Dealing with SAMs on escort missions

[captain_dalan]

General questions to the community. I'm a few months of DCS hiatus, i'm returning to it, and after re-qualifying myself for carrier ops, i decided to give some of the missions that come with the F-14 and i haven't flown before, a go. In one of those, the Bones escort a flight of.... well, "Bones" to Tbilisi on a strike mission. Most of the mission goes largely uneventful, until a pair of Fulcrums goes hot on you some time after reaching steer point 2. 

So far, so good. Not much difference then a fighter sweep. But then, after you dispatch the MiGs and you proceed to Tbilisi, the SAMs start paining you. And if you continue on the course to SP3, they will open fire, first the SA2 and then the SA3. 

My question:
What to be the proper doctrinal response to such a scenario? In fighter sweeps or CAP missions, both in SP and MP, i tend to stay away from them, and if they start engaging, i usually go perpendicular or sometimes even cold to them. If hard pressed, i may even dive for terrain cover. But do we generally do when we escort packages? Do we leave them alone and hang behind? Do we leave them alone and go around? 

[bonesvf103]

That's a good question.  I would say when they get to their target area that you hang back so as to deconflict with them, but anchor somewhere nearby to monitor if any fighters are coming for them.  What good is being near them to protect them from fighters if there are no fighters at that time, and you certainly can't defend them from SAMs/AAA/MANPADs unless you want to Wild Weasel them.  But this takes alot of vigilance and keeping track of where they are, especially since we are on Link4A which isn't as detailed as LINK16.  So I would say stay nearby, say at the IP or at the exfil point and only go after targets that pose a significant threat to them, say hot or flanking and before they get to MRM range.

v6,

boNes

[draconus]

On 10/16/2023 at 2:30 AM, captain_dalan said:

What to be the proper doctrinal response to such a scenario?

I'd say Bones would be the main targets for SAMs, long before you are and they wouldn't fly anywhere near SAM WEZs either. The mission is probably old and not realistic atm.

[bonesvf103]

Just want to mention It's a Heatblur mission, HB Bones Strike in the single missions or somesuch.

v6,

boNes

[captain_dalan]

On 10/16/2023 at 3:50 PM, bonesvf103 said:

That's a good question.  I would say when they get to their target area that you hang back so as to deconflict with them, but anchor somewhere nearby to monitor if any fighters are coming for them.  What good is being near them to protect them from fighters if there are no fighters at that time, and you certainly can't defend them from SAMs/AAA/MANPADs unless you want to Wild Weasel them.  But this takes alot of vigilance and keeping track of where they are, especially since we are on Link4A which isn't as detailed as LINK16.  So I would say stay nearby, say at the IP or at the exfil point and only go after targets that pose a significant threat to them, say hot or flanking and before they get to MRM range.

v6,

boNes

Might go for something like that the next time i try it.

On 10/17/2023 at 9:08 AM, draconus said:

I'd say Bones would be the main targets for SAMs, long before you are and they wouldn't fly anywhere near SAM WEZs either. The mission is probably old and not realistic atm.

No idea, how DCS simulates B-1's RCS, but if anything close to RL, i'll get tracked and locked long before they do. At least in the F-14....