willkinton247

Can I ask why? The Israeli-Egyptian border has been pretty peaceful as of late. The 70s and 80s are when the interesting conflicts occurred.

Love the idea of a Barents sea map. I hope we can get a good Russia vs NATO Cold War map at some point.

Well, I just finished the campaign, and I have to say I really enjoyed it. I loved the Late-Cold War gone hot scenario, and there were a lot of missions where you felt like you were part of a bigger action. I actually was putting together an F-14 campaign for the Caucasus that had a lot of similarities (but in a 1998 timeframe) but I never got around to finishing it. Maybe I will someday. The one piece of constructive feedback that I have though is inaccurate weapon loadouts sorta pulled me out of the time period you're aiming for. Considering that it took place in 1990, the AIM-54C should have been the primary Phoenix equipping F-14s. From what I've heard, the A variants were largely consigned to missile exercises at that point, while the Cs were the frontline missile. Additionally, supporting Hornets are sent up with JSOWs, AMRAAMS, laser guided bombs and targeting pods throughout the campaign, while at that time, the Hornet was pretty much just carrying GP bombs, Rockeyes, HARMs, and maybe Mavericks. Hornets didn't get a targeting pod until 1992 at least. The precision strike role at that time in the Navy was obviously with the A-6, so I can kind of get why you'd pass it over to the Hornet, but including stores like the AMRAAM and JSOW are really silly.

Has the Mission 5 bug been fixed yet?

Yep, same here. Except I couldn't find the plane I was supposed to shoot down so I figured it just hadn't spawned yet. I usually have a lot of patience with this sort of thing but I literally have been trying to progress through this campaign for months now and I can't due to bugs, particularly with this mission. I'm honestly about to just give up on it.

Yep, it isn't happening for me either! I'm starting to think that I'll never get to play this mission. hahaha

I looked at the Gulf War Air Power Survey, and according to it the USN did not shoot any Mavericks during Desert Storm. Only the USMC and USAF did, the Marines employing them on Harriers. That being said, the Navy's Mavericks at that point seem to have been more focused on a anti-ship role, per the E and F's larger warheads. At the same time, the A-7 seems to have been aimed at two major target sets: SEAD/DEAD (Using AGM-88s, Rockeyes, and GP bombs) and the occasional high priority target that required large amounts of precision (using Walleye). They were also employed as general strikers alongside A-6s, although the A-6 was generally the precision bomber as it could carry LGBs and other smart weapons. GWAPS Vol 3 also makes the point that the A-7 could not carry LGBs (Pg 139). Apparently, according to the GWAPS volume 5, A-7s and A-6s actually employed the AGM-86E SLAM for the first time in combat during the Desert Storm, which is interesting. I wonder if we'll get the ability to launch that too.

So looking into it further, this is a really weird picture. At no point did A-7s and F/A-18s serve together on board the Constellation. And yet, this A-7 is dirty as hell, like it's in the middle of operations, and those Mavericks don't appear to be training rounds. The band in front of the fins look more brown than blue. Edit - Did some more digging. According to this site, this picture was taken in August of 1988, at which point the Connie was doing training exercises off San Diego. However, on August 2nd, 1988 there was a fire that forced the Connie to return to port. So either this photo was taken on August 1st, or it wasn't taken in August. Edit 2 - According to this Navy document, the operational test for the AGM-65E was in 1982, and the F was in 1987. Here's a picture of the Navy testing a Maverick on an A-7E at China Lake in 1983, from here.

I'm going to leave this here just in case people still believe that A-7Es couldn't carry Mavericks. This was during Desert Storm, by the way.

I am still having this problem with this mission. Is the fix going to happen in the next update?

I am so excited to fly this campaign!

Thanks Baltic, I'll give it a try and let you know.

I also seem to be having this problem. How long are we supposed to patrol before something happens?

I'm not sure if this is a bug or not, but it's been frustrating me greatly. In Instant Action and user created missions, I am unable to get my AI wingman/flight to attack "My Target (F1)" or "My Enemy (F2)" from the comms menu when I lock a target. I am able to select those two options in the menu and I hear my pilot speak, but my wingman never responds or acts on my command. However, if I tell him to "Attack Bandits" he will just respond by entering the Mirage equivalent of FLOOD Mode and engage--at least I assume that's what he's doing. I immediately start getting RWR warnings and missile launch warnings, before seeing his missile harmlessly fly by towards the enemy, which never actually hits anyone, obviously. My wingman does respond to other commands like "Go Pincer" and I can communicate with AWACS/ATC as well. I also do not have this problem with any of the FC3 aircraft. I haven't tried it with any other full fidelity module because the Mirage is my first one. I have turned off Easy Comms, and I am set to the right frequencies. I am using the HOTAS control for V/UHF and UHF.