Interview with Leatherneck Studios

[thawall]

Interview with Leatherneck Studios

 

So post 1994 did all the A and B models get approval for the Block I update to have FLIR, etc. added? Otherwise in poor visibility conditions or poor weather, it'd be damn near impossible to be accurate (when you can see your target visually and you don't have a ground mapping capability).

 

 

No, not all planes got a dedicated pod (because it was rather expensive costing about 3 Mio USD). They had 4 or so on each carrier, which they swapped as needed.

 

Of course, for LGB deployment a line of sight was necessary for the laser to work and also for visual target aquisition via the integrated FLIR sight of the LTS.

 

No joy above clouds obviously ;-)

 

The image quality of the LTS FLIR was very good and due to the large screen and separation of tasks in the Tomcat the RIO could identify targets very precisely.

It also helped, that the Tomcat crews could stay on station pretty long and take their time to communicate with the ground troops.

 

The D variant with the latest version of the pod was finally able to drop JDAMS.

 

Edit: I have to correct myself, on the last part: other Variants (just read about the B variant) were also able to drop JDAMs during OIF. So it seems that the capability is really mainly linked to the LTS upgrades.

Edited November 5, 2014 by thawall

[Buckeye]

Awesome thanks for that clarification. Much appreciated.

[karambiatos]

Highway maybe...

or its USS George H.W. Bush?

[SilentGun]

or its USS George H.W. Bush?

 

 

F-14's where the navy's best fighter at the time and if it's H.W bush, the biggest class carrier then the F-14 is almost for sure.

[Jester Darrak]

rdcufsgxqa7b3?

 

rdcufsgxq is the codeword and a7b3 is the cipher.

 

R D U C F S G X Q

C A L V E R T O N

 

There is no Bush, no Carrier, nothing. The cipher A7B3 just happens to be HW using the affine code. Numbers are not taken into account or else it should be H7W3. Still funny that the cipher, at least partially, is another highly anticipated aircraft for DCS. ;-)

[ff4life4]

LOL - Right - Sorry, no more hints.

Never in a million years would I have expected that. :P

 

Believe it or not; you who visit or read the forums are in the minority and the most dedicated community wise, there is no reason to "troll" you.

 

 

I lied, one final hint to solve the last one: Affine.

 

Definition of AFFINE

 

: of, relating to, or being a transformation (as a translation, a rotation, or a uniform stretching) that carries straight lines into straight lines and parallel lines into parallel lines but may alter distance between points and angles between lines <affine geometry>

— af·fine·ly adverb

 

Must be Swingwing geometry he's referring to :book:

 

Proof :idiot:

where [M] is the matrix and {v} is the vector

M\{\,a\,\}=

\begin{bmatrix}

1&0&0&0&1&1&1&1 \\

1&1&0&0&0&1&1&1 \\

1&1&1&0&0&0&1&1 \\

1&1&1&1&0&0&0&1 \\

1&1&1&1&1&0&0&0 \\

0&1&1&1&1&1&0&0 \\

0&0&1&1&1&1&1&0 \\

0&0&0&1&1&1&1&1

\end{bmatrix}

:\{\,v\,\}= \begin{bmatrix} 1 \\ 1 \\ 0 \\ 0 \\ 0 \\ 1 \\ 1 \\ 0 \end{bmatrix}.

For instance, the affine transformation of the element {a} = y7 + y6 + y3 + y = {11001010} in big-endian binary notation = {CA} in big-endian hexadecimal notation, is calculated as follows:

 

a_0' = a_0 \oplus a_4 \oplus a_5 \oplus a_6 \oplus a_7 \oplus 1 = 0 \oplus 0 \oplus 0 \oplus 1 \oplus 1 \oplus 1 = 1

a_1' = a_0 \oplus a_1 \oplus a_5 \oplus a_6 \oplus a_7 \oplus 1 = 0 \oplus 1 \oplus 0 \oplus 1 \oplus 1 \oplus 1 = 0

a_2' = a_0 \oplus a_1 \oplus a_2 \oplus a_6 \oplus a_7 \oplus 0 = 0 \oplus 1 \oplus 0 \oplus 1 \oplus 1 \oplus 0 = 1

a_3' = a_0 \oplus a_1 \oplus a_2 \oplus a_3 \oplus a_7 \oplus 0 = 0 \oplus 1 \oplus 0 \oplus 1 \oplus 1 \oplus 0 = 1

a_4' = a_0 \oplus a_1 \oplus a_2 \oplus a_3 \oplus a_4 \oplus 0 = 0 \oplus 1 \oplus 0 \oplus 1 \oplus 0 \oplus 0 = 0

a_5' = a_1 \oplus a_2 \oplus a_3 \oplus a_4 \oplus a_5 \oplus 1 = 1 \oplus 0 \oplus 1 \oplus 0 \oplus 0 \oplus 1 = 1

a_6' = a_2 \oplus a_3 \oplus a_4 \oplus a_5 \oplus a_6 \oplus 1 = 0 \oplus 1 \oplus 0 \oplus 0 \oplus 1 \oplus 1 = 1

a_7' = a_3 \oplus a_4 \oplus a_5 \oplus a_6 \oplus a_7 \oplus 0 = 1 \oplus 0 \oplus 0 \oplus 1 \oplus 1 \oplus 0 = 1.

Thus, {a′} = y7 + y6 + y5 + y3 + y2 + 1 = {11101101} = {ED}.

 

:cheer3nc:

Affine transformation in plane geometry

 

Transforming the three corner points of the original triangle (in red) gives three new points which form the new triangle (in blue). This transformation skews and translates the original triangle.

