CBU-87 burst height adjustment

[sirrah]

I did a quick forum search, but without result.

 

Is there a way to change the CBU-87 burst height? It is by default set to 1500ft, which is a bit too high for my likings

 

It took me 4 bombs to kill one soft target because the bomblets are scattered all over the place :P

[Recon21288]

We'll have it in 2 weeks...

 

In all seriousness. No, at the moment it's not possible. Most people drop 2 (sometimes more) CBU's in 1 pass to increase the chances of hitting the target(s) you're aiming at.

[kengou]

No, it is fixed at 1500 ft in the Viper as well as the Hornet. You need to drop in the correct parameters for this burst height, which if I recall is something like 2000 or 3000 ft from a 30 degree dive or thereabouts.

[ak12546]

At the moment, I don’t believe that the Height of Fall can be changed on either the CBU-87 or the CBU-97.

[sirrah]

Ok thanks

Let's assume it is still WIP then and we'll get some sort of similar workaround option the Hornet has

[mattebubben]

I really hope they get around to fixing the CBU-87.

Because at the moment its just a big sparkler where in reality they should be highly effective.

 

Since ingame even against light targets (like BMP-1s,Shilkas and Sam sites etc)

they are very hit or miss and somtimes cause no damage at all even when the target is in the middle of the bomblet pattern.

 

I think the problem isnt just the Burst Altitude but also the fact that the dmg per bomblet is to low.

 

 

In DCS in order to reduce the performance impact they dont model every bomblet.

 

 

The CBU-87 should carry 202 bomblets where as in game i think it only has around 50 or so but with the damage supposedly increased in an attempt to simulate the effect of 202 bomblets.

 

But the problem with that is that due to the lower bomblet count the chance of a direct hit is much lower (Since the gaps in the pattern are far larger)

 

and a direct hit is still required to do any real damage to light skinned or even unarmored vehicles which in turn makes it far less capable then what it should probably be when using the standard burst heights since with the proper bomblet count the gaps would be far smaller (So the chance of a direct hit would be far larger)

Edited August 23, 2020 by mattebubben

[cthulhu68]

I'm surprised people are complaining about damage with cbu87 in F-16. I had given up on these long ago in the A10 since they seemed useless but was trying them on the F16 and regularly taking out multiple soft/lt armor targets. It seems way more effective than in the A10 even with lower HOF in A10.

[mattebubben]

I'm surprised people are complaining about damage with cbu87 in F-16. I had given up on these long ago in the A10 since they seemed useless but was trying them on the F16 and regularly taking out multiple soft/lt armor targets. It seems way more effective than in the A10 even with lower HOF in A10.

 

 

I think it might be that A-10 Pilots had given up on a change for CBU-87.

But had hoped it would be looked at now that it was used on a new aircraft.

(Similar to how the Rockeye was improved after the release of the F/A-18C)

I never flew the A-10C (Though i flew the A-10A for a bit back when i first started playing and i complained about the CBU-87 back then as well)

so it might be that many people have not really used the CBU-87 that much before and thus only now realize that it needs to be fixed.

 

 

 

Currently is that its very hit or miss.

 

 

The spread of the bomblets is very random and has large gaps in it

 

(Both due to the way they are spinning at the moment and also because there are far fewer bomblet then IRL).

 

 

I Find that i get the "best" result with either a 25-30 degree dive with a release at 2000-3000 ft or with a low altitude release

 

(300-800 ft using the Nose fuse) with other types of releases having little to no effect (Even with the pattern right on the targets) since the gaps in the pattern will be larger.

 

 

So even while yes its possible to kill light skinned targets (sometimes) with the CBU-87 it still really needs to be looked.

Edited August 24, 2020 by mattebubben

[Kayos]

When they first came out we could change the height. Not sure why they hard coded it to 1500 ft.

[cthulhu68]

The spread of the bomblets is very random and has large gaps in it

 

(Both due to the way they are spinning at the moment and also because there are far fewer bomblet then IRL).

 

 

I Find that i get the "best" result with either a 25-30 degree dive with a release at 2000-3000 ft or with a low altitude release

 

(300-800 ft using the Nose fuse) with other types of releases having little to no effect (Even with the pattern right on the targets) since the gaps in the pattern will be larger.

 

 

So even while yes its possible to kill light skinned targets (sometimes) with the CBU-87 it still really needs to be looked.

Yeah,I've noticed that too. Definately has an uneven spread. Not like the rockeye with a perfect circle of damage. Rippling 2 with 100-125ft interval in a dive or low level strafe has worked best for me.

[Marauder.exe]

You should keep in mind that the sub-munitions themselves require an appreciable time of flight before they are armed and that is generally what determines the minimum burst height. From Wikipedia:

When the bomblets fall, they separate from the main bomb and independently free fall to the ground. They contain an inflatable bag (ballute) on the top of them, which slows them down and spreads them out. Once the bomblets reach a force of 6 Gs they arm themselves. As the bomblets fall, they are also spinning. Arming takes about 2.6 seconds.

 

As for the "spread problem": the CBU-87 only contains 202 BLU-97/B sub-munitions, and each one of those sub-munitions contains only about half a pound of explosive, so expecting a single bomb to cover all that ground by itself is kind of foolish. The same concept can be applied to Mk 20 Rockeyes and CBU-99s: just drop more per release.