Interview with Leatherneck Studios

[ttaylor0024]

Would love to see the AIM-54 in DCS.... The Anti-AMRAAM spam. Can you imagine everyone launching these things from 100nm? lol

 

[ff4life4]

Yeah a lot of angry F15 pilots lol

[Hadwell]

F-104 would be amazeballs, perfect counter to the mig-21.

 

kinda biased though since it's also my favourite plane.

 

I have always liked the idea of a plane designed from the ground up to do one thing well; go fast.

Edited December 12, 2014 by Hadwell

[313_Nevo]

I duno, F14?? what about the RIO? ok, offline, I can imagine that robot will fill the place cause there is lots of robots all around you

but online? best solution will be to prevent takeoff in case you are not complete crew. this will bring whole new dimension to DCS online :)

 

btw we all know that to ruin a day of F15 pilot not more then MiG23 is needed ;)

 

Edited December 12, 2014 by 313_Nevo

[Witchking]

lol! Just saw the interview... and re-bought DCS Mig 21 on steam @ $54 CDN. Already bought it on DCS site at release, but I am a sucker for steam to manage my games. :p Keep going leatherneck... give me a harrier and tomcat next please. :p Also a Mig 25 would be awesome. :p

[Aginor]

I am still in favor of a F-104, F-105 or MiG-23. Tomcat is great, and I hope those guys can pull it off, but meh, another one that hasn't a proper opponent, that sucks. Even ignoring the whole two-seater thing.

My favourite two-seaters are the F-4, the Tornado IDS, and the F-15E, but I fear we won't see any of them. That makes me really sad.

 

As for the F-104: I still don't get why nobody creates one for DCS, I know hardly any plane of that era that has so much info in the web about it. Maybe also license issues.

[statrekmike]

I am still in favor of a F-104, F-105 or MiG-23. Tomcat is great, and I hope those guys can pull it off, but meh, another one that hasn't a proper opponent, that sucks. Even ignoring the whole two-seater thing.

My favourite two-seaters are the F-4, the Tornado IDS, and the F-15E, but I fear we won't see any of them. That makes me really sad.

 

As for the F-104: I still don't get why nobody creates one for DCS, I know hardly any plane of that era that has so much info in the web about it. Maybe also license issues.

 

 

The F-14 would have proper opponents, They may be FC3 level aircraft (the Su-27, Su-33 and the MiG-29) but they are still valid and proper opponents.

[Aginor]

IMO they aren't. An FC3 aircraft can't. Perhaps in SP, but not really.

EDIT to clarify: Pilot work load, radar capabilities and usage, communication with each other on the right frequencies and so on. Lots of stuff that just isn't there in FC3 planes.

[King_Hrothgar]

Going up against FC3 planes in a full ASM plane isn't really an issue tbh. They take longer to start up but once in the air I don't find there to be much difference. The MiG-21 is a good example of this. About the only difference from a difficulty standpoint compared to the Su-27 is cycling hardpoints + guidance mode. It's basically 2 button pushes to go from R-3's to R-60's. Doing the same with a FC3 plane is 1 button press. The difference is trivial imho. Not to say the Fishbed fairs well, that radar is pretty terrible. But that isn't a pilot workload issue.

 

On a related note, I must admit I know very little about the technical side of the F-14. But I've always wondered why they decided to go with 2 crewman. I just don't see how they could make the radar so horrifically complicated that it would actually take a person's full attention to operate it. What did they do? Put a hand crank to rotate the dish or something? Short of that I just don't see why it would need a second person to operate.

[OnlyforDCS]

 

On a related note, I must admit I know very little about the technical side of the F-14. But I've always wondered why they decided to go with 2 crewman. I just don't see how they could make the radar so horrifically complicated that it would actually take a person's full attention to operate it. What did they do? Put a hand crank to rotate the dish or something? Short of that I just don't see why it would need a second person to operate.

 

You answered your own question. They did determine that operating the radar would probably be too much work for the pilot. Then there are 60's era electronics which would be quite bulky. I imagine that putting all the essential avionics (remember this was the first TWS capable radar and avionics suite) in a single seat fighter would have probably taken up too much space anyway. You also have to take into account that its predecesor (the phantom) was also a two seater, so there was a precedent.

[Aginor]

Going up against FC3 planes in a full ASM plane isn't really an issue tbh. They take longer to start up but once in the air I don't find there to be much difference. The MiG-21 is a good example of this. About the only difference from a difficulty standpoint compared to the Su-27 is cycling hardpoints + guidance mode. It's basically 2 button pushes to go from R-3's to R-60's. Doing the same with a FC3 plane is 1 button press. The difference is trivial imho. Not to say the Fishbed fairs well, that radar is pretty terrible. But that isn't a pilot workload issue.

