External tanks limitations

[miromurin]

Do they have any limitations in real life like max speed, g limit, max speed during dropping them,....?

[Victory205]

Here you go, jettison limits-

 

Edited December 4, 2020 by Victory205

[Uxi]

So every time I'm cruising at 400+ with tanks, I'm breaking NATOPS?

[Mr. Big.Biggs]

4 minutes ago, Uxi said:

So every time I'm cruising at 400+ with tanks, I'm breaking NATOPS?

No. Looks like if you drop them while cruising at 400+ your breaking NATOPS

[Uxi]

2 minutes ago, Mr. Big.Biggs said:

No. Looks like if you drop them while cruising at 400+ your breaking NATOPS

 

Ah yeah that makes more sense.  I've done THAT too on my high speed runs, get up to speed, then drop tanks when empty and keep accelerating.  But at least not AS bad.

[Victory205]

The name of the file in the post above is F14B Tank Jett Limits. Forum software doesn't appear to show file names any more.

 

Here are the basic speed limits. Top chart config is basically clean (or total of 2 AIM-9 on sta 1 and , bottom is tanks and up to 4/4 config (no AIM-54) aboard.

Edited December 4, 2020 by Victory205

[miromurin]

interesting information. thank you. I used to drop them in much higher speed. 

Is it possible to dogfight with them in real life?

Edited December 5, 2020 by miromurin

[Spiceman]

 

On 12/5/2020 at 1:07 PM, miromurin said:

Is it possible to dogfight with them in real life?

If it wasn’t, I’d think tank jettison would be in the pre-combat checklist.

Edited December 7, 2020 by Spiceman

[Wildwind]

Looks like I have been dropping them a bit too fast (I dropped a set in a mission tonight at 500 knots indicated at 35,000 feet, which would be both over the KIAS and Mach number limits, I think).  I kinda suspected that was dangerous.  Looks like I will have to start dropping them sooner.

 

Oh, well, that gives me an excuse to use afterburners when climbing to altitude.  If I'm gonna drop the fuel anyway, might as well use it.

On 12/5/2020 at 12:07 PM, miromurin said:

interesting information. thank you. I used to drop them in much higher speed. 

Is it possible to dogfight with them in real life?

My experience with this (from forgetting to drop them a couple of times) is that hard maneuvering with the tanks on tends to lead rapidly to sudden departure from controlled flight.

[draconus]

2 hours ago, Wildwind said:

My experience with this (from forgetting to drop them a couple of times) is that hard maneuvering with the tanks on tends to lead rapidly to sudden departure from controlled flight.

miromurin asked for real life

[Wildwind]

5 hours ago, draconus said:

miromurin asked for real life

I wasn't attempting to give a definitive answer, just suggesting that my limited experience with this suggests it isn't a good idea.

[Raven (Elysian Angel)]

On 12/4/2020 at 9:34 PM, Uxi said:

I've done THAT too on my high speed runs, get up to speed, then drop tanks when empty and keep accelerating.

I don't think you'd want to be in that situation in real life
Over the years I have seen some "interesting" footage of stores separation testing under varying conditions. It would be nice to have that kind of detail in airstream modelling in DCS, but that's probably a bit too much for our PCs these days.