CBU-99

[Sandman1330]

I didn’t get technical with tacview or anything, but burst height seemed to have very little impact during the Persian Gulf conventional bombing mission using MK20s. I tried dropping one with a burst at 500ft, and all 4 with a burst at 3000, and saw very little change in the pattern. I would have thought that all 4 at 3000ft should be enough to encompass a very large area with a decent density, but alas none of the trucks blew up, and the pattern appeared very small...

 

However, accuracy was much much much improved!

[wrl11]

anti armor? CBU-99 can't kill anything! (did some testing yesterday)

 

I put 8 (yes.. all 8 of them i was carrying) of them into a T-80, no damage. (500 ft burst height) I could clearly see them exploding with the target right in the middle of the burst...

 

I put 8 of them into a BMP... no damage...

 

I put 8 of them into a shilka... no damage...

 

what the heck are they good for?

 

I tested and kill T-90s but has to be low (300 VT) and I drop 2 with no interval.

[backspace340]

They can kill T90s but they're pretty lacklustre - ingame you're better off dropping Mk84s or 83s for better effect. I've also noticed the VT height doesn't seem to affect the spread at all - at 300 and 3000 the spread of explosions on the ground is the same.

[Yoda967]

It's been posted elsewhere that the burst height isn't fully implemented yet. Whatever you set it for, it'll be 1500 ft.

[Cik]

burst height isn't even the problem. burst height has been fully implemented on A-10 CBU-87 for half a decade and you'd have been better off popping your canopy and trying to shoot them with a survival pistol

 

 

cluster itself is busted and has been for years.

[Yoda967]

LOL, Cik!

 

 

I was replying to backspace340's comment about VT height not affecting the spread.

 

 

I've read in a number of places on the forum that fragmentation damage is borked, so it stands to reason that fragmentation weapons (like the -87, -99, and Mk20) would also be busted.

[backspace340]

LOL, Cik!

 

 

I was replying to backspace340's comment about VT height not affecting the spread.

 

 

I've read in a number of places on the forum that fragmentation damage is borked, so it stands to reason that fragmentation weapons (like the -87, -99, and Mk20) would also be busted.

 

Are the CBU-99 and Mk20 fragmentation though? It sounds like they're HEAT shaped charges. https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/mk118.htm

[Yoda967]

You are absolutely correct. The Mk118 bomblet is a shaped charge. I stand corrected.

[pimp]

I can't get these on target at all. They still fall short for me. Can the Lot 20 Hornet not carry CBU-105 IRL?

[backspace340]

I can't get these on target at all. They still fall short for me. Can the Lot 20 Hornet not carry CBU-105 IRL?

 

Nope - Navy never bought them.

[Cik]

even if they could i doubt they'd be in by now. need more GPS/INS underpinning for modeling them probably.

 

 

IIRC the guided cluster bomb is going to be AGM-154/A JSOW which is cluster based standoff glide weapon.

 

 

but that's probably going to be awhile and who knows if it will actually kill anything when it gets there- only cluster weapon in the game that works with any reliability is CBU-97 and there it's the guidance that makes it fist of god level lethal.

[Frederf]

It's not AGM-154/A. "Slash A" is the installation equipment indicator. /A is non-expendable equipment like the installed cannon or a launcher rail while /B would be something like a bomb. Often the /A or /B is omitted if it's obvious. This should not be confused with the letter specific version.

 

So the JSOWs would be AGM-154A/B, AGM-154B/B, AGM-154C/B. And it's the AGM-154B that has SFW. And CBU-105 & CBU-97 are the same weapon payload-wise. If CBU-97 is effective so should any SFW-carrying weapon (although JSOW carries fewer).

 

Can F/A-18-20 carry any WCMD? Does the Navy use the CEM for that matter?

[Cik]

i have never once entered LASTE(?) wind data and they hit everytime anyway. IIRC it's basically just GPS IAM which means that as long as it knows where it is and the target is it can deflect it's fins to get there as long as it can compute an intercept solution that will get it there.

[Cik]

couldn't tell you fren, but it is capable of delivering tons of GPS/INS kit at standoff ranges (JSOW, SDB(?) SLAM & SLAM-ER, GBU31/38/54(?) etc.

 

 

i assume it either accounts for wind in some way or just ignores it because accounting for wind is kind of built into the steering mechanism for GPS/INS stuff and really was the original thrust in GBUs becoming a thing way back. that and being able to deliver from somewhere above 400ft agl, anyway.

[backspace340]

We're not getting the AGM-154B either, which is the version containing the skeets in the CBU-105/97 - it was never bought and put into service. We're getting the AGM-154A, which will have the usual terrible cluster effects and the AGM-154C which is just delivers a big explosion. The Hornet doesn't get anything that matches the CBU-105's ability to take out multiple spread out targets with one drop.