 

What about the other, not weapon related stuff? In an FC3 plane I cannot even use my radios as I should, same goes for navigation. The lack of proper system modeling prevents me from doing some important stuff.

[Random]

F-104 would be amazeballs, perfect counter to the mig-21.

 

kinda biased though since it's also my favourite plane.

 

I have always liked the idea of a plane designed from the ground up to do one thing well; go fast.

 

Agreed. Manned missiles are glorious.

 

I'd love an F14 but add a zero and I'll be VERY happy

[Buckeye]

I duno, F14?? what about the RIO? ok, offline, I can imagine that robot will fill the place cause there is lots of robots all around you

but online? best solution will be to prevent takeoff in case you are not complete crew. this will bring whole new dimension to DCS online :)

 

btw we all know that to ruin a day of F15 pilot not more then MiG23 is needed ;)

 

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vwPaXk_fvqE/UmrXZPP-T0I/AAAAAAAACgY/b9aAyZlci0Y/s1600/SyAAF+MiG-23ML+2797.jpg

 

 

Unfortunately with DCS' unimpressive missile modeling that translates to about 18-20nm ;)

[Why485]

On a related note, I must admit I know very little about the technical side of the F-14. But I've always wondered why they decided to go with 2 crewman. I just don't see how they could make the radar so horrifically complicated that it would actually take a person's full attention to operate it. What did they do? Put a hand crank to rotate the dish or something? Short of that I just don't see why it would need a second person to operate.

 

By my understanding, the radar was horrifically complicated for fighters of that generation. The MiG-21's super crappy radar should give you a taste for that with having to manage filters to detect something and that's only a simple, short ranged, radar. The F-14's radar was significantly longer ranged and more capable, and so even more complex. Enough that it was worth having a dedicated operator so the pilot can focus on flying the plane.

 

I've also heard stories of how awful early RWRs were (might not apply to F-14A, I'm not sure) and that pilots would just turn them off. Meanwhile, planes with dedicated RIOs had the time to listen to them and mentally filter out the false positives and instruct the pilots. This was one of the jobs of the RIO in Wild Weasels.

 

Even just flying planes of the third generation was a lot more cumbersome and involved than a 4th generation jet. Again, the MiG-21 is a good example of how many things can go wrong in a combat situation when you want to shoot a missile or fire your guns. You can of course practice and drill your way into minimizing screw ups, but the fact of the matter is that there are a ton of variables to remember and check every time you want to fire a weapon.

 

The third generation of jets has always been interesting to me because it was the apex of mechanical complexity while flying. It's why two seater jets were so common during that era. Electronics and sensors were getting powerful enough to approach what we consider "modern air combat" in the 4th generation, but the computing power and automation just wasn't there yet to make it reliable and foolproof. They had these powerful, but awfully complicated equipment, and the ergonomics of how to mount and display this information hadn't been fully resolved yet. It was the uncomfortable transition age of modern air combat.

Edited December 12, 2014 by Why485

[Oesau]

On a related note, I must admit I know very little about the technical side of the F-14. But I've always wondered why they decided to go with 2 crewman. I just don't see how they could make the radar so horrifically complicated that it would actually take a person's full attention to operate it. What did they do? Put a hand crank to rotate the dish or something? Short of that I just don't see why it would need a second person to operate.

 

Another point to note is if you are comparing the F-14A to the F-15A in terms of radar and interaction on the part of the pilot: the design philosophy for the F-15A was to enable a single operator to manage the systems with the aid of a computer to the highest level possible. It wasn't easy to achieve with the then sate of the art of computers but the design philosophy pushed the project forward.

 

 

Whilst the F-14A had computers to aid the operators, the Navy and Grumman didn't believe that the role of interception could be managed by a single operator with state of art of computers at the time.

[NaCH]

Unfortunately with DCS' unimpressive missile modeling that translates to about 18-20nm ;)

 

That is why making a F-14 is absurd to me... unless you are only doing it for the Marketing.

 

I have question that maybe someone with better knowledge of radars could help me answer:

 

If my mig radar has 30k of detection range, that mean that the wave has the strength to bounce back in an object and travel back those 30k and be picked up by the dish?

If my above statement is correct why a RWR only pick the mig21 radar when is about 35 to 40ks. The wave should reach at least 55k and be picked up ?

And this should also apply to all the rest of the radars.

