SA-7 Grail / 9K32 Strela-2 MANPADS Pack

[tiopilotos]

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SA-7 Grail / 9K32 Strela-2 MANPADS Pack

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SF2 SA-7 Grail / 9K32 Strela-2 MANPADS Pack 1.5

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This pack features the famous SA-7 "Grail". It is a man-portable, shoulder-fired, low-altitude, 
infrared guided surface-to-air missile system (MANPADS). It is widely exported and has 
been in use in nearly every regional conflict since 1969. Despite its operational limitations,
it has been proved quite effective in the hands of tactical armies and rebel groups.
During War of Attrition on 19 August 1969 Egyptian soldiers brought down an Israeli A-4H 
Skyhawk some miles west of the Suez Canal using Strela-2. According to some sources 
this might have been the first successful combat use of any MANPADS in history! 

Following variants are included:

9K32 Strela-2 (SA-7A, 1968) - First variant.

9K32M Strela-2M (SA-7B, 1970) - Improved variant.

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New features:

- Updated missiles data which offer more realistic performance

- Fuze distances have been increased since the SA-7 had lethality limitations after hitting
  a target. Now a target can be hit but it may return back home safely

- New launch effect and sound

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Known issues:

- Due to game engine limitations concering missile guidance, 9M32 (SA-7A) missile's target 
  aspect has been set as Rear 180 despite the fact that in reality it could be fired only at the rear. 
  After massive failed launches it became clear that it was extremely difficult to achieve a single 
  hit by setting 9M32 as Rear 60 even when some other values such as FOV and track rate had 
  been increased. 

- Helicopters have higher survival rate per hit because in some cases missiles hit the tail rotor 
  without causing significant damage. I guess this is another game engine characteristic.

- Low altitude (lower than 600-800m) performance is downgraded for current missile values. 
  By increasing noise rejection the missile becomes capable of hitting targets in lower altitude 
  but at the same time the single shot hit/kill probability is being increased to an unrealistic level. 

- Fuze distances are longer compared with the actual lethal and damage radius of the system. 
  In SF2 world the real high explosive warhead quantity is big enough to destroy a fighter size 
  target even in 10 meters! 

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As always open readme.txt first to see installation instructions and credits.

Lot of research and hard work was made to make this SAM as realistic as possible.
More than 2000 launches took place!

Enjoy as much as you can this mod and leave comments with your in-game experience
in the support topic!

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License:

This is a freeware; yet it can be redistributed only in other CombatACE mod packages. 
You are free to make further modifications for own use but if you plan to release a modified
version of this package you must request permission first. In that case you must include original
read me file. This mod may not in any way, shape or form be used in any payware additions.

 

 

 

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• Submitter
  tiopilotos
• Submitted
  03/10/2018
• Category
  Ground Object Mods

 

[Major Bloodnok]

Excellent work.

[jack33]

thank´s

[tiopilotos]

On the basis of a review from Durasoul I would like to remind something. Durasoul said that he flew a skyhawk at 250-300 ft and despite the fact that the missile was launched, it was not able to track effectively and hit the target. We should keep in mind that:

1. SA-7 is a first generation MANPADS, which is able to engage hellicopters, propeller driven aircraft and low speed combat jets. A skyhawk flying at 250-300 ft with a speed of 450 kts is a difficult target even for the real SA-7 system.

2. Real system has a minimum altitude engagement of 50m (165 ft).

3. According to some sources a large number of vietnam SA-7 victims were flying higher than 1000m. So, according to some historical info the effectiveness of the system seems to be limited at lower altitudes.

4. In SF2 world low altitude is equal to "noise" in terms of missile performance. You need higher noise rejection values to make a missile effective at low altitude. But remember, here we have Strela not Igla! Noise rejection higher value would make the missile much more effective than really is.

[tiopilotos]

Version 1.5 is available! 

 

[tiopilotos]

Ok guys it's almost 2 years since Strela-2 mod was released. I just wanted to know if there is some feedback out there from players who flew missions in which this mod saw some action. I'm looking forward to receive your feedback.

[+yakarov79]

One of the most common missiles launched at me. 

Somehow easy to avoid if you are fast...but if few appear in area...It is getting harder. 

