Matisse-refresh-takes-on-Comet-Lake-S-i7-10700K-and-i9-10900K.466481.0.html

There's an ODS in DCS? Having said that, I think it would be great if ED would add some older specced F-16 variant, like e.g. the LANTIRN capable Block 40.

IIRC, as you've said, the radar transmitter alternates between two channels at this stage (when the missile has been launched), the main channel for target tracking and the other for mid-course corrections and/or target illumination. As mid-course correction will only be used if the range to target is 1.5x the range of the seeker (the value of which is also influenced by the target size switch I'd presume) or more, if the range is lower, target illumination signal will get emitted in the second channel from the moment of launch I guess. If the range is 1.5x or more, then mid-course updates (or radio-correction signal) will be sent in the second channel until some pre-calculated moment when the target should be in the range of the missile seeker at which point the radar will switch to sending target illumination signals in the second channel.

Yeah, I'd like to see that as well as IIRC it uses monopulse radar illumination like on other Soviet aircraft of the time, with a twist that being PESA allows it to illuminate multiple targets in parallel. I do recall the missile used an older-tech conical-scan seeker for some reason, though.

Maybe they still weren't sure at that point ;) Glad it's finally here.

My thought exactly as usually, support of a new module is listed in the general DCS World section. On the other hand, if SC wouldn't make it today, I'm sure they would have had mentioned it already somewhere.

It would seem silly not to given that they already have the cockpit and the flight model done, plus they could reuse the basic Hornet/Falcon radar model, not to mention the engine and various other systems. If they did, I'm sure they would want to refine the exterior model and the cockpit further, but still, it seems like they'd have more than half of the work already cut out for them.

Hmm, that's true. But, there's no immediate launch warning for the R-27R/ER missiles either unless the target is within seeker range on launch (as this is when the target starts getting illuminated by the radar roughly). Otherwise, there is only mid-course updates signal (apart from the STT lock), but of course, those could technically be detectable by RWR and classified as such. So, there's no big gain there if T/ET missiles would be used in such a way, with a huge issue of not really knowing which target it would get locked to once its seeker goes active.

There's a big difference between simple pulse ranging and actually tracking the target to be able to calculate the intercept course for the missile and then sending these updates to the missile somehow, especially since the context is attacking the target undetected. Even the former (simple ranging) is detectable, let alone the latter.

And just how would you track the target at that distance in the first place without a radar to be able to calculate the intercept course and guide the missile there to its seeker range? Besides, the mid-course updates for R/ER missiles are also transmitted via radar signals.

Just to point out that it has held up even longer since it's pretty much exactly the same CPU architecture as the one before it (Skylake) and all the later ones, except that the latter increased the core count finally thanks to some competition from AMD. So, if you upgraded it with a newer Intel, I guess your gains wouldn't really be noticeable in DCS since you're already running it at higher clock (which is the other way Intel gained slight performance increase over these same architecture generations).

"Old" makes it sound like the later Intel CPU's are actually based on a different micro-architecture.

AFAIK, it doesn't have an INS, as it has an IR seeker with no LOAL capability. If the seeker has no lock before launch, it has no knowledge of any targets and it can't be launched, except in a case of emergency because it can't be jettisoned like e.g. the radar variants on the AKU pylons.

IIRC, some recent article claims that the IPC gain will be 10-20%. I presume some clock increase will be present, as well. Much bigger gains will only be on the ray-tracing side with the tensor cores where gains might be 2-4x higher supposedly.

Yeah, first they'd need to bring the carrier to a serviceable condition again (repair the damage from the sinking dock and that fire, maybe replace the faulty boilers, etc.) before they could start thinking if the Su-33 are worth sinking more money into or it's better to switch to MiG-29Ks only. Given the current oil prices, one could hope the damage was not severe and cost-prohibitive to fix, as otherwise it wouldn't be so surprising if they decide it's just not worth fixing in the end, IMHO.

I'd presume because the Area-51M doesn't offer any other type of screen yet (IIRC, the issue was with the narrow bezels design and the mounting brackets they need or something as there were no QHD or 4K screens that would be compatible with it yet).