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F-5E ACM Campaign - First mission and first impression.


Sydy

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Gents,

 

This is just to add to the group, my first impression of the campaign. I started today and flew a couple of practice missions before I started it.

 

I notice I had to map at least four commands for the flight:

- Flight/Engage/Bandits

- Flight/Cover me

- Flight/Pincer/Left

- Flight/Pincer/Right

 

Navigation is the same for the BFM campaign. Already finished. I had difficulties only against the M-2000 during that campaign. Icons were off most of the time, but I opened it eventually. Ok, it's a kind of a cheat, but I consider I am practicing anyway. Next stage will be re-fly it with icons always off. Map was consulted once in a while.

 

I decided to follow the same here. It is nice when within visual range you notice enemies as bluish F-5s and your wingmen in a desert cammo.

 

Interesting that the campaign has unlimitted ammo during the fights, but I would't ripple fire Aim-9s... It's just not my style.

 

First mission was kind easy. 2 x 2 similiar fight, one at 24k and other at 14k.

 

First engament: commanded flight echelon left, got them on radar, put them at 20 degrees offset to the left, at 10NM commanded wingman pincer left, whenm blackstar called merge I commanded "engage bandits". Worked like a cham. I went vertical on my bug and got him with guns. Wingman was in a descending spiral and I got the second with a sidewinder when the bug reversed.

 

Secong engament (14k), same initial moves, when I went vertical, my bug also went vertical, all of sudden I hear the fox-2 call of my wingman and my bug exploded not more than .5 of me. I could easily see his bluish F-5. I saw the direction of de missile, identifiend my wingman and saw an AB close by, engage it and after a displacement barrel roll got him with an AIM-9. Got 3, wingie got 1, no loss for us!

 

Next engament will be 3 F-5s x 4 F-4s, but got practice before.

 

Got lucky not to be plagued with F-5s last update bug so far.

 

Even flew a "Desert Tiger 76" mission to check it out. Worked fine also.

 

I will keep you posted.

 

All the best,

 

Sydy


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Hi Guys,

 

Flew the second and third missions of the ACM campaign. I will describe the second mission here.

 

First engagement I commanded the wingman to pincer left and it was enough to drag their leader. I went head on with his number two and turned into the leader and got him with a sidewinder. Turned for the wingman and my wingman got him. That was easy.

 

Second engagement was fast. same initial set up, but I was higher than the 14k, let's consider I pinced them high and my wingman pinced them left. I turned way to close to the leader tail and got him with guns. I consider it was a hell of a FAUL, but what the heck, no guts, no glory.

 

Turned into their wingie, he was committed to my wingman, went behind him, angle off around 90 degrees, pulled up over the top, he saw me, went on burners pulled up also, I got tone but angle was too much. I maneuvered for a better angle with a displacement roll, he went down, almost Split-Sing, I went behind him, too close for a missile shot, but got him with guns. No FAUL this time.

 

I hope you guys like the small movie I made during this entanglement. I tried to describe as much as possible what I did.

 

 

 

Tomorrow, I will describe the third engagement where I ended up 1 x 2 against the Tomcats.

 

All the best,

 

Sydy


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Very nice reading! I'm currently flying BFM campaign but I will definitely buy this one. Did you map - Flight/Engage/Bandits - Flight/Cover me - Flight/Pincer/Left - Flight/Pincer/Right into your HOTAS?

 

 

Hi SPlash,

 

Thanks for reading it. Yep, I mapped it into my HOTAS. Definitively you have to send your wingie to pincer them and separate the boggies. I use a lot pincer left, engage bandits and cover me. Pincer right I didn't use yet because of the geometry of the initial set up. I put them on my 11 or 10clk pos and send wingie left.

 

It has been working fine so far. Only on the third mission I lost the wingman for the enemy leader right before I got him. The results you will see on the next post.

 

TKs a lot and take care,

 

Sydy

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Hi guys,

 

Let's go for the third mission. After a couple of practices I decided to give it a go. The result was interesting.

 

First engagement, same initial set up, I opened 20degress offset to the right, sent the wingman to pincer left, the enemy pair split, I went head on with their wingman and got in the leader tail. Got good tone and fired a Sidewinder. I saw their leader shot one missile on my wingman. The enemy leader exploded and right after I lost my wingie. I will miss Goose...

