_Firefly

I spent the last couple of hours researching this and these are my conclusions: In plain English, Gordon made an error with the supposed 'VG-17' device. Not a single book, neither in English, Russian nor my native Polish, makes a mention of this system. What does appear to be the case is that the S-17VG-1 (note how Gordon twisted the original name, it's probably an editing error on his part) is the upper optical head of the ASP-17BC gunsight, previously used on the Su-22UM3 and Su-25K. This complex ACVU analogue computer was then replaced in the Su-17/22M4 by the Orbita 20-22 digital computer, itself a part of the PrNK-54 Zaria integrated navigation and targeting system which became a standard feature of Soviet and Warsaw Pact Su-17s and 22s. At the same time the S-17VG-1 optical head (i.e. gunsight) was left alone and paired with the Klyon-54 laser rangefinder and target designator for aiming both laser guided and unguided weapons. On a related note, I've done further research on the Kh-29T and it appears that a few of my initial conclusions about the system were wrong. Until now I assumed there was an electro-optical head mounted either in the shock cone or in a pod, which was used to first designate the target and then target the missile in a fire-and-forget fashion just like the Kaira, though simpler and generally less effective (the existence of a supposed 'VG-17 optical head' compounded my confusion). This was partly true, but then I read about how both the Kh-58 and the Kh-29T shared the same guidance and targeting system and I became intrigued... Unlike with the Kaira targeting system, the Kh-29T was most likely aimed using the Klyon-54 laser rangefinder through the aforementioned S-17VG-1 optical gunsight. Upon firing the missile began transmitting the image from its Tubus-2M seeker head with a Granit 7T-M1 TV camera through the Tekon-Elektron (nowadays a Ukrainian company) APK-9 system to an externally mounted pod. This relayed the datalinked image to the roughly 10-inch IT-23M CRT monitor in the cockpit. Having compared that to the Kaira system used in the MiG-27 and the Su-25 the system appears to be much more cumbersome and difficult to use, particularly in any weather conditions other than ideal (this was also caused by the inaccuracy of the PrNK-54's navigation equipment, but that's another story). In other words, while the Kh-29T was the same missile as used on a variety of other Soviet planes, I doubt it had the same levels of accuracy as it did with a proper standoff TV guidance system such as the Kaira (Vympel quoted a circular error of about 2 to 4 metres at the missile's maximum range of 13 kilometres). So in short, while the Kh-29T could be used as an F&F weapon with reasonable accuracy, it most likely wasn't as effective a weapon as it was on other, more technologically advanced platforms. I'm unsure whether a Fitter pilot could make mid-course corrections of the Kh-29T, I need to do more reading on that. Pardon the rather exhaustive post, I hope this makes sense.

I stand corrected. I read up on this in Yefim Gordon's book on the Su-7/17/20/22 - apparently the designers intended to fit Kaira in the M4, but did not succeed for a variety of reasons (cost must've been an important consideration), so Klyon-PS was used instead. Of course I had to omit the paragraph describing just that... :music_whistling: As for the Polish Su-22s - are you referring to the Series 30 and later aircraft? I'll try to find out if Russian Su-17M4s got the same TV display too (I'd imagine it should be similar to the IT-23M from the Frogfoot). EDIT: Gordon states that Izdeliye S-54 (factory designation for the Su-17M4) did indeed receive the same TV display as the Frogfoot, that is the IT-23M, as well as the VG-17 optical tracker.

