Ka-50 RWR

[Groove]

Quo vadis imagine you are cat which is stalking around....

 

Thats helicopters on the battlefield.

[RedTiger]

How fast would you fly to maintain a 'low profile' ?! I have the bad habit of going for maximum speed so I get to the action sooner. If this means action finds me sooner, I might have to slow down. But how much ?

 

I would think that once you know where the enemy is (as Groove said, you're a cat and you've stalked your prey) and you've taken your shot and have dropped back NOE, you'd want to use plenty of speed to scoot over to another part of the of the "map" that you've scouted out as a good place to attack again. You are not using your speed to drive head-first into the enemy but rather using your speed to quickly move to another spot to attack.

 

At least thats how I always used helos.

[159th_Viper]

...imagine you are cat which is stalking around....

 

Thats helicopters on the battlefield.

 

All the While keeping in mind that the Mouse has a Stinger strapped to his back which is guaranteed to cause ten different types of Hurt!

 

:D

[MarcPhoenix]

Interesting. I guess if any MiG-29s find their way over to swat down the gnats that are making life miserable for the grunts, those Apaches will just have to dodge the Alamos and Adders so they can close for a gun kill.

 

I'm just joking with you obviously, since you took that from a field manual. I still find it funny. Giving a helo the A/A responsibility that would normally go to a light tactical fighter is a bit like giving a tank the surface to air responsibility normally given to something like a Shilka.

 

The only reason I asked about the R-73 is for the sake of completeness. If the real thing can field it, it'd be nice if the simulation could field it however unlikely it would be.

 

Air defense it is against the helicopter of attack or recognition, not against fighter of superiority ;) :P

 

For the armed recognition, the air superiority is not always an essential condition, the helicopter when it is in nap-of-the-earth flight is very difficult for detect with the radars (advanced alert or AA)

 

Ps: translation via Babelfish (my native language is french) I don't understand or with difficulty subtility of english language sorry :smilewink:

 

:)

[BBQ]

Great story! :thumbup:

 

http://www.afa.org/magazine/perspectives/desert_storm/1091apache.html

 

good read btw...

[quo vadis]

IIRC the Apaches that flew the initial missions in the first night of Desert Storm (afaik against some radar sites) entered Iraq at about 30 knots. Can't find the source right now.

 

EDIT: nah, looks like I'm wrong, maybe it was another mission I read about:

 

http://www.afa.org/magazine/perspectives/desert_storm/1091apache.html

 

good read btw...

 

It IS a good read, but...

As they pushed north, flying at 120 mph about fifty feet above ground, the pilots created their own "stealthiness" with a combination of high speed, low altitude, total blackout on navigation lights, and total radio silence.

Now I'm totally lost:smilewink: crawl like a cat at 120 mph.... Looks like my tactics of rushing in isn't so bad after all :music_whistling:

[Mugatu]

From my reading helo's are very easy to spot on the ground or close too it due to the distinctive doppler return of the main rotor (both search radars and missile seekers). Someone posted a link on lockon.ru with running diary of the kills during desert storm, lots of helos were picked up by awacs and attacked.

Although Shaw's book "Fighter Combat" indicates that if you going for a guns kill on an armed helo be very careful as they are very difficult to maneuvers in for the kill. Bombs are the best bet:)

 

Also tanks with IR can easily spot a rotor head (or 2 in the KA-50s case) turning above the tree line, all they have to do is wait for the helo to pop up then boom. Lucky for remote lazing hey and loft hellfire shots!!

 

The target must be close tot he ground, and the emitter of the weapon must be close to the ground (to maximize own radar reflection from eath). In any case, chaff doesn't make a particularly huge difference here, and it's likely not very effective in this situation.

 

 

 

They might be 'simple' but they're just a little smarter than you think - they do in fact employ doppler discrimination for timings and other fun things.

 

 

 

That's right. Information is ammunition ;)

[GGTharos]

Mugatu, youare right - keep this in mind though, if the heli pilot doesn't see you, none of that 'maneuvering' matters ... tested and tried in Black Shark ... a gun run from above might easily go completely undetected.

[quo vadis]

From my reading helo's are very easy to spot on the ground or close too it due to the distinctive doppler return of the main rotor (both search radars and missile seekers). Someone posted a link on lockon.ru with running diary of the kills during desert storm, lots of helos were picked up by awacs and attacked.

 

I presume there are no AWACS in DCS ?! (that would spoil it a bit...)

+ I presume jet pilots are also carefull to use their radar to prevent them being spotted ? Or is this not an issue with jets.

In Afghanistan apaches (and A-10's) are mainly being used against infantry (to support friendly forces). Visibility on radar or IR is not really an issue there I think. Will there be similar missions in DCS ?

[Weta43]

I presume there are no AWACS in DCS ?! (that would spoil it a bit...)

 

Why do you say that - AWACS are a part of the modern battlefield & should be modeled - plus it gives the eggbeaters a chance to hide behind the nearest tall building :-)

[Yellonet]

I presume jet pilots are also carefull to use their radar to prevent them being spotted

In Lock-on fighters, just like anything else with a radar has it switched on at all times. I seriously doubt that this will change with the first DCS module :(