Huey VS ground fire

[Fifi]

Hi all,

 

How do you guys manage to survive while attacking ground targets?

Each time i try to approach ennemy close enough to launch rockets with chances of hits, my Huey is riddled with bullets holes, and usualy end to confettis :mad:

 

I tried fast approaches/passes, high or low, even hovering pretty far away while firing: always bad end...

Those damn ennemy AIs are dead accurate!

 

:helpsmilie:

[Suchacz]

Those damn ennemy AIs are dead accurate!

:helpsmilie:

Of course they are, they are fighting for their lives :D

 

My mum told me when I was a kid: Don't mess with boys with bigger gun...

 

Huey is not suited for attacking ground targets. Her guns are strong enough only for self-defense against soft targets like infantry and rockets are usable more for covering of some area than the pin point strike against some enemy armor sitting in the mud. You will be dead before you can get within the effective range of your weaponry.

[Lizzard]

uhmm..the Huey is no Gunship..and Tank-busting would be a very bad Idea. You Enemys are Infantry and Trucks..if there are armorded Vehicles..run:)

[Scrim]

What are you attacking? Basically, anything that's got something larger than what infantry could carry around and easily employ against you is too big to attack. Don't even consider going for IFVs or tanks. The AH-1 wasn't made for that, and the Huey certainly won't do a better job. You're pretty much limited to infantry, cars, trucks, and armoured vehicles that lack armaments in excess of 7.62mm.

 

Also remember to go high as much as possible, since the lack of hitboxes or something means that the moment a round even glances of the side door, your flex mounts fail, cutting your M134 effectivity in more than half.

[Fifi]

Ok, soft targets only! :thumbup:

Was trying quick missions, and the mission generator was giving me armoured targets among trucks...

 

BTW, i suppose it's the same for the MI8?...wich is mainly a troop/fret transport?

Edited October 22, 2013 by Fifi

[Scrim]

Yeah, the mission generator does that. But as long as you keep your distance from the BTRs and such, you shouldn't have any problems, and they always seem to be separated from the soft targets. If you do run out of targets, or feel like taking them on anyways, go sort of full realism, i.e. treat it as your life, and face the fact that you'll have to engage from a long distance taking full advantage of the pilot's rocket sight elevation chart, and compensate for the lack of accuracy by using many rockets.

 

Don't really know about the Mi8 since it's not really my favourite, but yeah, I'd say treat it the same. They're both built, armed and armoured like transport helicopters, offensive tasks are really a second hand thing that wasn't really that considered in design.

[Grim_Smiles]

I've been able to kill BMP-1's in the Huey, but I don't recommend doing that often or going after bigger fish. It is one thing to do it for target practice though, and another to do it on a mission. I usually don't lose anything other than getting some holes in the airframe when attacking one, but every now and then that BMP makes me take one through the windscreen or I get a bad hit elsewhere.

 

Also if you are like me and like to set up a shooting range near to your FARP/Airfield, make sure you put the BMP's a good distance away. Trust me on that:smilewink:

 

BTW, i suppose it's the same for the MI8?...wich is mainly a troop/fret transport?

 

It is pretty much the same for the Mi-8. I often lose an engine from enemy fire. Also my pilot seems to be a bullet magnet in the Mi-8 and right now in the Beta it doesn't switch to the copilot. Many, many times I've watched helplessly as my unpiloted Mi-8 floats around erratically before finally crashing. I get shot through the windscreen A LOT in that one. Of course trying to take out IFV's in her wasn't the best idea I've had, got cocky with all those pods and usually paid for it.

Edited October 23, 2013 by TooTall

[Fifi]

Thanks for all those advices, guys.

[ScottishMartialArts]

Everyone else nailed it: the UH-1 is great for going up against the weapons and vehicles organic to a leg infantry battalion, but anything heavier is just asking for trouble.

 

In terms of general tactics, when possible, get a fix on your target from a distance -- not easy without optics. Then, drop to low-level for a terrain masking approach to the target area. As you reach the outer edge of weapons range, unmask by increasing collective. Stabilize the helicopter's attitude and release weapons. Immediately turn off, trying to stay at least 1km away from the target, and drop back down to a terrain masking position. Egress the target area at maximum speed, making random steep turns to present as difficult a target to any enemy weapons as possible.

 

Unfortunately, our beloved Huey just isn't much of a gunship, at least, not much of a survivable gunship. Without optics or longer range weapons, it has to get right up close to engage, and anything bigger than a 7.62 round is going to do serious damage. The Huey is definitely thrilling to fly in the attack, but those thrills are a result of taking risks that I would never take in the Black Shark. The Black Shark, in comparison, is really a ground maneuver element, but with rotors instead of wheels or treads. Fighting from covered and concealed positions sadly just isn't a part of the Huey's capabilities.

[hansangb]

Everyone else nailed it: the UH-1 is great for going up against the weapons and vehicles organic to a leg infantry battalion, but anything heavier is just asking for trouble.

-snippage-

 

Not to nit pick, but huey's would be better off facing an Airborne BN since they don't have heavy weapons in their TO&E! :D

 

To the non-Army folks reading this. Airborne units call other units that are not jump qualified as "leg units" or just "legs" The origin of the term is pretty interesting, actually. In WWII, some people were pressed into airborne operations for whatever reason. The jump qualified people observed that these folks came down with rigid or "straight" legs. Hence the term.

 

In a military parachute, if you land with your legs apart or if you keep your legs rigid, you'll almost always break one or both legs. That's why the first two weeks of jump school is spent learning how to fall w/o breaking everything, or as we say in the Army, PLF - parachute landing fall.

 

Just some factoid for those interested.

[ScottishMartialArts]

Not to nit pick, but huey's would be better off facing an Airborne BN since they don't have heavy weapons in their TO&E! :D

 

To the non-Army folks reading this. Airborne units call other units that are not jump qualified as "leg units" or just "legs" The origin of the term is pretty interesting, actually. In WWII, some people were pressed into airborne operations for whatever reason. The jump qualified people observed that these folks came down with rigid or "straight" legs. Hence the term.

 

In a military parachute, if you land with your legs apart or if you keep your legs rigid, you'll almost always break one or both legs. That's why the first two weeks of jump school is spent learning how to fall w/o breaking everything, or as we say in the Army, PLF - parachute landing fall.

 

Just some factoid for those interested.

 

True, although the overtime the term began to be used Army wide, rather than just by airborne infantry to refer to non-airborne infantry. Tankers in particular seem to like the term -- "Legs? Pffft!" -- although they're also quite fond of calling infantrymen "crunchies", i.e. the sound they make when run over by a tank. :)

[Strut]

As most who have posted here have found out that the Huey is vulnerable to effective ground fire which is most definitely the case. From the Australian perspective "Huey's" were never intended as gun ships, mainly used in the fire support role they were intentionally named "Light Fire Teams" LFT's, usually providing fire support for Infantry operations , air insertions and Slick protection, they aren't gunships in the sense of todays attack helicopters. Reference this link as an example : http://www.navy.gov.au/history/squadron-histories/ran-detachment-9-squadron-vietnam-history

 

The US also used Cobra's as LFT's teams reference here as an example :

http://361awc.com/About_Us.html

 

Most probably the first used term of "Gunships' was used by these guys :

 

http://www.theaviationzone.com/factsheets/gunships.asp

[scrtagnt69]

This is what small arms / AA fire looks like inbound to AC...129th AHC..RazorBacks.

 

Edited November 26, 2013 by scrtagnt69