[westr]

This is driving me nuts. I really didn't want to contemplate LN would do a Tomcat because I don't want to get my hopes up. But all you lot are making me start to think it may be a possibility. I can only imagine a F-14 by LN in DCS World 2.0 it would be out of this world. I have no doubts about LN's ability to produce the big jet to a very high standard and I'm sure they would get everything right with the possibility to fly as both pilot or R.I.O. But I still can't see them doing something as complex as the Tomcat. If it is not the F-14 then they are being very cruel with all their avatars. One thing is for sure judging by the development time of the mig if the F-14 was announced we are in for a very long wait. I can handle that for a Tomcat. She would be a very popular announcement.

[Flycat]

I’m interesting in only dcs needs those manufacturer licence?

I noticed there are many military aircraft on other platform such like FSX or XPlane.

Not only official aircraft,but also 3rd party team,I check some e-shop on other site,there are many warbird could be chosen,as you known phantom on Xplane,superbug by VRS or falcon by aerosoft.Dino's F-35 is a free module for FSX.

Did they get many licence as same as dcsw?

[westr]

I’m interesting in only dcs needs those manufacturer licence?

I noticed there are many military aircraft on other platform such like FSX or XPlane.

Not only official aircraft,but also 3rd party team,I check some e-shop on other site,there are many warbird could be chosen,as you known phantom on Xplane,superbug by VRS or falcon by aerosoft.Dino's F-35 is a free module for FSX.

Did they get many licence as same as dcsw?

 

Yes I agree. I don't understand how it works?

[Oesau]

Yes I agree. I don't understand how it works?

 

Not sure what Dino did - but he's obviously sorted something out considering that Lockheed Martin have included it in their prepar3d product.

[PiedDroit]

I have question that maybe someone with better knowledge of radars could help me answer:

 

If my mig radar has 30k of detection range, that mean that the wave has the strength to bounce back in an object and travel back those 30k and be picked up by the dish?

If my above statement is correct why a RWR only pick the mig21 radar when is about 35 to 40ks. The wave should reach at least 55k and be picked up ?

And this should also apply to all the rest of the radars.

My guess is that the distance is shorter since the RWR antenna is less sensitive and is scanning a broader range of frequencies than the radar dish design to pick this this specific signal.

[Aginor]

It is a bit OT, but since a few of you asked about the license stuff, I'll try to explain it, based on what some of the 3rd party guys said before in various threads:

 

If you want to build a plane for commercial purposes, you will need a license. Just because you call it by its name and you are using its shape.

 

The kind of license and its cost depends on several factors:

 

If you want to do an AI-only plane it might be pretty cheap. Basic flight model, no system modelling, not even a cockpit. Basically you are paying for the name and outer shape.

 

If you want to do a FC3 plane, so no advanced systems modeling, but cockpit and a halfway decent flight model, you gotta pay a bit more, but for most companies still not much. That's where the FSX guys mostly are.

 

Now for DCS quality, or even high quality FSX addons, that's a completely different topic. Those licenses are much more expensive, because you are basically building the whole aircraft and its systems, digitally. Some Companies didn't even have licenses for that previously, so their lawyers have to create a license for that purpose first. That's also quite expensive and takes a lot of time.

 

There are a few aircraft companies, like Textron (who - among others - own Cessna and Bell) for example, that are quite strict about their licenses. They have expensive lawyers so you don't f*** with them. It is their right to do that of course. But it makes creating those planes harder for developers.

 

Also if they expect you to sell a lot of your product they'll probably charge you more. So iconic planes are pretty expensive.

 

That was very basic of course, I hope it helps y'all to understand the topic a bit better. :)

[Tirak]

Just a thought, but did anyone consider the Skyray? It was originally designated the F4D, but later got changed to F-6. The Marines didn't use the Skyray until after the re designation (if i'm reading the articles correctly). It was a carrier aircraft, though it doesn't conform with the avatar "clues" which may have been purely misdirection, and it does match all the written clues, including from a certain point of view the "you're off by one digit" clue in the other forum. It's more than old enough and used for a short period of time that classification wouldn't be an issue, and definitely meets the 'some people will love it, some content and some will want our head on a pike' comment.

[thawall]

Nice find & good thinking, but I simply cannot accept the fact, that we should ignore all the avatars, which point to the Tomcat.

[NaCH]

Just a thought, but did anyone consider the Skyray? It was originally designated the F4D, but later got changed to F-6. The Marines didn't use the Skyray until after the re designation (if i'm reading the articles correctly). It was a carrier aircraft, though it doesn't conform with the avatar "clues" which may have been purely misdirection, and it does match all the written clues, including from a certain point of view the "you're off by one digit" clue in the other forum. It's more than old enough and used for a short period of time that classification wouldn't be an issue, and definitely meets the 'some people will love it, some content and some will want our head on a pike' comment.

 

For your first post that is awesome!

 

F4D! please. I even love the shape of it :D

It can even fit at the "Korea" era.