F-111 Aardvark in DCS?

[Razorjet XII]

Okay. The F-111 is a plane loved by all, and it would be great to see it in DCS. It would also be a nice way to get RAAF in the game, maybe a campaign with the RAAF helping USAF or something like that. Anyways, it would be great to see the F-111 in DCS.

[Tippis]

As long as…

 

[Northstar98]

I would love an F-111, preferably a 1980s/1990s F-111F suitable for Operation El Dorado Canyon.

There was a bigger thread about it, over on the HB forum, found here.

In this thread I did do a post where I went through the sensors and stores of the F-111F from circa 1981 to 1991 (the good thing here is that it seems that you could do an aircraft covering the entire range by weapons restricting alone, according to this, only one squadron, in 1994, were upgraded with Pacer Strike).

And yes, the coupled TFR would be a must, thanks for posting that video Tippis

Edited December 7, 2021 by Northstar98

[bies]

It may be one of two yet unannounced modules Heatblur is working on. 

It would be a ton of fun to use both SP and MP.

[WRAITH]

yeah this pointy  jet needs a place in sim it would be neat for coop missions as intended with above post some neat terrain / maps to go with it fun for sure was jut watching a doco on this.

Its had interesting life as well.....

 

[Beirut]

Love me some F-111. I'd buy it for sure.

Got to sit in one at an airshow. 

[Mike Force Team]

What about adding the EF-11 to the F-111?  You have the fighter/bomber version as well as the EW version.  Two great types of F-111's to use for the Syria Map or the Persian Gulf Map.

 

[Tippis]

59 minutes ago, Mike Force Team said:

What about adding the EF-11 to the F-111?  You have the fighter/bomber version as well as the EW version.  Two great types of F-111's to use for the Syria Map or the Persian Gulf Map.

The biggest problem with the sparkvark is that ECM — and electronic warfare in general — is just not something that really exist or work in any meaningful capacity in DCS. It would require the development of, not just a single variant module, but an entire revamp of large portions of the sensor mechancs in the entire game. Ultimately, there's an argument to be had that it could be a worth-while effort, but we also need to be realistic about just the hugeness of that effort, and for what would ultimately be rather uncertain results.

In particular, it would run face-first into a solid brick wall of secrecy and lack of information, to the point where the whole thing couldn't really be simulated — only speculatively approximated through massive simplifications. With that, would an ewar bird really serve any useful purpose? It's a very attractive and interesting proposition, but it's unfortunately very likely that it wouldn't yield anything particularly satisfying for a bunch of (largely unavoidable) reasons.

[MustangSally]

1 hour ago, Mike Force Team said:

What about adding the EF-11 to the F-111?  You have the fighter/bomber version as well as the EW version.  Two great types of F-111's to use for the Syria Map or the Persian Gulf Map.

 

It was never a fighter...strike only.

 

[Bob1943]

First assignment out of pilot training was the F-111 in 1968.  Unfortunately, they were putting new pilot grads in the right seat at that time.  I was in the 427th TFS at Nellis from June 1968 to about March 1969, then got an F-100 slot at Luke, then on to Vietnam.

Some pictures attached of the F-111 that I took while flying out of Nellis.  The snow-covered mountain views were taken while we were flying over the Great Salt Lake in Utah.

The TFR was an amazing system, but it still had some bugs when I was there.  We did once hit Mach 1.1 at 200-ft AGL (accidently), coming out of the clouds down the backside of a mountain.

[Tank50us]

47 minutes ago, MustangSally said:

It was never a fighter...strike only.

Theoretically, it could fight A/A, however it was at best only meant to hold on long enough for a Phantom or Eagle to turn up. The one kill that the frame has to its credit was classed as a maneuver kill against an Iraqi Mirage F1. This kill is shared with an F-15C who happened to lock it up just a few moments before.

[Phoschek]

2 hours ago, MustangSally said:

It was never a fighter...strike only.

 

Obviously, yet it still had the designation FB (fighter bomber) and eventually just F (fighter). 
 

So it’s an interesting point to make. 

[upyr1]

3 hours ago, Tippis said:

The biggest problem with the sparkvark is that ECM — and electronic warfare in general — is just not something that really exist or work in any meaningful capacity in DCS. It would require the development of, not just a single variant module, but an entire revamp of large portions of the sensor mechancs in the entire game. Ultimately, there's an argument to be had that it could be a worth-while effort, but we also need to be realistic about just the hugeness of that effort, and for what would ultimately be rather uncertain results.

