KosPilot

Sometimes I send off a ripple of rockets as a last resort when my stores are depleted or my Shkval is taken out. Otherwise I put them to good use and pop them in pairs into low threat targets from close range. Not too close though; I don't enjoy shooting myself in the face with shrapnel. I think "minimum" engagement range is 2000m, but seriously, no one should expect to snipe anything beyond 1000m using rockets! You could also use them to bombard an area where trees are obscuring whatever is shootin' scrap at you. Just hang back and hope for secondary explosions. As you say, you'll need good flying skills and fair weather to acheive that steady aim. Just keep at it and pop off targets from close range to start with. Some say rockets are not to be released while in the hover because of the danger of sucking fumes into your engines. In the sim (just as "minimum" engagement range) that is not a problem. What you WILL experience is that the rockets are affected by the rotor downwash, so when firing rockets from the hover, you'll need to aim low. Forward speed will give an easier and more accurate aim. I am happy to post a track if you think that may help.

Some years back, when NVG were introduced for aviation, it was necessary to modify cockpit lighting to become NVG compatible. That meant having a "NVG" switch to dim all lights. It was also necessary to get rid of ALL red/orange light indications. Wavelengths in the lover part of the spectrum blinded the NVG. As a result, all night instrument lighting was in green. I would suspect the night cockpit lighting in the Shark being blue for similar reasons. Now that NVG technology have moved on, maybe it's not much of an issue any more. The point is; From my experience and considering the era, using red cockpit lighting may have caused problems in combination with NVG.

:megalol: HAHA! U nailed it! First of all: Spread formation. TIP!: Send him out on recon but then call him back to formation before he is done. In that way he will continue to report targets while in formation! It's like having a Longbow radar :D Since I am so soft hearted, I only use the wingman to mop up low threat targets or attack easy targets while NOT having to overfly other active threats.

I find greater range is better. It gives the Vikhr more time to stabilize, and you'd have to be very brave to come within 4km of a column of T72/T80 these days. At expert setting, the T80 is firing its 9M119 just within 5km. Agreed, or stay very low to the ground where it's less windy. Ground laminar effect is nicely done in this sim.

I'll have to eat my words from my previous post! There could be a bug in the launch vector of the Vikhrs. When I compensate for wind drift during high hover, the Vikhers seem to launch upwind at double my vector angle as if their initial air speed is translated into ground speed?! That means I have to point the nose of the helo downwind of the target upon weapon release. I thought the natural thing would be to point upwind to compensate for drift! *or* There is the possibility that it may be correct behaviour though. In earlier posts there were mention of the stabilizing fins of rockets being affected by rotor downwash if released during hover, giving the rocket a slight upward tilt thus overshooting the target. Maybe the Vikhrs are affected in the same way by wind coming from the side? Attached track show 5x T80 heading into 15ms @ 180 degrees attacked with Vikhrs from 270 degrees. Wind.trk

Interestingly, the mentioned values indicate a tip speed of advancing blade of Mach.9 at sea level, ISA. I can only speculate. Due to the drag-forces on the rotor-system (the advancing blades in particular) at such speeds, the turbo-shafts may not provide enough torque to maintain RRMP. Which in turn means that the system is kind'a self-balancing. or maybe the BlackShark is intelligent enough to reduce RRPM to avoid transonic shock-waves? Naaah, probably not! The tip of the retreating blade has only 30ms (108kph) wind to work with and can be considered well and truly stalled. Anyways, I would think that the rotor-system should have disintegrated long before reaching this speed due to destructive lead-lag forces applied to the lead-lag hinges and rotor-hub, or the stalled retreating blade flapping uncontrollably into the other rotor. (That, or the Russian engineers are even more splendid in designing helicopters than I ever thought possible!)

Just a tiny insignificant clarification really regarding INU from this era; Aircraft attitude is detected by the aircraft attitude relative to the gyro platform while aircraft position is continuously calculated by reading accelerometers fixed to the gyro platform in all three axis. Noise and inherent inaccuracies in the accelerometer signals will accumulate as position error. (In order to keep the gyro platform horizontal at all times, correction values (force) has to be added to the gyro platform (heart of the INU) according to aircraft position and earth rotation. If the position is wrong, the gyro platform will start to tilt which will further accelerate position error since gravity will cause false readings.) From "old", INU is the box or unit that contain the gyro platform. INS is the complete system including INU, wiring, instruments and other referencing units. As they are cramming more and more into the INU, the border between INU and INS has become a bit blurred.

War does not wait for fair weather :D To have the Vikhrs stick you'll have to compensate for your drift so put cyclic into the wind until the vikher reticule is stable in centre of HUD and on target. It's a lot'a work, but once mastered it's easy as anything else. Will see if I can make a track after I'm done at work.

