Mike5560

On smerch hunt, after completing the taskings from the first JTAC, you receive a tasking from the CAOC to destroy a smerch that is 20+ miles from the first JTAC. The smerch lies right on the outskirts of a town (can't remember what), and is guarded by Igla MANPADS. I've conducted tests, and 13,000 feet AGL seems to be the magic altitude to stay above an Igla, assuming your altimeter is set correctly and you are subtracting the ground elevation from your indicated altitude to equal AGL altitude. 15,000 feet for SA-13. Your MWS will sometimes not detect things shot from directly below. If you were flying right at the top of the Igla's envelope, then it's very possible this is what happened.

Great article......love the comment on the bottom about F-16s improperly being called Vipers.

Knots are the most common imperial unit of measure for airspeed. I believe all current US military aircraft use knots as well.

In DCS, you will have a bit of choas near the airfields as they are essentially uncontrolled. Typically, ATC will monitor every step of your entry and exit of the airspace. When departing, ATC will assign you instructions based on your intentions or flight plan. ATC will tell you when you are approved to switch frequencies off the ATC freq. When arriving or doing pattern work, the pilot entering the airspace will contact ATC and say his position, type aircraft and intentions, at which point, ATC provides relevant data regarding winds, ATIS, altimeter, active runways and where to proceed. Crossing a runway centerline will typically be part of a published pattern. If an aircraft practices a touch and go, then said aircraft will "request closed traffic" meaning he would like to re-enter the pattern and ATC may approve a right closed traffic or a left.... Which means the aircraft airborne over the runway may turn right or left crosswind to re-enter the downwind leg, then base leg, etc.

Authentication is a procedure that is still taught, but is not required. Theater specific ROEs, special instructions and commands may dictate otherwise. If it is used, it is typically when radio contact with encrypted communications is not possible.

With the new 1.5.1 update I'm noticing some jittery movement. Especially in the Mig-21. I thought it was frame rate, but Im getting 100+ at altitude and 60+ down low from the counter.....it literally feels like 20-30 fps. I had great performance with 1.5, and used the same video setting that I have now.\ Any ideas? edit: there's a thread about it pertaining to the MiG: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=152004

I had the same thing happen on a longer flight on the stillness in time campaign. I thought I had forgot to seal the cockpit, but I in fact did. Is the helmet vent thing in the user manual checklist?

If it's the night one where you scramble to respond to enemy jamming......yeah I've done this one four times already, last time I splashed 2 bandits, and a third opponent crashed into a mountain trying to get his nose on me.... and didn't find anyone else even though AWACS was spamming the freq.. I landed on fumes after giving up on the bandit calls. Overall I felt pretty satisfied with the outcome, but I will have to do it again.....along with the long movement flight.

I had to google search BLC system, ha. I land just fine now, I use flaps and good throttle now. Just thought it was the speed as a few times in the past I did a nice prang on the 2 rear gear wheels when I was afraid Id run out of runway and reduced throttle from what seemed like a few feet above runway, but was probably like 50ft. Good to know, though.

I seem to have better landings, but it might just me getting better at it. Right at around 350 km/h the jet seems to fall, regardless of AoA. My landings are better if I come in a little bit lower than what the PRMG glideslope tells me to do.

Im in the same boat as well, and recently have been getting back into it. It's satisfying and a great challenge; it is a quite capable tool that requires a skilled pilot to really maximize the jet's potential. Ive found myself watching any/all youtube mig-21 videos i can find (real flight videos)

Your best turn rate gain with little energy bleed is pulling a turn inverted. Google search "dogfight egg" and you'll see this. You can take advantage of this right at the merge. Im no expert but I like to start lower and abreast in a head on merge, with a lead turn turning upward. The high yo yo is a good technique to trade speed for altitude and angle: if you are turning on a bogey and his axis is perpendicular to yours, you can go in the vertical while still gently turning towards him. If done right, you can climb and use that inverted turning power onto him with a much more workable tail-aspect. The yo yo is scalable as well; you can use more slight climb maneuvers to make smaller adjustments or if your speed is not so much faster than his.

You need to make the TGP SOI and then TMS up long to make your TGP generate the SPI.

Though I dont have any transport helo modules, it suppose it would be useful as an AI helicopter. Thanks for the reply.

I came to the forum looking for your same answer; All I can add is I think "transportable" applies to infantry units able to embark in an APC/ IFV. If you look at the unit's advanced way point options, under "perform task" you have the option to embark to transport or disembark from transport. It seems infantry units cannot be mixed in with the same group as a vehicle unit, they must be separate. If you place an infantry unit close to a vehicle that can transport and select "embark to transport", a movable triangle marker appears so you can select which vehicle for the unit to run to, along with a radius (presumably to search for an eligible vehicle). There is a dropdown menu to select the intended group to embark on, but no options appear even with a nearby APC. I tested it and if the infantry is more than a few hundred feet from the intended vehicle, the infantry will run a few hundred feet and then stop; even if the marker triangle is on a static vehicle and is within the infantry's radius. I did get the infantry to run to the vehicle, but not actually get into it. pictures below.

