Carrier as "AWACS"?

[Tippis]

It's mostly just one of those cases where specific tasks are available only to specific units, and in this case, that's augmented by how those specific units are only available to specific countries.

Much like AWACS-style units have the “AWACS” ongoing task to… well…make them do AWACS stuff, there is an EWR task for ground units. It will make those units appear as a comms menu option and makes them talk over the radio much like the AWACS do. But it is only available to the handful (two? three?) of EWR radars that you'll find on the red side among the air defence units, and I think that originally, the only official documentation for how to set them up and use them was in the MiG-21 manual(!), so don't kick yourself too hard — they're not exactly the most immediately obvious thing to even find, much less set up properly.

With pseudo-nationalities such as Task Force Red/Blue, UN Peace Keepers, and USAF Aggressors, you can always make sure you have those units available with any kind of coalition composition, but you still need to intuit that the functionality even exists and is tied to those specific air defence units to begin with.

[WarbossPetross]

6 часов назад, LooseSeal сказал:

I think it would be a very interesting thing for DCS to implement full ground-based controllers, which are contactable via radio. It would really expand the capabilities of nations in the game which don't have access to AWACS in reality. For example, Iran surely guides its aircraft from the ground, yet if I were playing a Liberation campaign, we have to put an unrealistic A-50 on the Iranian side in order to balance it out.

Hopefully something for the future ATC overhaul, perhaps?

Well, when I played the other F-16 simulator I immediately noticed lively radio chatter by pilots and ATC. That's not just giving you BRA to the nearest bogie, the ATC works with you all the way from take-off to landing, and it's possible only thanks to the dynamic campaign AI that actually understands what's going on. As ED works on the dynamic campaign mechanism it will really open doors for that and all the GCI control systems like the one recently implemented for our Mirage. Also guess what, Iran actually has HESA IrAn-140 that it uses as AWACS among other things, so until we have that (probably never) I guess we're within our rights to make do with the A-50.

[engines]

7 hours ago, QuiGon said:

Yeah, it's not that commonly, especially on public multiplayer servers. It's most often encountered in Soviet sided SP missions or campaign, especially with the MiG-21 which depends on this a lot, and on the Cold War 1947 - 1990 multiplayer server, where ground based EWRs are used a lot.

Oh, wow, that's a good start! Is there something in particular I need to do to set this up?

[_Hoss]

Instead of the Carrier being an AWACS (which it doesn't do in RL) there should be a Ticonderoga class Cruiser modeled to do this seeing as how they have the most powerful RADAR in the Task Force and the OS's are trained at TOPGUN to control intercepts. 

Hoss

[engines]

Just now, 352nd_Hoss said:

Instead of the Carrier being an AWACS (which it doesn't do in RL) there should be a Ticonderoga class Cruiser modeled to do this seeing as how they have the most powerful RADAR in the Task Force and the OS's are trained at TOPGUN to control intercepts. 

Hoss

I guess that's a national thing, I know for certain that Brit carriers do have fighter controllers aboard, as do the destroyers. I can't speak for the US carriers.

[_Hoss]

I did seven cruises on three different carriers, in twenty years of service.  I got my Surface Warfare pin on my last command ( I'm an Airedale) and I had to learn all about every Department aboard the ship, besides mine (AIMD) I had an OS buddy that gave me a tour of CIC and how it worked. Now, I retired in 1997 and I do not believe it has changed since then. The Arleigh Burke and Spruance class Destroyers are very capable too with the SPY-1D multifunction passive electronically scanned array radar. In fact the Ticonderoga Cruiser started out, and built on a Spruance class Hull but has a larger displacement due to weight than the Spruance. Carriers like to remain quiet electronically when operating at sea, the E-2C's and Escorts will direct Anti-Air, Ballistic Missile, and Anti-Satellite defenses, along with fighter defence and strike package directions.

I believe the USS Princeton and USS Shiloh were our Tico Cruisers for the last two cruises I made on the Lincoln.  When I was on the Enterprise the Vincennes shot down the Civilian Airliner in the Gulf.  We had just engaged the Iranian Navy in Operation Preying Mantis on April 18, 1988. While the Lincoln was in overhaul in Bermerton, I got to go on the USS Missouri for a reenlistment ceremony and we got to go on an abbreviated tour of the ship, now that was cool.  It was moored next to the USS New Jersey, the Missouri moved to Hawaii, not long after I retired where the Alpha BB (Arizona, war start) and the Omega BB (Missouri, where it ended) now sit one in front of the other. I know mission builders probably do not put a bunch of escort ships in their missions, I'm not sure how Task Force defense is handled in the Mission Editor, so I'm probably talking out my you know what.  Real Life and Sim Life are not the same so how ever you get it to work I'm impressed. 

Cheers

Hoss

 

[engines]

What an honour to have been at the recommissioning! 

I was in HMS Illustrious for a short time, and HMS Ocean for a more substantive period when I was early in my Fleet Air Arm career. I also spent some time working with the company of HMS Queen Elizabeth when she was in build and out for trials when we were putting the F-35B through test and evaluation.  I should note that due to the period I served as a WAFU, most of my deployed time was in a tent in a land locked desert, so I'm not an authority in the blue water aspects of naval aviation!

What you said about EMCON silent for the carrier makes sense and I think that's the strategy employed by Sandy Woodward during the Falklands conflict where the Type 42 destroyers and 22 Frigates were the main pickets for fleet air defense.

Interestingly the carriers still had their on Freddies and even the Queen Elizabeth class carriers today have the same radar system used on the Type 45 destroyers. I guess due to the smaller size of the Royal Navy compared to the US Navy, it's more likely that our carriers could potentially be deployed without a dedicated destroyer, whereas I think that would be unlikely in the USN as there are enough assets to fill that role.

 

I think the other strategic difference between the US and UK with regards to carriers is that we opted for gas turbine propulsion rather than nuclear so we could put the ships alongside in friendly countries.  Also, the maritime strategy is, where there isn't a direct anti-ship threat, to get the carrier 12 nautical miles off the coast before the conflict heats up to make a statement.

 

I think the request to have carriers and destroyers be able to act as AEW and give BRAA calls is a reasonable one, even if, in certain scenarios like day one of a large scale conflict, the carrier would be EMCON silent.