dwpenney Posted April 24, 2010 Posted April 24, 2010 The Mission #6 AAR turned out to be a pretty good tutorial on how I tend to plan and execute the frag order - a 'frag'ment of the Air Tasking Order (ATO) that is broken down into the mission(s) that your flight and others are assigned to complete (this is Falcon 4 bleeding through into FC2 again :-)). It shows how you need to have a plan of action prior to entering the threat area, how to probe that area for AAA/SAM activity (naturally in a game environment rather than real life) and how that execution comes down to control and patience. Mission #6 was also an example where I did not deviate too much from the mission creator vision - the initial flight plan. When I attempted Mission #5 for the first time, and I ended up with the corrupt track, I deviated significantly from the initial approach. Following my standard practice up to this point, I headed in S over the hills and turned N to enter the target area. Now this brings to the foreground the biggest problem with a static mission vs a dynamic campaign: unless the designer of the mission has tons of time to populate the back area with unexpected units and threats, going out of the way to approach a mission you are probably going to step outside the narrative that the designer intended. In a dynamic battlefield (campaign) the entire region is alive with thousands of units and other aircraft executing their own piece of the ATO - and you have no idea when or if those assets are going to come into conflict. That being said there is a huge benefit to the campaigns that the talented people working on DCS, and working within the community, have brought us! I will not go farther into the benefits or drawbacks to each, that's a huge post in an of itself! Back to Mission #5: My second attempt I focused on following the original flight plan given to me by the designer with only a minor change base on my need to get eyes on the target before I get too close to respond; before I get outside my OODA loop, for you fighter pilots and Boyd fans. ---- Mission #5 has our flight tasked with eliminating an armour platoon on the S edge of the enemies FLoT (Forward Line of Troops - or Forward Line of Own Troops). If we can eliminate this threat we can keep them on their heels with the threat to roll up their southern flank. And here is the detailed plan: The recon photo of the area is helpful but other than the river to the S of the target area and the bridge that you can almost see we do not have a whole lot of landmarks to go by. The only change I do to the flight plan is to add a waypoint after waypoint #3 to put myself on a direct W-E heading directly to that bridge. My plan is to use the navigation capabilities of the Hog instead of the landmarks that we had in previous missions. In essence I am going to use the W-E run in to waypoint #4 to get my eyes on that bridge and work my magic from there. The red arrow details the approach vector and the yellow arrow the reset vector. I am pretty confident that there are no enemy SAMs/MANPADs operating to the S of these approach and reset vectors so I have to divide my run in attention between the target area and AAA/SAMs from the N and E. As usual, I expect those SA-11 sites to still be to the north so I'll keep an eye on my altitude and the RWR receiver. I am going to keep the altitude band definitions that I chose for Mission #6, defining low altitude as <1500ft, medium altitude as 1500ft - 2500ft and high altitude as 3000+. I am going to impose a high altitude ceiling at 3000ft and only go above that if I have no choice. Above 3000ft and I expect missiles inbound from the N SA-11 sites. As before I have given both Buster and myself a standoff load out with AGM-65s and Hydra rockets. One other change that I am going to introduce to this AAR will be some overhead maps of the action. I hope that this helps build you Situation Awareness (SA) around the mission as it executes. Wheels up we are on our way. Right from the initial turn onto course I am starting to build my SA. I quickly order my wingman into trail formation. This mission has us _very_ close to the front lines and the flight time to the target area can be measured in about a minute. The time is so short that the turn from waypoint #2 and encountering waypoint #3 is very quick. You gotta keep on your toes for this one!. Lining up on waypoint #4 I am happy to see smoke popped almost right along my flight path. Given the quick turn at waypoint #3 I am a little S of the line I intended to be on, making the smoke pop right in front of me as I head in to waypoint #4. Inset map shows the intended flight path. As I approach the target I am forgetting my search off to the N of the flight. We are so close that I am getting behind in building up my SA, forcing me to focus on the rapidly approaching target area. My immediate need is to look over the target area as fast as possible and prioritize any threats that I might (hopefully, with luck) pull out of the clutter. Ok, take a look at this map and, yeah, I have some extra explaining to do :-) This is an overview of the first half of the mission. I will reference the points on the map as we encounter them. You may want to jump back up here from time to time to reference this map and build your own SA. Note that the shots that are paired with the Points of Interest (PoI) marked on the map will be pointed out but may differ a little in the timing of the shot and the position on the map. I went back to the replay track a second time to grab the map and mark off the points as best I could. PoI:A: Where I started using the AGM-65 camera to survey the target area; PoI:B: Where the break turn was made after launching the MAV; Inset images are a couple captured from the AGM-65 camera as I pan and scan over the area looking for the targets and any obvious AAA/SAM threat. In the bottom inset MFD shot I luck onto the by now familiar Strella silhouette. In the map, if you squint close, around where the A is in A-10 you can see my blue