 

I turned hard on their wingman and after a couple of turns on AB I managed to put a missile on him.

 

Now what? I am all by lonesome against a pair of Tomcats. I know I am dead meat... Let's see if I get lucky.

 

I went "Full TOPGUN" in aggressiveness and went head on on the pair at 14kft. They were in echelon right and I went for their leader to play chicken. Hell of a FAUL but it was my only chance. Squeezed a burst a bit far, he turned right and opened his belly to me. I got a nice snapshot and got him.

 

I had lost sight of their wingie, went in a right 4Gs defensive turn, reaquired him but he was right on my tail. Kept the turn right waiting for his mistake while getting low, around 1000ft agl. In the end managed to gain on him and reverted the situation. He pulled up, I shot a sidewinder on him without a good tone just to scared him and maybe get lucky, but it was not the case. After a pair of turns that he made mistakenly, I managed to put a good 2.5s cannon burst on his left wing.

 

If you have time, here goes the video about the second engagement (tried to described what I was doing):

 

 

Now is time for the M2000. It was hell during the BFM campaign and I am curious to see them now.

 

All the best and take care,

 

Sydy

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Hi guys,

 

Just flew the fourth mission in the ACM Campagin, now against the Mirages in the ACM campaign. After half dozen practices with mixed results (I hate to fight M2000s) I decided to give it a go. The result was better than expected and I managed to record both engagements.

 

First at 20k, I was higher, had difficult to acquire the 2000s in the radar, but saw them with eye balls mk I. I sent my wingman to the left and turned into the pair. Tried a gun pass but overshot badly and went up. I saw the wingie and later on the leader, one broke (Never ever leave your wingman - remember that?) and I shot the leader with an AIM-9.

Turned left to re-aquire the other one, saw him on my 7lck but was low on energy. I had commanded my wingie to attack and he called tally on the bug. I decided to drag the enemy and help my buddy to engage. As I had thought the bug came after me and showed his tail to my number two which put a sidewinder up his buttocks.

 

Second engagement at 14k, same difficulties to get the 2000s on my radar and this time their wingman came head on on me. I went up, lost sight for a moment but saw their ABs and dove on them. Both boggies committed to my wingman and manage to get on their tails.I shot a sidewinder with a doubtful tone and it went just under the enemy without detonating. I switched to guns and got him on the first pass.

 

After this one was down, I went in a defensive turn until I reaquired the enemy, shot a sidewinder with a bit too much of an angle off and the M2000 dropped flares and the AIM-9 went for it. Right after that the 2000 managed to put a burst Head On on my wingman, which started to smoke badly, but surprised me to stay in the fight.

Managed to get on his tail, squeezed an innefective .5s burst and we started to turn and burn. I was very low on energy, but was decided to press on as he was on my number two tail.

 

Flew very slow to stay behind him and mistakenly pressed the trigger and almost shot my own wingman down. Got a good tone, shot a Sidewinder, but was too close and the missile went under the enemy. Still got a good tracking position and went for guns but managed to put only few shells into the guy. Although he start to smoking also, he was still in the fight. The fight was almost on the deck and we all were quite low on energy. Squeezed another burst but way too short. One second more and I'd get him.

 

I lagged a bit behind and got in a better position for a missile shot. I saw him moving for the kill and, although my wingman was close up ahead, I decided to shoot an AIM-9 anyway trying to save my buddy. Got a good tone on the bug, shot the sidewinder and had a mini-heart attack because I thought the missile tracked my wingie, luckly midway it "sidewinded" to the right and impacted the M2000 tail. He was gone!

 

If you have the patience and time to watch a seven minute video about that, here it goes:

 

 

You guys take care and I hope you had fun!

 

All the best,

 

Sydy

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I'm enyoing a lot watching your videos. I'm looking forward for the next one.

 

Tks a lot splash! It may take a while. I am going out in a mission (a real one) and I probably gonna fly DCS again only in april. I will keep posting here anyway whenever I make a continuation video.

 

All the best,

 

Sydy

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I'm very very bad in BFM campaign, stuck in mission #2.