A late Flogger variant like the MLA or MLD would be an interesting match for the speculated Viggen and early Tomcat variants (in close combat that is, the Kitty would eat the Flogger for breakfast in long-range BVR). This could pave the way for a late Flogger ground pounder... I like your train of thought WinterH. ;)

Thank you so much Xeno! I wasn't able to decipher much from the Russian books I had, this clears up a lot. Perhaps the Su-17M4 would be an interesting alternative to include in DCS - not only were the late versions fitted with the same Kaira TV guidance system as the MiG-27K, they also came with more hardpoints and multiple loadout options, including movable fuselage hardpoints moved depending on selected weapons, a centreline hardpoint capable of carrying the BA-58 anti-radiaton missile guidance pod for firing Kh-58s and Kh-25MPs, two dedicated R-60 (M included) hardpoints under the wing gloves, two 'wet' outer wing glove hardpoints, and as a cherry on the top the plane was compatible with both the Kh-29T and KAB-500L. It's also a rather unique aircraft, though same goes for the MiG-27. I prefer the looks of the latter, but I would be happy with either one of them in the game. Can't ask for too much right? ;-)

I'll get back to my books then. :-)

Fascinating stuff, thank you. In the meantime I found a nice little article on the MiG-27K - click me! I have a few questions for Alfa, Xeno and others... - Could the K carry more than 2 Kh-25MLs or MPs simultaneously on four pylons underneath the fuselage? I'm wondering whether a 6x AGM (Kh-25, Kh-27, Kh-29 etc.) and 2x AAM (R-60M) loadout could be carried. - Could any weapons be carried and launched from these pylons while a centreline drop tank was in use? English sources about the 27 are scarce... I'm having a difficult time finding concrete info on the above.

Very true. IMHO mid-90s aircraft are the most we can possibly hope for, hence my suggestion to include the MiG-29M and K with late Floggers and Fitters as lower priority. Of course, but I was comparing the 9.15 and 9.31 to the 9.13 (S model included), whose internal fuel capacity is increased compared to the 9.12 because of the dorsal spine (240 litres of extra fuel could be carried internally for a total capacity of 4540 litres) and a total of three 'wet' hardpoints. Having two additional hardpoints (eight in total) on the 9.15 would be a blessing for long range missions in DCS, as you'd be able to carry 3 fuel tanks in addition to 6 missiles (which is the standard amount while carrying a centreline tank in the 9.13S... At least that's how I fly mine). Perhaps the use of the word 'slightly' was misplaced on my part, my apologies. Same here, though frankly I wouldn't expect any major novelties to be revealed in the coming updates. I'll sift through my books to see if I can find anything on this new RWR. Yeah, those leaks killed any semblance of communication between the mods and the community. That's a damn shame, because Eugen made some mistakes in RD that could've easily been avoided if they'd listened to the community... Not that the latter is not at fault for requesting some frankly ridiculous pieces of equipment to be included in the game ("Gib F-22 nao!!!111oneoneone"), but I digress. Now that the relations are strained I doubt communication is going to improve anytime soon. I think you're right about the Kh-58, I've just consulted a book I have on the subject and it makes no mention of the missile being used on 27s. I can't find any information in my sources on the Kh-31P (the two books I have on the subject are in Russian and I can't for the life of me decipher Cyryllic), but that doesn't mean the plane couldn't carry it - if anything that would be very good news (though this source states the missile was cleared for the K). The Kh-25MP certainly seems like a part of Flogger-J2s arsenal.

True, but then again the M (Izdeliye 9.15) and the K both have slightly increased fuel capacity compared to the 9.13. Two additional hardpoints would also be a big bonus. I too would like to see an Su-27 variant, though my only requirement would be R-77 compatibility. The Su-27PU/Su-30 and Su-27M (early variant with N011 radar, based on the T-10S-70 prototype, not the forerunner to the later Su-35 series) would both be good candidates, though given the PVO origins of the former I'd prefer to fly the latter (plus the M flies with the Russian Knights, which is a bonus to the cool factor). And canards are way too good looking on the Flanker... By the way - forgive me if I'm wrong, but weren't you once the aircraft consultant on Wargame forums? If so then please let me pay my respects, you did a great job turning around aircraft in RD. All the speculation about the MiG-23 stems from three things (IMHO): the amazing quality of the Leatherneck MiG-21 (which turned many heads previously fixated on 4th gen aircraft), Flogger's relative obscurity and its sheer beauty... I mean look at it, it's a supermodel with wings! (and a big butt, but who doesn't like those?) As for the Su-17, I would love to get my hands on one in DCS, not least because of its long service history with Eastern Bloc states. The thought of conducting SEAD missions in a proper supersonic ground pounder armed with Kh-58s gives me the shivers... Though I'd still prefer to fly a MiG-27K with the same armament. ;)