MAV on it's way down field. We get close enough for a SAM launch (about 2nm) but we are already breaking right according to plan and, as per habit, when I turn my belly to the enemy I like to dump chaff and flares. The SAM launcher can not really be seen in the main shot but if you can make out the smoke on the target area and the two groups of trees to the top and right of that smoke, extend a little and she is sitting right there. Continuing the break turn away... PoI:C: Tail end of the break turn; We break back into the target to get the SAM site in view, looking for more smoke trails or to see if we have anything that hooked S to follow us. PoI:D: The turn to get eyes back on the SAM site; We then continue the horizontal S and turn back to the reset point. I jump back to Nav Mode on the HUD and quickly cycle back to waypoint #3. At waypoint #3 we turn back to waypoint #4, back into A2G mode and back to the target hunt. PoI:E: After the reset; First priority is to locate that SAM site and make sure it is burning. As soon as I know it is I vary my wingman control and order Buster to 'Complete Mission and Rejoin'. You have to be careful with this one because Buster tends to go rogue in his overzealous effort to pwn the primaries. We will see that later. PoI:F: Buster launches; Buster launches and I quickly order him to rejoin before he gets too out of hand and becomes an individual instead of a team member. PoI:G: I'm clearing the target area and Buster is lagging; I broke left in this case as Buster occupying the airspace and firing off to my right. I wanted to deconflict (fancy word eh? that's what you get for watching too much Military Channel :-)) with him and pulled N even though we did not adequately clear this area of AAA/SAM threats. It is a risky trade off between becoming a unintentional casualty to/with Buster or some lucky AAA/SAM guy to the N. My luck holds and I pull tight enough (back to Nav mode and waypoint #3) to head to the reset area before getting myself into trouble. Overview Map #2 continuing the action from the previous flight path map: Buster and I rejoin relatively quickly (due to my quick rejoin call after he launched). We reset and head back in to the target area along the waypoint #3/#4 line. Part way in, given the rapid firing of his MAVs from the previous approach, I test my luck again and order Buster to 'Complete Mission and Rejoin'. This time, we are get different results. [n]PoI:H:[/b] Buster executes a left break turn while I keep rolling in on target; In this case Buster seems to have decided that he needs a better angle on the target. I do not know it at the time but he has pulled off N to line up (as shown in the map insert). I keep rolling along looking over the area and holding my weapons for other higher risk threats. As I approach the 2nm mark I again break left. This time I am feeling better about a left turn as we didn't get shot at doing it last time. As I visually scan the area to the N I spot Buster lining up his attack vector and a -23 AAA gun firing from near that village. PoI:I: Buster continues in to target as I am cycling back to the reset point; Buster launches as I order him to rejoin and we get notified that his latest shot has finished off our objective. I, however, have some weapons left and decide that the ZSU-23 that previous fired on Buster is clear enough to be taken out. Any AAA/SAM threat eliminated gives us superiority over the battlefield later. PoI:K: I roll in on the Zeus while Buster rejoins; I spot two hot spots with the MAV and launch on each. PoI:L: Rolling left away from the threat area; I pull left again and reset. I think we've seen this before :-) PoI:M: Rolling back toward the target area; I decide to make one more approach to the target area. Buster has formed back up and I have one missile left. I want to make sure that we have sanitized the area as much as the standoff weapons allow. Seeing as we have completed the objective I am going to hold on to the Hydra rockets and not press my luck. Last Rifle call, Buster is on my wing. Mission accomplished we RTB, staying low to avoid that pesky SA-11 site to the N. Inbound! ---- Situational Awareness (SA) in a mission is the hardest thing to learn and just about the most impossible skill to teach. My time flying with JG-52 in WWII Online taught me a lot as I worked in support of my flight/wing lead. Heck I enjoyed that position more that leading a flight myself! It forced on you the dicipline required of a good wingman and built your SA skills while you supported the team. It's an often overlooked role but a good wingman is priceless in a fight. I have the track for this mission as well so send me a PM with your email and I will send it off. Make sure to tell me which AAR too. Also, I have finally received my new PC so I'll be spending the weekend setting it up and getting my HOTAS and flight software moved over. That means I may not get to Mission #7 until some time late next week but in the mean time I encourage anyone interested to fly these two missions (#5 and #6) on your own. Try to put into practice any of the concepts or points that you feel are useful and, of course, dump any that you feel are not. Hopefully you can get a chance to get a few runs on on Mission #7 before I do - I hate to feel that I am spoiling all the surprises! I might sound like I am giving a lecture, and in a way I am, but I assure you that the reediting of these missions makes them seem so easily executed - the reality is quite different! Fridge ---------- Things which do you no good in aviation: 1) Altitude above you; 2) Runway behind you; 3) Fuel in the truck; 4) The airspeed you don't have.
Nate--IRL-- Posted April 24, 2010 Posted April 24, 2010 Wow! Fantastic AAR! The breakdown of the mission is second to none. And yeah we are aware the "reality is quite different!"" because we tried and failed. :) Nate Ka-50 AutoPilot/stabilisation system description and operation by IvanK- Essential Reading
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