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Welcome to Helldiver Chariot Company, Are you looking for a group that is flying soviet-style helicopters, with a focus on operating in a team based and tactical environment? You have found the right place. The company is made up of three platoons. KA-50 (Heresy), Mi-24 (Violence), Limbo (Mi-8). Together we fly different types of missions in a pvp or pve scenario. Our flight times are EU based and we mainly fly 1800Z+ Thursdays and saturdays are our main events. The flight time is approximately 3 hrs+. You can find more information on our Website (link below). What we are looking for: Cool, mature and dedicated helicopter pilots who want to immerse themselves deeply in teamplay and tactics. Our unit does not fly fixed wings, we still work together with fixed wings occasionally. There are a few blockers to eliminate before diving deep into teamplay and tactics, we assume and check off the following: Prerequesites: 18+ years of age or older no member of another virtual squadron able to attend the main events (Thurs./Sat.) Technical: able to start the AC "Cold & Dark" manually able to hover-check and hover-taxi knowledge of how to operate the radios able to conduct a tear-drop landing approach for FARPs (procedure will be provided) Module (Maps): persian gulf sinai syria Module (Helo): KA-50/ Mi-24/ Mi-8 It is not necessary but advised to at least own a second helo, if your main is the KA-50 since we also fly older Cold War settings. To get in touch, contact us via our Website or the DCS forum. Website: https://www.helldiver.org/ YouTube:
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So, I've been meaning to sit down and do this for a few weeks and have just now found the time. I'll try to keep it short, but it won't be, so I'll try to keep it dense. I was an Aeroscout from 1988-1993 flying the old OH-58 A/C. Back then, the scouts were unarmed for the most part, save a M-16 jammed across the glare shield and my .38 revolver in my survival vest. For this reason, we typically operated in a scout/weapons team with an AH-1S following as our armament. The Apaches and 58D were just coming online when I left the Army. I'm loving the DCS Apache and am chomping at the bit, but not holding my breath, for the Kiowa Warrior. I've been observing how the Apache is being employed on several servers and very much so on the Rotorheads server. I have some observations to offer tactics-wise that some may find helpful. This will apply to the U.S. attack and utility helicopters specifically as the Russian helicopters are designed differently and for different doctrine and they are employed more like very low level, very maneuverable, fixed wing aircraft that happen to be able to take off and land vertically. Keep in mind, I was in a very different aircraft with very different equipment and very different times, but I think this advice should still hold true. If there are any Apache or Kiowa Warrior vets here that have anything to add or critique or correct, I welcome the input! 1) Here's the biggest thing: I see a lot of folks just hovering at 800, 1000, 1500 feet AGL for many minutes, lobbing hellfires at bad guys. If you are doing this, you are really missing the advantage of a helicopter which is to utilize cover and concealment to survive. You should unmask just high enough to spot and shoot the threats that are in range. In some threat situations this may be fine but for the most part, the longer you are way up there, the more likely you are to be tracked and shot down. It also leaves you with less evasion options especially when trying to evade from a state of zero or low airspeed (-60kts). 2) Too much hovering. You present a more difficult target to track when moving even if it is at just 30-40kts and you have a quicker response for the aircraft to deploy to cover if you are engaged. Also, you will increase the flight endurance by keeping hovering to a minimum. This is also a great way to avoid settling with power. Also, if you are hit, it is easier to autorotate with some forward momentum and it gives you a better chance of getting to a safe landing location. 3) Unmasking in the same spot twice in a row. This is a cardinal sin! I learned this in my first trip to Hohenfels maneuver area where we war gamed with m.i.l.e.s. equipment. On a night scout mission, we unmasked from cover and saw a OPFOR tank nestled in a tree line. We immediately masked but didn't get a good fix on the type and exact position soooo, popped right back up in the same spot and this time, Mr. tank had his turret pointed right in our direction and shot us down (simulated)! 4) More of a courtesy: Calling "rifle" on comms and coordinating laser codes with others to avoid targeting conflicts and other pilots frantically dumping precious flares and diving for cover every time a friendly Apache fires a missile. Along the same lines, I typically set my countermeasures on bypass, so I'm not wasting flares on friendly fire, and I don't carry chaff. If you have your helicopter close to or down in the weeds, radar guided AA should be a non-factor and then you can carry more flares. Also, if you limit your altitude, and a radar guided weapon is fired at you, you can easily defeat it with cover or concealment. If you are still with me here, my typical planning and profile looks something like this; Before departure-I set a start point in the TSD, and alternate, and then note a point that is about 10K from the FEBA with good terrain relief or concealment, trees or buildings, and set a release point there, in the TSD. Load 50-60% fuel and 90 flares plus weapons of choice. If there are preprogramed CM's or TGT's on the TSD, I make note of them and plan for my ingress from the RP to avoid contact. Countermeasures on