APKWS no Air to Air damage

[KASA]

Inspired by the Wikipedia article of the APKWS which mentions that it was used to shoot down a simulated cruise missile with the Sniper targeting Pod, I tried to shoot down a Helicopter with the Litening and the APKWS.

I managed to lock onto the Helicopter (a Mil Mi-26, the largest possible) in AG Point tracking mode and was able to hit the Helicopter about 7 times with the APKWS but it didnt crash. It did crash after a single Aim-9 though...

I dont think a Hydra wouldnt make a Mil Mi-26 crash, and I think 7 would not be survivable for it...

Does anyone know why the Hydra doesnt do any damage? Is the damage model of the Mi-26 broken and I need to use a different helicopter or is damage against flying vehicles just not modeled for AG Weapons?

There was a kill of a helicopter by dropping a bomb onto the ground below it just as it was taking off during desert storm if I remember correctly so it seems the damage is not negligible in real life.

Can anyone explain why it doesnt work in DCS?

[NineLine]

Can you supply a track and we can take a look?

[KASA]

Sorry, I didn’t save it, I will try to replicate it tomorrow and will get back to you.

[Ziptie]

Can anyone explain why it doesnt work in DCS?

 

 

I had good effect with the APKS on two rotary wing aircraft today, when assisting a couple pilots in the A10CII. Haven't attempted using APKS on fixed wing aircraft as of yet.

 

 

Cheers,

 

Ziptie

[KASA]

I just tried to replicate it and it seems like I was just not patient enough and had bad luck... The Mi-26 seems to be very robust, I scored some hits on the main fuselage and it didnt crash but when I attacked it from the back it crashed after a few rockets.

Im not sure the current state is realistic because i think a Hydra would probably destroy a Mi-26 in one hit but atleast it isnt invincible.

Heres the Track of the Mi-26 finally crashing but being undamaged after a few hits (Ignore my awful flying, I just wanted to hit some rockets as fast as posible to keep the track short):

a-10.trk

[Dragon1-1]

I wouldn't be so sure it would crash. Mi-26 is a big helo, and the APKWS is a small rocket. AIM-9 uses a continuous rod warhead, which effectively projects a high-speed metal ring in front of the missile. It's very effective at damaging aircraft and almost guaranteed to hit something important, but any sort of armor would negate it. APKWS has either a normal high explosive warhead or a hybrid AP/frag one, it if hits the cargo compartment, it will make a hole. Bad news for anyone sitting inside, but it won't cause the helo to fall out of the sky. Hitting it from behind, where the tail rotor and the stabilizers are, would have a much better chance of bringing the helo down.

[BIGNEWY]

I was seeing visible damage after the hits, the Mi-26 is a pretty beefy helo so it will take some punishment.

 

[KASA]

Ok, maybe I just underestimated the Mi-26...

I honestly thought it would crash after a single missile but I guess it makes sense that it is very robust.

Thanks for clearing that up!

[Yurgon]

In a coop mission I sometimes encountered an Mi-26 that would eat 2, 3, maybe even 4 Vikhrs from a Ka-50.

 

It may even be the case that a missile hit will often times just pierce the skin, but not damage any critical components.