Very effective against slower aircraft.

The only issue is that often fires at targets at maximum range...so effective shots decrease as it is easy to avoid. 

[Nightshade/PR]

It and the SA-3 are the ones I see the most. And if you get low and slow, and more than 1 fires, they will ruin your day fast. I have lost quite a few Skyhawks that way, as they are very hard to see when they fire in close. As Yakarov said, you can avoid them if you're fast, but when they get mixed in with multiple SAM calls and guns in a dense AA area, dodging them is pure luck on most occasions.

[+Stratos]

Deadly for choppers (I use a lot the Hind, so I deploy flares when approaching the target), If you're fast not too much a concern. Sometimes I got hit but not killed and that's very cool.

[+Gepard]

17 hours ago, Nightshade/PR said:

It and the SA-3 are the ones I see the most. And if you get low and slow, and more than 1 fires, they will ruin your day fast. I have lost quite a few Skyhawks that way, as they are very hard to see when they fire in close. As Yakarov said, you can avoid them if you're fast, but when they get mixed in with multiple SAM calls and guns in a dense AA area, dodging them is pure luck on most occasions.

The tactics for combat missions in manpad infested areas is following:

Before you enter the area where manpads are suspected, you should start to drop flares. Every 4 or 5 seconds one. Continue this procedure till you leave the suspected area. Since range and maximum altitude of manpads are known it is easy to avoid their fire distance. And in doubt, drop flares. Better one to much, than one to less.

[tiopilotos]

Glad to see some feedback posted. From your comments I feel that you enjoy that mod.

@yakarov79 This is a well known issue... Unfortunately gunner can not distinguish between various types of targets. They only fire against every target the missile can track when in range... I wanted to make the system able to launch at longer ranges as there are verified Strela-2 kills against low speed aircrafts flying at 10,000 ft (3000 meters). But increasing the maximum launch range, the target can avoid the missile easier and hit probability decreases dramatically. So we need a good balance between launch range and hit probability. For the time being you can reduce max launch range to 2 km. I think this value is the best we can use.

@Nightshade/PR Strela-2 is very effective against Skyhawk. IDF actually lost some Skyhawks from SA-7 missiles between 1969-73.

@Stratos As in real life, this system (as every MANPADS) is a nightmare for choppers. Deploy flares as long as you operate within the engagement range. However during testing I have experienced a weird issue... Choppers had higher survival ratio (when hit) compared with aircrafts. For some reason many missiles were hitting the tail rotor without causing significant damage. There were cases when choppers had been hit 2 or 3 times and they were still flyable. Have you experienced something similar?

@Gepard Yes... flying very fast and dropping flares are the safest ways to deal with SA-7 since its IR seeker was not designed to counter flares.

 

[+yakarov79]

1 minute ago, tiopilotos said:

For the time being you can reduce max launch range to 2 km

good idea...

2 minutes ago, tiopilotos said:

... had been hit 2 or 3 times and they were still flyable. Have you experienced something similar?

It all also depends on the damage model of particular aircraft. 

[+Stratos]

43 minutes ago, tiopilotos said:

 

As in real life, this system (as every MANPADS) is a nightmare for choppers. Deploy flares as long as you operate within the engagement range. However during testing I have experienced a weird issue... Choppers had higher survival ratio (when hit) compared with aircrafts. For some reason many missiles were hitting the tail rotor without causing significant damage. There were cases when choppers had been hit 2 or 3 times and they were still flyable. Have you experienced something similar?

 

Not for sure, survive 1 hit yes, but not two. 

[+Crusader]

 Re: helos and tail rotor damage - it is probably caused by the overall layout of helos and the associated damage boxes.

With the heat-emitting engines in the high center the missile could pass through the tail/tail rotor damage box. The DamageRating assigned to the tail rotor Component is important in this case, with "Destroyed" the helo should go down (?)

I also remember that some (older) helo dates (e.g. Marcfighters Mi-8) have damage box configs which put them offset from the 3d.

[tiopilotos]

Unfortunatelly 3d modelling is not my sector, my knowledge there is quite limited but I suppose that the issue with helos has to do with the way the LOD was built. What matters to me is the fact that almost all players who countered the system described a performance which is close to real one!