bypass, Acq to TADS, left MFD to Vid/TADS so I can see what the CPG or George is looking at. During the day, I will jump in the front seat for a sec to set TV instead of FLIR if I have no CPG. If someone knows how to do that from the back seat, let me know. After takeoff-Climb to about 800ft AGL so I can safely get my head in the cockpit for a minute without driving into the ground. If no CPG, I get George set up and WASed on hellfires and have him look ahead at the next waypoint. Make sure all exterior lights are off, countermeasures on, weapons armed, gun WASed. Set direct to RP and note the flight time. I usually use flight time plus 30 to 45 minutes, depending how far away I get from the RP, for my bingo time. When I'm all fenced in, I head down to treetop height for ingress, around 100kts, using terrain features to mask my aircraft. Approaching RP-A click or two out from RP I will pop up, keeping my speed up, high enough to get a good view over the terrain. I have the CPG or George do a quick look at 10, 12 and 2 o'clock. If nothing, back down to the weeds and because I'm expecting enemy contact but don't know where or when, I proceed a little more methodically. 40kts, quick pop up every couple of clicks, quick scan, if we make contact, back down in the weeds and head that way at 60kts, quick pop up now and then while under way until I'm in hellfire range. Targets in range- At this point, come to a hover behind cover or concealment noting the terrain around us as we prepare to engage. Identify ahead of time the next firing position and where it is safe to break to cover and always know the safest egress. Unmask, just high enough to see the target and either fire if it has already been acquired or, spot, lase and store, then immediately deploy back to cover. Don't get fixated on multiple targets and drift higher and higher in a hover and remain exposed. Fixating is easy to do and I'm guilty of it myself. Hard to resist easy pickings but when that Strela shows up that I didn't see before or it spawns in near me and I'm 1500ft in the air with nowhere to hide...bad news. Kill one, back to cover, I reposition laterally (not actually flying sideways but actually moving to positions to the left and right of me) instead of moving forward, below the tree line or terrain feature then pop up and repeat. A lot of times it pays off to bob up to just do a scan from 9 to 3 o'clock and, from close to far, to identify any threats you missed, just spawned in, or are a greater threat than your target group, without engaging. When all targets in range are cleared, I go back down, 40kts, bounce cover to cover and repeat the above until new targets present themselves. In the thick of it- I stay low, like weed top level, and moving 30-40kts, unless I am actively popping up to search or engage then quickly back to cover. Avoid flying over groups of trees and if I have to, always make notes of clearings to duck into or autorotate into if I get hit. I don't want to have to crash land into trees. Pop up only high enough to see and engage targets and don't unmask in the same spot twice in a row. If that manpad, Zeus monster or Strela, sees me and doesn't have time to fire, he surely will get me the next time I expose my helicopter in the same location. Great thing about helicopters is if one gets disoriented or loses SA, one can just scoot to cover, land and get regrouped. Egress-No matter what phase of the fight I'm in, I ALWAYS know how I'm getting the heck outta there! At Bingo (ingress+30 to 40 minutes fuel time) or Winchester, whichever comes first, I get down and fast, staying in low ground. 10ft AGL is a lot of work but it's a blast! 120kts, 10 feet off the ground feels pretty fast. In fact, all this is a lot of work and a few hours of it is pretty tiring. Often my rear end hurts from clenching, working rudder pedals. I probably actually have a higher "fatality" rate from pilot error than I do from being shot down. But the more I fly, the better I get. Night and other considerations-The dark offers a level of concealment that allows to fly a little higher up, 200 to 500ft AGL. Keep in mind though that the dark only protects you from visual acquisition. The Apache is fully capable of operating down and dirty in complete darkness and I usually don't change my strategy. It does require significantly more focus and SA to do safely. I will usually ingress, egress and land using NVGs and then transition to IHADDs when I'm close to the RP. In situations where the AA threat is non-existent, flying and attacking from altitude is fine but it is a good idea to stay moving. I'll usually do orbits, engaging as I approach and then breaking when I'm close to small arms range. This makes it easier to maneuver if a threat does appear, make it easier to autorotate if the need arises and uses significantly less fuel than hovering. Like I said, there may be some new considerations that I'm not aware of due to the ancient nature of the helicopter I flew in. I would love to hear some thoughts, positive or critical, on this from Casmo or other guys that flew Apaches or Kiowa Warriors. And one last thing, if anyone sees me, Aeroscout'88-'93, on a server somewhere, feel free to hop in the CPG seat and we'll go put some warheads on foreheads!
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Hi, I've created a couple videos going into some detail about conducting CAS or close air support. I am testing the waters to see if there is a number of people that would like to see something like this continue. Its my first attempt at making a Youtube video and my two videos do have a watermark until I see if others can use this info or even care to take their DCS experience to another level. Thanks for your time! Rifle.
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