Cluster Muntions

[cacti4-6]

Anybody got any tips and tricks on cluster munitions? I am getting damage to vehicles but not kills. I normally drop them in ccrp. Any guidance here would be nice:joystick:

[amollen]

Have you tried lowering the burst height so that the bomblets fall closer together?

 

Also, wind can be a real factor blowing them off-course if dropped from anything higher than a few thousand feet. Unless you're using the 103/105.

[Fishbreath]

Cluster bombs in general seem a little underwhelming right now, both the American ones and the ones off of the Su-25 series. Hitting a truck with multiple PTAB-1Ms, or the bomblets out of the CBU-87, and failing to kill it seems a little off to me.

[dumgrunt]

if its against vehicles, forget about the CBU-87, stick to the 97/105. set the burst height for 500ft. if loft bombing, which is good in CCRP if the threat means you need to be sniffing the weeds, set it to 300ft (setting this height normally from a dive attack profile wont give the SFW time to deploy).

 

look at the target profile, using CBU-97 against dispersed targets is a waste, and a GBU-12/MAV combo is generally a better use. but if the targets are densely packed, such as in a convoy, the the SFW is perfect.

 

if you are blatting infantry, iron bombs/rockets are your best bet.

 

as always this is a general rule of thumb, the threat profile should dictate the type of weapons and their employment. that said the CBU-97 is one of the easiest and most effective weapons to use in the game.

[kk0425]

Fragmentation isn't modeled. CBU-87 and 103s are usually a waste of a hard point right now unless you set the detonation altitude so low that it won't hit more than a couple vehicles anyway, in which case might as well just bring a 97 or 105. For infantry, I'll just use mk-82s since They're lighter and I can carry more, plus the damage radius is far enough out to inflict serious damage to a relatively spread out group of them.

[WildBillKelsoe]

think of the 87 as a shotgun shell. the 97 is a shotgun shell with homing if pointed (dropped) in the right place. 103/105 are also homing shotgun shells, with a fan blowing to your right and left, they correct for the extra wind..

[txmtb]

Still in any non-laser or GPS guided munition entering the wind data into the CDU is CRITICAL to a successful run. WCMD and only fix so much and you haste to make sure it has the wind data in the system first so the the CCIP/CCRP is properly offset at the start of the run, otherwise you may as well dump the stuff into the Poti lagoon.

 

I thought it had been determined that manual entry of the wind layers was not effective?

[Flagrum]

I thought it had been determined that manual entry of the wind layers was not effective?

There was a fix for that some patches ago and the prevailing view on this topic seems to be that:

 

• entering wind correction data into the CDU is now working
  
• the correction data is correctly taken into account when delivering bombs
  

 

But also (my personal understanding):

 

• the way how exactly the wind correction data influences the IFFCC is still not broadly understood well by many/me, especially when dealing with different wind layers. The short version, like I understood it is: wind correction data works for "normal" weather, but it is no magic bullet. If the weather is complex (multiple layers, strong winds), dumb bomb delivery was and is just difficult - that's why guided weapons were developed.
  
• and/or there could possibly be some (understanding) issues with the wind model as such when it comes to multiple wind layers (i.e. what you enter in the mission editor and how that is transferred to the game world)
  

source:

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=66422

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=105235

(but be prepared - your head will start smoking ... :o)

Edited October 29, 2013 by Flagrum

[Harzach]

I thought it had been determined that manual entry of the wind layers was not effective?

 

There was a fix for that some patches ago and the prevailing view on this topic seems to be that:

 

• entering wind correction data into the CDU is now working
  
• the correction data is correctly taken into account when delivering bombs
  

 

But also (my personal understanding):

 

• the way how exactly the wind correction data influences the IFFCC is still not broadly understood well by many/me, especially when dealing with different wind layers. The short version, like I understood it is: wind correction data works for "normal" weather, but it is no magic bullet. If the weather is complex (multiple layers, strong winds), dumb bomb delivery was and is just difficult - that's why guided weapons were developed.
  
• and/or there could possibly be some (understanding) issues with the wind model as such when it comes to multiple wind layers (i.e. what you enter in the mission editor and how that is transferred to the game world)
  

source:

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=66422

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=105235

(but be prepared - your head will start smoking ... :o)

 

All you really need to read there is Eddie's last post:

 

Auto correction is just letting the IFFCC do its thing. It seems that people keep missing (or sometimes it appears ignoring) the fact that IFFCC corrects for wind all the time, even if you don't enter wind data. When doing so it uses the measured wind speed and direction (as shown in the CDU) and applies an algorithm that assumes the wind speed drops to zero at -4000 ft. This is adequate correction in most cases.

 

You only need to enter wind data if you're flying in/dropping through wind layers that vary greatly in terms of speed and/or direction. In most cases manual wind data entry is simply not necessary.

[txmtb]

Thanks for the links Flagrum and Harzach, think I'd read through all that before and just went with Eddie's last post. I haven't really played a lot with high altitude dumb bombs, always use guided, and maybe that's why I don't see the needed correction.

[chardly38]

Here is a great video on the CBU's

 

[cacti4-6]

Just an update from my end.

 

 

I wanted to thank eveyrbody who responded to this thread, I learned way more than i thought was possible from any forum and as a result have been able to lay waste to jokers using all manner of cbu. particularly helpfull were the posts about programming wind into the latse and adjusting the dispersal altitidue. :thumbup::pilotfly: