zzzspace

http://forum.lockon.ru/viewtopic.php?t=2698 I thought it would be a little heartbreaking to have to disappoint, that the current terrain system is so restrictive for making future theaters and could cause so many problems. But now that we have found at least one good theater that looks like it could be manageable, I think we've given ourselves a lot of options and breathing room. -SK I totally agree with both of you.

Looks awesome SK. When you face that many missiles you need a lot of runways to hold the air. I also thought about the use of roadways (and salivated at the prospect...). Tankers? yep. http://www.sinodefence.com/airforce/airlift/h6u.asp http://www.china-defense.com/aviation/chinas_new_badgers/new_H6-1.html http://www.china-defense.com/aviation/chinas_new_badgers/new_H6-2.html http://www.china-defense.com/aviation/chinas_new_badgers/new_H6-3.html http://www.china-defense.com/aviation/chinas_new_badgers/new_H6-4.html PLAAF ORBAT (2000, projected forward to 2010) http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/china/agency/plaaf-orbat-st.htm http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/china/agency/plaaf-equip.htm It gives no specifics on tanker numbers, in-service (posited as 12 to 20 airframes). A new fleet of 6 x IL-78 tankers expected very soon. Have a look at this detailed spreadsheet SK: http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/china/agency/plaaftoe.htm http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/china/agency/plaafproj.xls -- There is also the issue that both Taiwan and PLA have numbers of short medium and long-range indigenous A2G, A2A, ASuW, cruise missiles and SAMs. Taiwan: http://www.taiwansecurity.org/TSR-TMD.htm http://www.sipri.org/contents/armstrad/imp_TAI_94-03.pdf http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/taiwan/skybow-1.htm http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/missile/row/skybow-2.htm http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/east/05/10/taiwan.missile/ http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/taiwan/air-defense-over.htm http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/archives/2001/01/02/0000068075 http://taiwansecurity.org/TT/2001/TT-062701.htm http://www.spacedaily.com/news/missiles-05b.html PLA: http://www.stormpages.com/jetfight/missile.htm Reference: http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/missile/row/

Taiwan has uplifted volcanic terrain. The highest peak in Taiwan is Shei mountain at 3,952 m (12,965 ft) and its the highest in North East Asia (~175 m higher than even Mt Fuji). Taiwan has 293 mountains >3,000 m high, so its an extremely mountainous little country. The mainland is quite different although also extremely mountainous, they are less elevated over all, and consist of many steep-sided cliffs and domes made of limestone, with countless deeply-incised valleys between them (incredibly good for low-level penetrations and terrain masking). China thus requires a vast number of various ranges of anti-aircraft systems to even begin to defend the interior against bombers or cruise missiles.

Looks great SK! (I’ve updated the shading model used in the maps on the previous page) Yes the distances are not short … but we can deploy :) ... and deployments of strike aircraft could be taken as part of the build-up to war etc., so you could have a impromptu chance skirmish turn into a full-blown confrontation, etc. Lots of possibilities. Also, planning comes to the for. The strait is about 250km wide at the narrowest, so a lot of CAP and interception would occur over water, plus long-range SAMs everywhere either side; perfect for coordinated SEAD and strike campaigning. Both sides are highly defendable. Fuel management, flight profiles, drag/weight load-out issues and coordination of flight timings would finally become a vitally important consideration in every mission’s success; at present, much of this is almost a non-issue within the Black Sea theatre (and that’s sure not realistic), due to the shortness of the ranges involved. The Black Sea theatre, while fun, is small, and you have enemy bases within ‘spit-in-your-eye’ distance from each other. i.e. very little real strategic depth is even possible for a detailed lengthy campaign.

Yes Subs, that sort of thing has much more potential for high-intensity air conflict, particularly in trade, energy flow and motivation areas, plus naval dimensions; nevertheless, you are still left with the vast area to be mapped and the considerable fuel, range and flight time this imposes. If you were going to have a LOMAC style air-war in SEA, flying missions to and from Australian bases it would be too slow for a commercial PC sim (plus lots of mandatory refuelling, to and from target for almost all aircraft in any mission ... noobs will hate it). The Taiwan theatre option largely doesn’t have those sorts of problems, and many of the current naval and air platforms and missiles would slot right into such a regional ORBAT (heck, you could even make the Mirage a multi-role flyable striker in that theatre ... ;) ).

I made that using 30 second-arc DEM data. EDIT: ~18 N to ~29 N Lat ~12.5 E to ~129 E Long Light from the right plus a different shading render:

But there's this big, actually, really HUGE wet bit in the middle called “the Air-Sea Gap” (i.e. lots of LONG distance flying over nothing but open ocean), plus neither country has the ability, nor desire to invade or interfere with the other (both are democratic now). Also, recently, at the present, and for the projected next 20 years, there’s no contest for A2A or A2G; Indonesia has one of the weakest air forces in the SEA region, and the RAAF is easily the largest and most capable in the region. (plus everything is being done to improve relations and regional stability – only persistent low-level TNI interference in East Timor’s stability could be a point of potential conflict – and airpower use would be extremely unlikely to occur even then) Personally, for a future Lock On theatre, I think Taiwan v mainland is much more flight-sim theatre and scenario ‘friendly’, in terms of the hardware in service, and the naval and missile dimension, plus, not too much flying over the wet stuff, plus a real sense of specific territories and motivations, and a 'frontline' to defend, and a drawn out battle potential (which was/is so vitally important within all the best of previous sim titles).