[Cik]

eh, maybe F/A-18 can generate enough drama to make something happen with weapon effects in general. unfortunately CBU-87 being busted for every hog jockey for years hasn't been really a huge uproar just because there's plenty of other weapons around for it that are murderously effective (97 in particular) now though when you're stuck with nonfunctional weapons as your only (save iron bombs which granted have their own problems against soft targets) there's more vehemence in getting it looked at.

 

 

honestly though legacy platforms (F-5, mig-21, helicopters of various types) have it way worse because they don't have sophisticated INS bombs with tiny CEPs to brute force this problem by just hitting the target with the bomb straight-on.

 

 

as it is now it feels like every war earlier than mid-80s should have been conducted with zero casualties on all sides as explosions barely seem to have an effect even on uncovered infantry, let alone anything that might qualify as "armored" even if only barely.

 

 

BMP-1 for instance is basically a truck with a 76mm IIRC.

[KittyVCAW-1]

Hi,

 

Flying Caucuses mission "Hornet 1989: CAS" it's mission 2 in the free campaign included with the hornet. I'm droppng cbu-99 onto a convoy of BMP-2's. I haven't scored a kill yet the NPC blue forces typically polish these guys off as my bombs seem to be impotent against these targets. No problems arming or getting the bombs to detonate. Tacview is scoring hits but I have not yet destroyed any vehicles in the convoy. Can anyone help me figure out what I'm doing wrong here?

[squid509]

Hi,

 

Flying Caucuses mission "Hornet 1989: CAS" it's mission 2 in the free campaign included with the hornet. I'm droppng cbu-99 onto a convoy of BMP-2's. I haven't scored a kill yet the NPC blue forces typically polish these guys off as my bombs seem to be impotent against these targets. No problems arming or getting the bombs to detonate. Tacview is scoring hits but I have not yet destroyed any vehicles in the convoy. Can anyone help me figure out what I'm doing wrong here?

 

usually the bomb-lets on a CBU-99 dont do enough damage to insta kill armored targets but will set them on fire and the will burn to death in about a minute. look like its just a case of all those NPC are just dirty rotten kill stealers

got any ordnance left?

[SniperRu]

Am I the only who can't get the CBU-99 on target in CCIP? They (bomblets) always fall long for some reason (Dive bombing with MFUSE set to VT 300). I've even set wind on ground level to 0 m/s... still no results

[squid509]

its not just you

[SKIPPY 7-7]

Am I the only who can't get the CBU-99 on target in CCIP? They (bomblets) always fall long for some reason (Dive bombing with MFUSE set to VT 300). I've even set wind on ground level to 0 m/s... still no results

 

 

I think the CBU-99 bursts at 1500ft regardless of VT settings, I'm not sure if it's a bug how it works in real life but this is the case for the DCS Hornet. This is validated in the Raven One campaign where it tells you explicitly this will happen. As far as CCIP accuracy goes I have still had issues with accuracy; falling long or falling short but there's probably a dive bombing profile to follow that makes it as accurate as possible. A good thing to take into consideration is where the wind is blowing as the bomblets will get blown by the wind.

[AstonMartinDBS]

They (bomblets) always fall long for some reason (Dive bombing with MFUSE set to VT 300). I've even set wind on ground level to 0 m/s... still no results

AFAIK the CBU-99 bursts always at 1500 ft (unchangeable programmed in the bomb itself). For proper CCIP or CCRP calculation it is necessary to set the VT always to 1500 ft in the SMS page.

[rob10]

AFAIK the CBU-99 bursts always at 1500 ft (unchangeable programmed in the bomb itself). For proper CCIP or CCRP calculation it is necessary to set the VT always to 1500 ft in the SMS page.

For further understanding, IIRC in the real world the burst height can be mechanically changed on the ground (and maybe some rumours that we may get the ability to change it in DCS if the "data cartridge" ever gets done?) so the set height needs to be entered in the SMS page so the targeting computer knows what's going on. Currently in DCS it's hard set to 1500 ft in the bomb, so you need to enter 1500 in the SMS.

[SniperRu]

AFAIK the CBU-99 bursts always at 1500 ft (unchangeable programmed in the bomb itself). For proper CCIP or CCRP calculation it is necessary to set the VT always to 1500 ft in the SMS page.

 

I tried that and it did not help the accuracy. Plus by following a bomb using F6 and monitoring its altitude, from what I could see, it burst between 300 and 400 meters, which is between 980 and 1300 feet

[Rmnsvn]

I tried that and it did not help the accuracy. Plus by following a bomb using F6 and monitoring its altitude, from what I could see, it burst between 300 and 400 meters, which is between 980 and 1300 feet

 

The Raven 1 campaign asks you to set VT to 1200 ft. I did it and the accuracy was spot on. Try using this value and see if it helps.