Windmilling at "zero" or any other collective pitch setting is expected. With the heli standing on the ground and the wind coming directly from behind, the forward tilt of the rotor mast ( and missing nose wheel strut :D ) will enable the rotors to windmill just as they would for autorotation. The difference in this situation is that the heli is stationary and no energy is consumed to maintain safe rate of descend. When the rotors are spinning down and the wind is blowing up through the rotordisks, at some point the sum of lift and drag for the entire rotorsystem including resistive torque from drives and gearboxes may become equal. At this point RRPM is maintained. If the relative wind is at a vector angle within usable AoA limits for the given profile, there is always a section of a rotating rotor that is going to produce lift. Most profiles have the most efficient lift/drag ratio at about 4 degrees AoA. Looking at the lift formula; Lift=Cl*1/2p*Vexp2*S (Cl:Lift Coefficient, p:density, V:Velocity, S:Surface Area), V is the major factor for lift production and the reason the rotor must already be spinning in order to enter the regime where windmilling is possible. 100% rotor RPM for the Ka-50 should be something about 300, give or take, so RRPM@20%=60. Say the rotor tilt is 4 degrees. Total swept area is 330.3m2 and even at a small angle as 4 degrees, the wind is working an area of about 23m2. (Disregarding further tilting / exposed area due to flapping action) Wind Power (W) = .5 * swept area (S) * air density (p) * Wind speed exp3 .5 * 23m2 * 1.23kg/m3 * 5*5*5 = 1770W Betz limit and loss ~60% = 700W of rotation power to overcome drag, in theory that is. If 700W is enough to maintain 60 RPM? I honestly do not know but I think it's plausible as the power is only going into maintaining a constant RPM under minimal load. ED has put a lot of effort into rendering real time rotorsystem behavior and I have no doubt their calculations are more accurate than mine.

It's the wind and another amazing example of the outstanding job that ED have put into the modelling of the rotor system.

"The R-828 radio is used for communication with combat ground units" It would be so AWESOME to tune in to ground combat units as they fight their way into enemy territory, giving coordinates and maybe requesting CAS. Maybe, in future, the R-828 may be used to direct artillery as well?! :thumbup:

Hah, I though Su-17/-20/-22 "Fitter" was a good one. The report would say something like "Two Russian Fitter on routine mission just off the Norwegian border..." There used to be, and likely still is, a problem with Russian hookers stealing over the Russian border into Norway to sell their services. Now, if you know what "Fitter" is in Norwegian... :P

In principal I agree, but if caught out without cover, an abrupt climb just seconds prior to impact is the maneuver most likely to save you arse :joystick:

The 9M119 is truly a #$%%@#$!@%^!!! pain in the arse, BUT you can out-climb it if timing it right, I just did. You just have to spot the little bugger first :mad: -And they are FAST, 4000 metres in 11.7 sec.

I switched off stability augmentation and used BS to practise before my helicopter TIF. Imagine that; I held all four controls (including manual throttle) while holding a stable hover and then made a left hand spot turn with relative ease. From five years of instructing, my instructor told me I was only the sixth person to be able to do that. Thank you ED, for helping me make my helicopter TIF one of the best experiences of my life!

Aye, the 9M119 has certainly given the T72 a new set of teeth... In an area with BMP's I would normally just initiate a sideslip while scanning for the laser threat. This techniqe does not work that well against the 9M119. I will have to try out a few things. If there is no cover to duck behind, maybe it is possible to outclimb it if you're in the edge of its range and the timing is right? (Old fighterpilot trick.)

Yep, had the same problem. Stop your virus scanner before installing BS.

Ah, I was editing while you answered, that explains it! :D

No, I am comparing AH-1W (post 1996 upgrade) with AH-64A (pre D-series) at their current state in 1996-97, making a point that I think AH-1W would be a decent choice for ED to add to their DCS series (The Ka-50 was introduced in 1995). Ka-50 was never mentioned in my previous posts.

A study to upgrade the AH-64A avionics and targeting package strated in 1988. However, the AH-64A did not receive any significant upgrades to its targeting and avionics suite until 1997, when delivery of AH-64D started. AH-64As still in service received this upgrade and are thus not AH-64A anymore. The workings of AH-64D capabilities and avionics suite is still classified and would not appear in a study sim anytime soon. The most recent upgrade known to me of the AH-1W, commenced in 1996 and comprised NTS/Canopy/Cockpit Modification (CCM) (NTS, Night Trageting System) that replaced the existing canopy, nose faring, and copilot/gunner instrument panel to make provisions for the AN/AWS-1(V)1 NTS and added the TNS, CDU-800, to the front cockpit. Additionally, a communication/navigation upgrade, ECP 1686, incorporated an ARC-210(V) Electronic Protection (EP) Radio, an ARN-153(V)4 TACAN, and an AN/ASN-163 Global Positioning System/Inertial Navigation System (EGI). So, Mr "Moderator/ED Testers Team", if you have other information, please share.

AH-1W SuperCobra. The W-version was introduced in 1986 (Ka-50, operational testing 1985-86, introduced 1995) and is still in service. Hopefully, the avionics package and weapon systems would be available for ED to study. The AH-1 platform has been in service for a looong time so there should be plenty of consultans out there. -And it has (operational) air-to-air capabilities...:thumbup: or AH-64A, although to keep it "true" AH-64A we'll have to accept outdated avionics.

From what I understand, the DCS series is unlikely support compability for FC2. My opinion is that, to keep MP game balanced, I would like to see a Russian Close Air Support AC; the Su-25.

Don't ya worry! I'll be flapping around dealing some damage, and giving the enemy a slow target to obsess about :D

Basic handling, Turns. In level flight, use your rudder to keep the balance-ball in the middle. "Step on the ball", which means apply left pedal if ball is to the left, right pedal for right ball. This is also true for gaining altitude as this will give you maximum vertical thrust (if level). Keeping in balance also means better seating comfort during flight. The same princilple applies for level turns. Bank and apply adequate pedal in the direction of balance-ball offset. Do not let your nose drop! During bank, your total thrust vector will become a function of vertical and horizontal thrust. With less vertical thrust you will need to apply more power (collective) to stay at altitude. In a level turn, the amount of G you are pulling is a direct function of your bank angle (inv Cos 30 deg bank = 1.15G, 45=1.4G, 60=2G, etc). In-game trim is setting current attitude as cyclic neutral. It is also defining new neutral for pedal position. That's why you get double deflection in any direction of applied cyclic and/or pedals if that position is maintained after engaging trim. I THINK trim reset is [Ctrl - T] or [Right Shift - T]. Check control options in Menu -> Options. Be careful not to reset trim at IAS>200kph as the abrupt change may cause rotor-collision. During level flight you should use Collective for altitude change and Cyclic for speed change. HOWEVER, for (quick) manoeuvring you must think ahead of the 'copter; During a stop, the pitching up (of the nose will reduce the induced flow of air down through the rotordisc. The total reaction of the individual blade will be more aligned to the rotor-plane axis, thus increasing the efficiency of your main rotors and increasing individual blade AoA,) causing a dramatic thrust increase. You must kill this extra lift before it happens by lowering the collective (power) as you commence manoeuvring. I would recommend reading up on some helicopter aerodynamics, as the handling of the sim is very close to real life (with and without SAS).

AH-64A, that said, the AH-1W SuperCobra may be another interesting cold war option. The AH-1 concept has been around since the Vietnam War and versions are still in service. There are lots of consulting material out there. Snippets from Wikipedia: "In the early 1980s, the U.S. Marine Corps sought a new navalized helicopter, but was denied funding to buy the AH-64 Apache by Congress in 1981. The Marines in turn pursued a more powerful version of the AH-1T. Other changes included modified fire control systems to carry and fire AIM-9 Sidewinder and AGM-114 Hellfire missiles. The new version was funded by Congress and received the AH-1W designation.Deliveries of AH-1W SuperCobras totaled 179 new-built helicopters plus 43 upgrades of AH-1Ts." and "Marine Cobras took part in the invasion of Grenada, during Operation Urgent Fury in 1983, flying close-support and helicopter escort missions. Two Marine AH-1Ts were shot down and three crew members killed.The Marines also deployed the AH-1 off the coast of Beirut, Lebanon in 1983, during that nation's civil war. The AH-1s were armed with Sidewinder missiles and guns as an emergency air defense measure against the threat of light civil aircraft employed by suicide bombers. USMC Cobras provided escort in the Persian Gulf in the late 1980s while the Iran–Iraq War was ongoing. The Cobras sank three Iranian patrol boats while losing one AH-1T to Iranian anti-aircraft fire.USMC Cobras from the USS Saipan (LHA-2) flew "top cover" during an evacuation of American and other foreign nationals from Liberia in 1990. During the Gulf War, 78 Marine SuperCobras deployed, and flew a total of 1,273 sorties in Iraqwith no combat losses. However, three AH-1s were lost to accidents during and after the combat operations. The AH-1W units were credited with destroying 97 tanks, 104 armored personal carriers and vehicles, and two anti-aircraft artillery sites during the 100-hour ground campaign".