3 hours ago, Tippis said:

 

At on

3 hours ago, Tippis said:

In particular, it would run face-first into a solid brick wall of secrecy and lack of information, to the point where the whole thing couldn't really be simulated — only speculatively approximated through massive simplifications. With that, would an ewar bird really serve any useful purpose? It's a very attractive and interesting proposition, but it's unfortunately very likely that it wouldn't yield anything particularly satisfying for a bunch of (largely unavoidable) reasons.

At one point Eagle has mentioned doing an iad system. Due to the amount of ew that is top secret I would be happy with an ai EB-66, EA-3, EF-111 and EA-6A/B. 

22 minutes ago, Phoschek said:

Obviously, yet it still had the designation FB (fighter bomber) and eventually just F (fighter). 
 

So it’s an interesting point to make. 

The FB designation was only used by SAC when they flew the Aardvark in the 1970s and 1980s.

[Phoschek]

Look at my post in relation to what I was responding to. 

[upyr1]

10 hours ago, MustangSally said:

It was never a fighter...strike only.

 

The USAF definition of a fighter is basically any tactical aircraft. 

I'd love to see 3 versions of the F-111. A Vietnam era version, a 1980s/ODS version and an Ausi Version

[Mordant]

I would love an F-111!

I don't have any particular connection at all, but I do love the look and prospects of what a DCS F-111 could produce. Also the slats look cool, never understood but totally liked the little triangle vane things where the wing met the fuselage. Just kinda looked different, not to mention the fuel dump + burner airshow trick

[evanf117]

gotta be the C late

 

[Mike Force Team]

The F-111 proved itself during the 1990's during Operation Desert Storm in the Persian Gulf.

[MustangSally]

18 hours ago, upyr1 said:

The USAF definition of a fighter is basically any tactical aircraft. 

I'd love to see 3 versions of the F-111. A Vietnam era version, a 1980s/ODS version and an Ausi Version

The RAAF had 3 versions - F-111C, RF-111C and F-111G. All 3 rarely if ever carried an AirtoAir load out.

Edited December 4, 2021 by MustangSally

[upyr1]

2 hours ago, MustangSally said:

The RAAF had 3 versions - F-111C, RF-111C and F-111G. All 3 rarely if ever carried an AirtoAir load out.

 

I know air to air in an F-111 is basically suicidal. The B model was supposed to be an air to air version but got canceled and the Navy got the F-14. I'm just pointing out that the USAF hates the A for attack designation 

[Mike Force Team]

If we could use the F-111 in the Persian Gulf Map, then we could lots of fun. The F-15, F-16, and the F-14 could serve as escort on bombing missions.

[Fangs Out]

And if we had the F-111 , we can recreate 3 major operations it was involved in with the maps we have currently, (LB I and II, EDC and ODS). +1

[Northstar98]

15 hours ago, Fangs Out said:

And if we had the F-111 , we can recreate 3 major operations it was involved in with the maps we have currently, (LB I and II, EDC and ODS). +1

Can we? Missions inspired by those 3 maybe, but we're far from able to do any of those missions with the maps and assets we have.

• Linebacker 1 and 2, requires a Vietnam map, and the F-111s were based in Thialand. We're missing a fair amount of stuff to recreate it more accurately. Both of these missions also included the F-111A.
• For El Dorado Canyon (which is the mission I'm most interested in for the F-111F), goes from the United Kingdom, the western extremity of continental Europe, the Mediterranean Sea and finally North Africa, obviously including Libya. We don't have a map nearly that big nor do we have any areas that include the area (closest area is Syria, but that map doesn't go south or west enough).
• As for ODS, Syria and the PG/SoH don't include any of the major areas for it, and the only areas it includes are bases for UAE Mirage 2000Cs and Italian Tornado ADVs. It also doesn't include any Saudi Arabian airbases, where most of land-based coalition forces took-off from.

I'd love to see an 80s/90s F-111F, but we can't really do any of the missions they were involved with.

[Fangs Out]

I realistically think we can recreate them with DCS Assets currently, as PG was used for the Gulf of Sidra in the two missions for the tomcat. As for LB 1 and 2, you can get close with the Marianas map. Though, its not really the same

[Lurker]

I opened a thread about the F-111 on Heatblur's forums, with the hope that they were working on it ages ago. Turns out they went with the Treadrop and the Eurofighter, no biggie. Hopefully someone bring this wonderful bomber to DCS World at some point. I would love to fly it.