Here is a mission with weather where DMT, FLIR, and TPOD are utterly useless.

[DmitriKozlowsky]

You cold start start at divert field north of Anderson AFB (Guam). TACAN 19X

Fly to grid CR06. Find the static targets. Ammo crates and large fuel bowser. Out one or two GBU-54B JDAMS on them, 

Recover at divert field.

Weather . LETHAL.  Low clouds, thick haze, with breaks. IMC low ceiling for all phases of mission. I based weather on number of real world tragedies. 

 

You will likely be engaging target in dark.

You will recover in pitch black.

Mission is attached

 

So here are my takes on it. 

This is a training mission of IMC low celling all weather flight and ground attack. But in dark with low clouds. User may add threats of choice.

You notice that FLIR, TPOD in FLIR mode, and NVG are next to useless. They provide no usable information. TPOD in FLIR mode is mostly solid color, as it cannot see IT through clouds and cloud haze. Things get confusing fast. Nose FLIR likewise shows poor quality imagery insufficient to safely fly, attack target, and recover. NVG are almost useless. In dark, NVG is so noisy and has no contrast just amber green noise. Go ahead and brighten or darken NVG. NVG noise also cancels out red dots cheat, when looking at target with NVG and HUD (set to night). Red dot is drowned by NVG noise. At low level you may find that judging distance and aspect to target difficult to impossible. Although this is my mission, I have yet to completed it successfully. The primary threat in this mission is weather.

 

AV8BNA_AndAFB_abnSecPtl.miz

[Oldahpilot]

It's never nice to let the guys on the ground down, but there are times when the equipment just isn't good enough to carry out the mission safely or effectively. At the end of the night the boss wants to see the aircraft parked back at Base rather than scattered into a thousand parts somewhere else.

I've scrubbed many missions in the past due to weather when flying for the Army and the police.

[jacobs]

This mission in the past (vietnan era for instance) would never be launched because of weather. And in modern times, they would collect target coordinates somehow (satellite? spec ops on foot next to target?) and than bomb it with GPS guided munitions. Soo... I think a more realistic scenario would be something like the Harrier base is under attack and the squadron has to relocate to protect the airplanes.

[DmitriKozlowsky]

1 hour ago, jacobs said:

This mission in the past (vietnan era for instance) would never be launched because of weather. And in modern times, they would collect target coordinates somehow (satellite? spec ops on foot next to target?) and than bomb it with GPS guided munitions. Soo... I think a more realistic scenario would be something like the Harrier base is under attack and the squadron has to relocate to protect the airplanes.

Today , and in past circa 1990, JSTARS B-707 with powerfull ISAR and GMT RADAR would pass grid coords to battle staff to be distributed as air tasking order. F-15E,A-6E, F/A-18 , F-16 could use GMT doppler beam sharpening to find and attack. Autonomous drones with ISAR and high rez IR sensors would also be gathering battlefield intelligence.  However , almost none of that is available in DCS .Our AV-8B N/A does not have radar from F/1A-18 in Plus+ variant. This mission is just flying , finding target , and engaging with JDAM, in terrible weather. In real world this needs to be trained,  as combat does not pause due to weather or visibility. I was Field Artillery Fire Suppourt officer,  and when asked to compare effectiveness of howitzer to attack aircraft and helicopters, my answer is that for Field Artillery there no minimums. Fixed wing and rotary combat elements,  have minimums , restricting their use. Due to flight safety, limitations of sensors, munitions delivery conditions, CAS availability cannot be assumed, if weather minimums are encountered. But not FA. As long we have ammunition and target is in range of our guns, those 105 and 155mm will fly to target coords,  provided by FDC,which receives requests for fires and target coords from FA fwd observers and fire suppourt officers with maneuver elements in contact. 

 

So this mission tests those minimums in DCS AV-8B and player skill in safe flight in IMC poor viz conditions. Combat aviators are trained to prioritize tasks, similar to civilian aviation Cockpit Resource Management. So military version of CRM is;

1. Fly the aircraft . Highest priority.

2. Navigate the aircraft. 

3. Defend the aircraft 

4. Communicate with (AWACS, JTAC/Combat Controller, flight lead, wingmen, ground elements).

5. Fight the aircraft by engaging targets.

 

Counter intuitively , meeting mission objective is the lowest priority. To me that means dropping bombs, firing missiles, operating radar and sensors. 

 

Given limitations of our sensors in DCS AV-8B, I find , in this mission, recovery with dark low ceiling to most difficult. Neither FLIR nor NVG ,resolve terrain and landing strip, under mission weather. NVG just shows solid amber green solid color with excessive noise, and FLIR has similar display. There is no depth perception. Tactical recovery is lights out . Your aircraft is dark, except for dim formation lights, and maybe dim anti-collision beacon for safety. Runway is totally dark. In this mission , at night, this part of Guam and Rota is pure pitch black.

I have yet to accomplish this mission. I am unable to find target with TPOD FLIR , either TPOD FLIR displays solid amber green due to cloud and haze, or when finding a break in cloud, TPOD is not looking at target. Slewing it fails to locate target, before aircraft flies into soup . 

In daylight , dawn, or dusk , this mission is doable. But at night with weather, I have yet to do it.

[Dragon1-1]

Well, the original Harrier was a day fighter/bomber, which also implies decent weather. Night Attack allows night operations, but not in zero visibility, especially since the NV equipment that it has isn't the most modern. What you need is either a radar-equipped fighter with DBS, or a bomb-on-coordinates attack with either JDAMs or a bunch of iron bombs.