 

Splash,

 

Try to accumulate energy going on AB before the engagement starts, then go up in the merge, do not loose sight of your enemy and now you have the advantage on him and you dominate the fight.

 

Good luck,

 

Sydy

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi guys,

 

I managed to fly one more DCS ACM Campaign mission before I go away in real mission assignment.

 

This time it's against the CF-18s from Alberta. I got a request (almost a complaint) from a colleague that he was unable to see the bug dots in the start of the fight, so this time I used the icons a tiny bit on the engagement beginning. For me it's a kind of a cheat, but what the hell, let's have fun.

 

First engagement at 24kft: I was with my wingman on my left (echelon), I located the CF-18s first on my RWR (alwasy on SEARCH mode) and right after got the dot's on my radar after working on the tilt a bit. Looked for the dots and I agree they are very difficult to see using a 4k monitor. I went head on with their wingman, way too close to my taste, turned left level after their leader that was on my 9 clck. Radar did not lock, but got a good tone and launched an AIM-9P5 off his 8clck. He saw the launch and dropped some flares, but missile tracked all right and got him.

 

His wingman was on my high 6 and I broke hard left and reverted after I saw him extending toward my wingman. They went Head On, he pulled up with burners on, but I didn't have energy to follow him. Unloaded a bit, managed to track him with radar even at 90 degrees angle off but never got a tone.

 

After the first turn managed to get a good tone, fired a missile, looked like it tracked but never impacted. We started to turn and burn. I was getting too close for missiles and went for guns. I didn't have much energy, jockeyed a good position and some energy, pulled lead with the piper a bit ahead of the enemy and shot a good burst relaxing the Gs. Never saw the impact that got him but he ejected, First engagement was over.

 

Second engagement was pretty easy. Same set up, their leader never saw me turning in and, although he had his ECM on and my radar never tracked, got a good tone and shot a missile on him. He never saw the missile I shot and it impacted without any counter-measure (flares).

 

His wingman came for me, on my high 6, I turned hard left to avoid giving him windown for a shot, almost blacked out, I commanded my wingie to attack and he shot a sidewinder right after. As the enemy was committed to me, he never saw the missile that shot him down.

 

If you have time and patience, I made a small video about this Mission. I apologize for my accent and I hope you like it.

 

 

I will come back into action on DCS in a month after this real life assignment. Next adversaries: F-16s!

 

All the best,

 

Sydy

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Great videos Sydy! Thanks for sharing your campaign experiences.

 

Good luck on your real mission assignment and stay safe!

 

 

Hi Sabre-TLA,

 

Thank you, Sir! I loved the BFM campaing and I am enjoying this one a lot. Several of my colleagues are former F-5E Pilots in the Brazilian Air Force and I receive their "critique" about the engagements. It's funny as hell and sometimes I get 3 or 4 pilots around cheering and yelling at me. I have a ball!

 

I am still in my assignment abroad (pretty safe this time), but I look forward to go back home and fly the ACM campaign some more.

 

Please, consider me as an huge Maple Flag fan and I even bought the A-10C only becuse I wanted to fly both of your campaigns on it. As soon as I finish the ACM campaign, I will start the A-10Cs' campaigns.

And if I may add, take a good look in the A-29 as a future plataform for your campaigns. I'd love to fly one A-29 campaign made by Maple Flag.

 

All the best,

 

Sydy

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Awesome Sydy!

Yes when that module is available it would be great fun.

I've read that it is being considered as a replacement for the A-10 for low intensity conflicts.

Here is a link with some more details: http://www.combataircraft.net/2016/08/16/is-the-usaf-serious-about-oa-x/

 

Sabre-TLA,

 

True, it has been under evaluation for some time already and we have two clients in US. One is a private company and the other is USAF flying it training the Afeganistan Air Force. I hope it succeed for the OA-X program. I really don't know much about this specific program because my focus is in other programs here.

 

I love that machine and I am a bit suspecious to talk about it. :) I fly for the company that makes it (Embraer)! :music_whistling:

 

I got lucky to fly 20min in its simulator and blessed to fly as #7 rear-seater during one of the training in the Brazilian Smoke Squadron when they had the T-27, the Tucano.

 

If you get the time and patience, watch the movie I made during that flight. It is long (20min), but with original sound and with all their maneuvers, of course in the #7.