 

In fact, all triangles are related to one another by affine transformations. This is also true for all parallelograms, but not for all quadrilaterals.

Edited November 6, 2014 by ff4life4

[Jester Darrak]

That's not swing wing, more like aero-elastic wing if I look at your image. :-D

[ff4life4]

Ive lost my marbles

[rag48]

Fingers crossed that we're getting the Tomcat... It's far and away at the top of my wish list.

[Buren]

[Donovan23]

Should we all change our avatars to tomcats now? :lol:

[Vampyre]

I will be happy with any variant of the Tomcat Leatherneck decides to produce. The A model is the only variant to have scored air to air kills. The B/D models have tremendous performance due to the F-110 engines. All of them have Long range intercept and long range precision strike capabilities.

 

Comparing the B to the D, the D received:

 

- A 30% increase in usable thrust

 

The 30% increase has to do with the power plant used... in the case of the B/D model Tomcats that is the General Electric F-110-GE-400. The A model had the craptastic Pratt & Whitney TF-30-P-414A which was always considered an interim engine until the F-401-PW-400 was developed. As we know the F-401 engine never made it to production and eventually (after the loss of many F-14 airframes to engine failures) the Navy decided on the F-110 to power the B(A+) and D model Tomcats as the definitive engine. The TF-30 (A) to F-110 (B/D) is where the 30% increase in thrust occurred.

 

- Can carry both Aim-54 and Aim-120s, while the B model can only carry the Aim-54s. Both can carry the Aim-7 and Aim-9's.

The Navy tested weapons on the Tomcat that were never approved for fleet use on the aircraft... mainly due to costs. The AIM-120 is one of those weapons. Fleet Tomcats never carried the AMRAAM. Other weapons tested but not adopted were the AGM-88 HARM, AGM-62 Walleye.

 

All F-14s have very limited air-to-ground capability, the Hornet is much more capable. Tomcats can only carry LGB's.

Not exactly true. The Tomcat was designed from the start with an air to ground capability consisting of mainly free fall ordnance. The addition of AAQ-14 Lantirn pod made the Tomcat the King Kong of precision strike aircraft and enabled their use as a potent ISR platform and fast FAC. The Hornet, while it carries a wider variety of ordnance types has poor range/loiter capabilities, poor weapons "bring back" ability, up until the incorporation of ATFLIR a poor Targeting Pod and the vast majority are single seat aircraft which creates a limit on their combat capability due to task saturation. The RIO's display provides a much larger screen with superior picture for the display of FLIR imagery. Here's a list of air to ground weapons the F-14 was cleared to use:

 

Mk.82 (BLU-111A/B) Iron Bombs

Mk.83 (BLU-110A/B) Iron Bombs

Mk.84 Iron Bombs

Mk-36 Mine

Mk-62 Mine

GBU-10

GBU-12

GBU-16

GBU-24

GBU-31 JDAM

GBU-38 JDAM

Mk-20 Rockeye

CBU-78 Gator

CBU-99

CBU-100

Zuni 5" FFAR in a 4 round LAU-10 pod

Edited November 6, 2014 by Vampyre

[OnlyforDCS]

I just wanted to say that I did not purchase the Mig-21 (lack of funds on my part, also waiting for EDGE and TrackIR to arrive before diving back into the sim and purchasing any more modules) however if Leatherneck are indeed developing the F14 (and not the F11 Tiger) this will be a day 0 insta purchase for me, regardless of the development time, and food on the table be damned! ;)

[-Rudel-]

Dick Cheney stopped by our office today.

[MiG21bisFishbedL]

Dick Cheney stopped by our office today.

 

You tell him to get out. YOU TELL HIM TO GET OUT.

[NineLine]

Dick Cheney stopped by our office today.

 

[Buren]

Dick Cheney stopped by our office today.

 

He kills the Tomcat even in its potential virtuality?

[Buckeye]

He kills the Tomcat even in its potential virtuality?

 

 

I'd hope he's smart enough to not make the same mistake twice...but I must admit I don't have the best feeling about this "hint" as a Tomcat lover/dreamer :(

[Flycat]

over 500!

[rag48]

I too am worried - Rudel's post was awfully ominous...

[Buckeye]

 

Per Cobra, don't feed the trolls :)

[Paradox]

Welp. Back to guessing.

[Revan]

 

Per Cobra, don't feed the trolls :)

 

 

also from the page "[–]Thuraash

You just broke the Hoggit irony scale.

Fo srs, though, seeing as you guys are doing the F-14, will it be usable in combat by a single pilot without a human/AI RIO?

 

 

 

 

[–]Cobra8472Leatherneck Simulations

 

If someone were to do an F-14 without that capability, they'd be nuts. Additionally, we have members on staff who are very experienced in contextual AI programming."

 

 

So, good news?????

[Buckeye]

also from the page "[–]Thuraash

You just broke the Hoggit irony scale.

Fo srs, though, seeing as you guys are doing the F-14, will it be usable in combat by a single pilot without a human/AI RIO?

 

 

 

 

[–]Cobra8472Leatherneck Simulations

 

If someone were to do an F-14 without that capability, they'd be nuts. Additionally, we have members on staff who are very experienced in contextual AI programming."

 

 

So, good news?????

 

 

Indeed, that was the point of me posting it the link to the thread. Things still have a promising outlook for Tomcat lovers, based on Cobra's comments in the thread....even those who doubt the ability to model a RIO "up to snuff".

[McBlemmen]

 

Per Cobra, don't feed the trolls :)

 

Phew that's a relief...

 

F-14 confirmed?

 

F-14 confirmed.

 

Edit : inb4 "no its not wait for official announcement" x)