How to kill helicopters?

[CptBartender]

When attacking a heli that's on the ground (or a plane, for that matter), it's nigh-impossible to destroy it. I once landed multiple S-8 KOM rockets and AP cannon rounds on a freshly landed F-16, and all I did was stop it. To kill it, I had to resort to a BetAB-500 overkill.

 

Anyway, back to helicopters...

 

When they're landed, then no matter what I drop on them, they just don't die. When they're in the air, my R-60Ms get easily distracted by their flares - I'm lucky to hit one out of the two I have, but even then I had a Mi-24 survive 3 R-60Ms (both mine and one from my wingman), so I wouldn't count on them. The only "reliable" way of killing them that I've found is to dive on them from high altitude and try my luck cutting their tail with my cannon, but that's very hard to do, especially when they fight back (and put more rounds into me that I can fire, let alone hit). If I damage them non-critically, there's a high chance they make an emergency landing, in which case we're back to square one - killing them on the ground.

 

So... how do I kill them? Where do I make mistakes? Any help would be much appreciated...

[Quadg]

helicopters don't have as big IR signature as jets.

because the hot exhaust is directed into the rotor downwash and quickly dissipated.

 

so IR missiles are easily spoofed by flares. and you have to get closer to get a lock.

so cannon are your best bet because they are not worth a radar missile.

 

as to shooting stuff on the ground, DCS has a dodgy blast damage model.

so near hits tend not to be enough and only direct hits destroy stuff.

rockets look pretty but are pretty useless against anything but trucks and infantry.

 

so I normally use a gun where I should use rockets. or swap the load out for a bomb.

 

as you have pretty much figured out for yourself :)

 

to get good with the gun you need to fire from a stable platform. as you get better at flying the aircraft in trim, you get better at shooting.

 

a combat turn onto a ground target with a burst of fire then continuing the turn is the best way to dodge ground fire. make it a curving dive onto target instead of a straight one. then the bad guy misses too. you have the advantage because he cant dodge.

Edited August 23, 2018 by Quadg

[draconus]

I have similar problems in the Eagle. Helis on the ground got gun hits registered but impossible to kill. This can make the mission very hard if kill is the trigger.

[DarkFire]

I believe that there's some other issue with aircraft on the ground having an unnaturally large number of 'hit points' for want of a better description. I remember doing an A-G mission in my Su-27 where I had to kill a parked IL-76. The damned thing absorbed 6 x FAB-500's and an entire 30mm gunpad and still refused to die.

 

I would suggest trying rockets.

[Ironhand]

“Killed” 4 helo’s earlier today. One kill with RBK-500s and one with FAB-500s. Rockets killed the 3rd helo pilot and left the helo itself looking like Swiss cheese. My cannon left the fourth looking like Swiss cheese as well. The pilots appeared outside and disappeared a short time later. I ran the sim for another hour plus a bit. The damaged helos never left the ground nor were they repaired.

 

So there’s more complexity than dead- not dead.

Edited August 23, 2018 by Ironhand

[Flagrum]

(...) I once landed multiple S-8 KOM rockets(...)

 

Iirc S-8 KOM are anti-armor rockets with a shaped charge warhead. Even with perfectly modelled shrapnell damage, you still would need direct hits to be remotely effective. Try S-8 OFP2 instead.

[Cik]

i have never had any trouble killing them on the ground. in the air they will pop 2 flares and decoy entire missile rack, but they seem vulnerable to explosions in general.

 

 

they should be noticeably easier to kill than a tank. close hits with rockets will do the trick.

 

 

note: they probably aren't going to blow up into a wreck like a tank, but the crew will die and the engines will be inop and it will be a kill.

[azm]

close hits with rockets will do the trick

Sure.

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[pepin1234]

When attacking a heli that's on the ground (or a plane, for that matter), it's nigh-impossible to destroy it. I once landed multiple S-8 KOM rockets and AP cannon rounds on a freshly landed F-16, and all I did was stop it. To kill it, I had to resort to a BetAB-500 overkill.

 

Anyway, back to helicopters...

 

When they're landed, then no matter what I drop on them, they just don't die. When they're in the air, my R-60Ms get easily distracted by their flares - I'm lucky to hit one out of the two I have, but even then I had a Mi-24 survive 3 R-60Ms (both mine and one from my wingman), so I wouldn't count on them. The only "reliable" way of killing them that I've found is to dive on them from high altitude and try my luck cutting their tail with my cannon, but that's very hard to do, especially when they fight back (and put more rounds into me that I can fire, let alone hit). If I damage them non-critically, there's a high chance they make an emergency landing, in which case we're back to square one - killing them on the ground.

 

So... how do I kill them? Where do I make mistakes? Any help would be much appreciated...

 

About the Helicopters kill. You need to look your speed and you need to shoot as close as possible to get a first hit because if you shoot with the first LA tone then the helicopter will have enough time to decoy your missiles also at the first LA tone the IR signature is not not so strong that’s why your missile get missed.

 

If you go too fast and you shoot close then because your over speed the missile get more speed and that’s not good in close engagement

 

Then best way is air brake to get about 450km/h hold down until you get closer but not too much.

[AeriaGloria]

azm, all things considered that is a CH-47, which seem to always suck up damage.

 

But helicopters are definitely hard to kill on the ground. In the air I second pepin’s Suggestion to be as close as possible so they have as little time to pop flares. Also staying close and going on mock attacking runs arcane game them to waste flares. Behind them is the best place to attack to make the speed difference less and to not give them a solution with their nose gun. But sometimes they do seem to suck up 30mm hits pretty well...