English Cockpit I dont mind having Russian in the cockpit, as long as the tooltips are in English. I havent memorized all the switches yet. This is what the cockpit looks like when I select English in the settings.

Ive completed surrounded a few times....you and the wingman need to be loaded to the teeth...you probably should be very specific on what you want attacked and with what weapon....and probably dictate a direction. Once a group is destroyed, a new group will spawn (with more dangerous ADA)....and one thing I can say, if you stay over where the convoy was coming FROM when the last unit of each group dies, you will be relatively safe from say, a newly spawning SA-13. So if a convoys moving west to east..... Make sure youre off to the west (as the last unit dies) as the next group WILL NOT spawn there.

I would buy a WW1 module if the entire package was available to simulate a full scale battle. Ground units, a bunch of other air units, the big bertha cannon for CA..... But that won't happen. Im plenty excited about the modern jets coming online (M2000, typhoon and f/a-18c)

Open Beta migrate Just installed the open beta, and realized it created a new file path. Now when I open DCS beta none of the (paid) modules are loaded. What is the best way to use open beta with all of my modules? I'd rather not have all of the data on 2 different file paths, as Im running low on disk space. Should I just reinstall beta within the original non-beta folder?

Though I don't beleive the F-35 will rival an A-10s CAS capabilities in counter-insurgencies, this is a good post. Situuational awareness and ease of use is paramount.... And this is what the F-35 is designed for. Yes, a PAK-FA will be able to engage the F-35 given the right conditions. If a war broke out between any of the superpowers, having the first "lock" on someone is like the shot heard around the world. Even if it seems you are on the offensive in BVR, you have to worry about all the potential low-observable aircraft that you don't see, and wonder how many of the adversaries screens you are showing up on due to datalink.

I tried it, and it works.....my problem is that I did not adjust the target size indicator on the shkval, when telling my wingman to attack the command posts. The command posts are much larger than the typical vehicle targets, so before I never had a lock on the command posts.....even though I was able to drop my TV guided bombs.

Pepin, I tried the updated mission two times: First time I dropped both of my bombs on one of the command posts, destroying it. Then I circled around and put my shkval on the remaining command post and ordered my wingman to engage my target......nothing happened, he continued to follow me around for 5 minutes. I thought that maybe I still needed bombs loaded for the order to execute so I tried the mission again... Second time I try giving several "attack my target" orders in the same way, before I drop my bombs. I even made sure I had a "LA" launch authorized, if that matters. Wingman continued to remain in formation for 5 mins. Also there was no voice communication during the orders. I tried "attack mission and rejoin" and he continued to remain in formation for 5 minutes... I tried "Attack ground targets" and he responds with "Copy, engaging air defenses", and he dropped a bomb on a SAM. I remained above 4000 meters and was never targeted by the Buks, once their acq. radar was destroyed.

I'm not familiar with the mission, but the reason you're not getting a lock on the buks is someone else killed the acquisition radar. This is the snow drift radar that elevates a large rotating flat panel. Without this, or any other IADS cues, the launchers themselves have difficulty detecting and locking you. The launchers have the required tracking radar for an engagement, but unless the (extremely) directional radar is pointed right at you, at your elevation, your sensors wont detect the radar emissions. As for ordering wingmen to attack static targets such as bunkers or buildings....I havent had any luck with it in both the Frog and the Hog. You might want to carry some S-25Ls as backup for the MPUs, or (gaming it a bit) have your wingman carry the MPUs while you have the Kh-25MLs.... you might have to fly back and re-arm to destroy the rest of the bunkers. Keep in mind you have to do a complete engine shutdown with the canopy open at a friendly base.

I'm guessing you're referring to the pipper with three aimpoints? That would be the 4/8/12 reticle, with aimpoints for 4,000, 8,000 and 12,000 feet. It's primarily used when strafing low angle....particularly on mountainous targets where the normal CCIP gun reticle cannot compute a solution. 4000ft - .75 nm 8000ft - 1.3 nm 12,000ft - 2.0 nm I recommend reading the flight manual. Search for the word reticle.... I dont Have one with me but it's under the combat employment section. Switching the gun reticles is accomplished by pressing DMS left or right with the HUD SOI and master mode to GUNS.

I hope it's objective, but it all seems like common sense to me that an F-35 will have an increased ability to perform CAS in a contested environment over an A-10, at the expense of delivering weapons with a short time of flight on enemies within typical small arms range, even in a permissive environment. I would use the term danger close, but that term is thrown around too much....it differs based on the weapon.