That's exactly what I've done, I'm keeping it in borderless windowed mode. I'll think about moving to 1.5. The 660M's memory is 1024MB GDDR5. It runs fine at medium details, the game maintains an average of about 40fps. As for the desktop, I'm certainly thinking about buying one. That a desktop is much more efficient than a laptop is beyond question, for now it's just a question of gathering the funds to buy one. Thankfully I have a friend who could put one together for me, so I should be able to get a better deal than buying a ready made one. I would still need to buy all the ancillaries though (with the exception of my stick and mouse)... It's going to cost a pretty penny, but I'm sure it'll be worth it in the end.

IMHO the first priority for newer Russian aircraft should be fighters. With only the MiG-29S able to carry R-77s Russian pilots are at a disadvantage to the Eagle. I'd also love to see some supersonic ground pounders. Here's my wishlist... 1. MiG-29M Fulcrum-E 2. MiG-29K Fulcrum-D 3. MiG-27K Flogger-J2 4. Sukhoi Su-17M4 5. MiG-27M Flogger-J

Hmmm... The temps seem perfectly fine so far, I have no signs of overheating whatsoever. I recently had the laptop cleaned so I don't think heat is the issue. My graphics driver is up to date, but I'll try rolling it back and see if it works. For now though I'm using the frameless windowed mode in 1920x1080 and the game's working just fine. My only concern now is getting more fps out of the game, so I guess I'm going to have to lower some of the details. Thanks for your input.

Exactly, sorry for the bad wording. Thanks, but I'd rather wait until 2.0 is out. 1.5 certainly has its advantages, but until the game is stable and ready for a full release I'm going to hold onto 1.2.

Hey everyone, I've been having some stuttering issues lately and I don't really know what's causing them. Perhaps some of you could chime in and help - as a computer illiterate person I'm having a hard time configuring my settings to make the game work smoothly. I recently installed DCS 1.2.16 as a standalone and redeemed my Steam copy of FC3. The setup went well and after configuring my stick I launched the game. It immediately became apparent that the game stuttered for some reason and felt generally unpleasant at times, particularly when looking around (I'm running it at my Windows screen resolution, 1920x1080). After reading a bit about other peoples' problems I tried the game in frameless windowed mode. To my surprise the game ran perfectly fine without stuttering, even though visually it was indentical to the fullscreen rendition. I've tried using Nvidia ShadowPlay to make a video illustrating my problems, but the playback is perfectly smooth and the issues are not apparent. This makes me wonder if it's my display that's causing trouble. What do you think could be the problem? As a DCS noob and someone who isn't very confident about his IT skills I'd rather not mess this up... My computer specs are as follows: Lenovo Y580 laptop Intel i7-3630QM CPU @ 2,4GHz 16GB RAM DDR3 Nvidia GeForce GTX660M GPU Win7 Home Premium SP1 (64 bit) I recently had it cleaned up by a local PC repair shop. I'm running the game on medium settings with textures on high, playing the game in windowed mode and with Vsync on. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Cheers, Firefly.

Hey everyone, DCS noob here, new both to the game and the forums. :) As much as I'd love to see something like an F-16, I think there's plenty of room for improvement on the Soviet side, particularly in the fighter department. Having a late-model MiG-23 like the MLD certainly wouldn't hurt. Even better, it could then be turned into something like a MiG-27K or M with less work than one would normally require to build one from scratch. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a late '80s supersonic Mikoyan or Sukhoi ground pounder. :)