AI Attack Speed

[MBot]

AI will attack ground targets at the speed it currently has when initiating the task, not the speed assigned by the waypoint.

 

Observe the attached track. An AI Hornet at a speed of 1000 kph is tasked to attack an SA-2 site with Snakeye. It will initiate the attack run at 1000 kph. Halfway in the attack it is engaged by the SA-2 and goes defensive. When the SAM is defeated, the AI will resume the attack at the speed it has when the evasion ends. In the track, the AI performs the remainder of the attack at merely 650 kph. In a tactical setting this would make it very vulnerable to air defenses in the target area.

 

The same can be observed when the AI arrives at a waypoint with an attack task at slower speed than assigned to the waypoint (for whatever reason, for example still accelerating). It will perform the A-G attack at the present speed it has when it hits the waypoint.

 

 

As a little side note, observe how in the first seconds of the track, the AI deploys speed brakes to slow down to 900 kph and then immediately engages afterburner to accelerate to 1000 kph again. This rather unnecessary quirk (speed brake then AB) can be observed whenever the AI gets an attack task. Has been present in DCS for a decade.

AI_Attack_Speed.trk