 

 

I have some other good stuff in my youtube channel if you want to browse it... It is a fun job for sure.

 

All the best,

 

Sydy

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I keep reading your videos!. I hope to learn something because I'm very bad in air to air combat.

 

Thanks Splash, we are always learning! I will return to base April, 26th and I will produce at least a couple more. Next one will be against F-16s.

 

The secret is to keep practicing. If you like to read, I recommend "Fighter Combat, tatics and maneuvering", by Robert Shaw.

 

I googled it and several pdfs popped up. Here goes one: http://www.jg-51.com/topsecret/Fighter_Combat-Tactics_and_Maneuvering.pdf

 

edit: I prefer the real book: https://www.amazon.com/Fighter-Combat-Maneuvering-Robert-Shaw/dp/0870210599/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

 

Start your reading with 1 x 1 Guns only and then evolve from that.

 

All the best,

 

Sydy


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Hi, I have the book in both English and Spanish. I have begun to read it several times, but I have never had the courage to read several chapters. I should take your advice and read it seriously for sure.

 

Regards,

Splash.

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  • 2 weeks later...
I'm having lots of problems to defeat the F-5s in the second mission of BFM campaign. Only once I got it down by gunfire. Do you believe that this campaign is easier than AFM?

 

Hi Splash,

 

I agree it's hard sometimes. It was horrible for me during the BFM campaign to pass the M2000Cs, but we gotta practice. I do consider the ACM campaign a kind of graduation of the BFM. Here you have to manage your wingman a lot and put an huge effort on situation awareness.

 

Keep practicing and you will get there.

 

All the best,

 

Sydy


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Hi Guys,

 

I hope everybody is ok. I was away in a RL assignment. Today I had time to fly another F-5E ACM Campaign mission. This one came out quite interesting. It was against F-16Cs and they have a lot of thrust compared to the F-5E.

 

The first engament was at 24kft and I sent my wingman to the left and we split their flight. I got radar contact right away and RWR alert. We pinced them. After the merge, I turned hard left toward their leader managed to get a good tone and put a sidewinder into him. I went in a defensive turn, completely blind and looking for the other planes (wing and enemy).

 

After half a turn, I managed to get radar contacts and found one turning left on my 12clck high. I was under his nose and he didn't see me. I turned hard right on top of him, unloaded a bit, he turned right toward my wingman and I got a good tone on minimum range for a missile shot. Shot an AIM-9P5 and it penetrated the Viper on the top and right behind the pilot.

 

Now we went for the 14.000ft engament. This time I consider a bit better because the F-5E has a better power response at lower altitudes. We bracketed the enemies. Got good radar contact and went head on with the wingman and padlocked on the leader... Then lost the sight... Argh! Kept turning and found two planes. Identified the first as my wingman and got on the F-16 tail. Ended up too close for a missile shot and switched to guns. Managed to track him allright and when in range and after a nice kick on the left rudder became in the same plane and aligned, but got the "faul" mark on the piper, anyway I managed to put a nice and well aimmed half second burst right into him. He lit up like a christmas tree. What the heck!

 

Now it's the moment things went down the drain... Sort of... I kept my left turn looking for the other F-16, around 2kft agl. When I looked ahead he was right there and shooting a missile on my wingie. His missile tracked and impacted right on the F-5. Now he was pulling up, over the top on me, I was low on energy but kept the pressure with my nose up. Squizzed a missile to put some more pressure on him. He came down, I glued on his tail, after the pull in the bottom of the half loop, I managed to get a good tone, shot it, but the missile was trashed.

 

On the next dive I went lag persue again, dived too much and broke the hard deck. This one we lost it but the end result was 3 x 2 and I will proceed with the next mission. Now against Mig-29Gs. This will be interesting.

 

If you have the time to watch the movie about both engagements, here it goes:

 

 

Let's see if I can fly one or two missions more before my next RL assignment.

 

All the best,

 

Sydy


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I'm having lots of problems to defeat the F-5s in the second mission of BFM campaign. Only once I got it down by gunfire. Do you believe that this campaign is easier than AFM?

 

 

Splash,

 

If you want to see some F-5E x F-5E dogfights, you may see this one here

 

 

Enjoy it. I hope it helps.

 

Sydy

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