Caesar

Hey, Greyman, I'm a bit rusty since going to SF2 and using the new TMF Tomcat mods for that series, but I'll recount what I remember. For the glove vanes: Setting[1].DeployValue=1.39 Setting[1].RetractValue=1.41 Increase both of these. I think when I was using that mod, I had them at around 2.30 for deploy and 2.31 for retract, since, save for doing a speed run, I never got the jet that fast. For loadouts, you're at the right spot with the "AllowedWeaponClass" to increase the number of types of weapons that can be carried - modifying this will change what can be put on which weapon pylons. Also note the maximum allowed weight; I don't remember off the top of my head, but if you want 2,000 pound bombs available, I think you need to increase the Phoenix pylon's maximum allowed weight. In terms of your guns: Check out the cockpit by The Trooper in the downloads section, it brings the pit closer to the F-14A's 'pit (unless it has been added to the basic download), along with the F-14A and F-14B's simplified gunsight. It had been smooth for me when I used it. As it stands in reality, the F-14A and F-14B (until 2003) didn't have the greatest gunsights with their 1970's vintage Kaiser HUD, described by some pilots as "jittery", and this was one of the "fixes" brought in the F-14D, and later upgraded F-14Bs (using the SparrowHawk HUD). You can change out avionics, HUD symbology, etc. by modifying the AVIONICS.ini in the F-14 folder, and including any .tga's for other bits of desired avionics, such as different gunsights, ASE circles, pitch bars, etc. For your Campaign: Look in the "CampaignData.ini" - the units need to include F-14's in there, too (just added an F-14 unit to the SF2 Modern Warfare Korea mod, myself). If they already are, ensure that you installed the campaign properly. Good luck!

Hey, Greyman, I can offer some insights to some of your questions; 1. If you installed the AIM-54 from the aircraft install, it should already have a range of around 90 to 100 miles. You can check the range either in the weapondata.ini, or using the weapon editor. If it is short (it shouldn't be), you can manually increase it. 2. TWS-A/TWS-M is not modeled in the TW series, so you cannot do the track 24/shoot 6. You can ripple fire AIM-54's by locking one target, shooting, then breaking lock and selecting a new target and shooting, then going to #3, repeat until you're out of Phoenix. 3. TARPS and LANTIRN are in the game (part of weapon packs), but you don't actually take pictures on recce, so the TARPS pod doesn't really do much. LANTIRN or another targeting pod is necessary for LGB's. To find your primary target, hit "E" (default), and when in range, drop your LGB. The LANTIRN will automatically hold on the target if you have it equipped. 4. The glove vane is part of the 3D model. If it is deactivated in the .ini, it defaults to open. One way you can get it to stay shut is if you make it deploy at an extremely high mach (2.3, or something like that). 5. Weapon stations can be modified in the aircraft's data.ini, more information should be available in the Knowledge Base on this. 6. Might need a better description; what do you mean by "put that on the F-14"? Hope this helps

3 fights today. Fight #1 F-14D Super Tomcat v 2x Mirage 2000S-5 Loadouts F-14D: 2x AIM-7M, 4x AIM-9M, gun, 75% internal fuel, no tanks Mirage 2000: 2x R-530D, 2x R-552, gun, 100% internal fuel, no tanks The F-14D is widely considered to be the ultimate form of the Tomcat; heavily updated radar, advanced IRST, ASPJ that gave the Turkey the level of ECM it needed to effectively go "feet dry" and an otherwise greatly updated avionics suite, combined with the GE engines of the F-14B. One thing: all that extra stuff adds about 2000 pounds to the base weight of the F-14. I've noticed after a few trials, especially after shooting off my AIM-7s/-54s that it really didn't make much of a difference, but every pound counts. The new HUD really helps to get precise readings of speed, g, the Vc, etc. Fight time was 2 minutes, 23 seconds. This fight would have been fairly benign as my first encounter with the -2000 flying the F-14B, but for my missiles going awry early on, which made combat against -2 interesting. Standard start, 8.8g turn into the threat at 16,000 feet, slight nose-low. The Mirages do the standard "bait" move, but I know that the -2000 can get on my tail quick, like an F-16, so I forget about the bait and go for the attacker. Fire 2x AIM-9's his way as he is still about 2 miles off the nose, and he begins evasive maneuvers. I figure I've got this one in the bag, and begin to look for his wingman, but notice there is no explosion noise. Uh-oh! Pull hard back into the first Mirage. He hasn't completely gotten to an advantageous position, indeed, he had just finished fooling the second missile, and I get nose-on within seconds. 2 more AIM-9's (since I know now that his wingman is pretty far off and I can probably kill him with Sparrows) and the third hits, while the fourth went stupid. Just the AIM-7's and gun now. I begin searching for the second Mirage, pulling to my right and selecting ACM mode. As we close (I can see his radar on the RHAW gear), I'm getting worried as the "CW" comes on, and my APG-71 isn't getting a lock. Turn on the ASPJ, and realize my Sparrow solution isn't going to work...I begin trying to beam his radar when I finally get visual on him. He is above me, nose on. Change of plans, need closure! Pull back into him in a 9g+ turn, burners lit. As he rolls, I don't know why he hasn't shot, but he is definitely pressing hard. As I pass under him, I pull pure vertical and hope to curl over him and maybe lance him with a Sparrow, but the -2000 driver decided to come upstairs with me. I continued nose low after coming over the top, and realized I needed speed or this guy was gonna eat me alive - burners and blow through his altitude. The Mirage was coming down from above me in a shallow nose-low turn, but I didn't have the airspeed to effectively fight him (I was just below 200KIAS and gaining speed). I put on about a 3.5g defensive turn so that my engines and gravity would build airspeed, while not entirely sacrificing position for speed alone. I got through 300KIAS and got the "g" up to about 5 so as to keep accelerating. The Mirage tried a hard nose-low turn into me, so I pulled a bit harder - by this time, however, I had more than 420 knots available, and got about an 7.5-8g defensive pull on the Tomcat, causing the Mirage to break off his attack, and costing him a LOT of altitude. I now pressed the advantage. The Mirage made his fatal mistake by reversing his pull and coming back towards me. He may have done this to avoid the ground, but I don't think he was THAT low (probably 2000 feet). I reversed, got on his tail, and then...he stopped maneuvering? I could see what he was trying to do; the Vc increased, and I had about 520KIAS on the Tomcat, as the Mirage slowed down. The problem with his attempt to make me overshoot was the fact that he only slowed and did not maneuver. GUNS! Splash 2! Takeaways: Had the second Mirage fired at me from a distance, he could have put a lot of hurt on my jet. I would say that the ASPJ did its work well, but we were entirely within about 5 miles throughout the fight, maybe just over following the initial separation, so the jammer wasn't going to be THAT effective. For whatever reason, he didn't shoot when he had the chance and that's what cost him the victory. On my side, putting all 4 AIM-9's at one target wasn't the best solution. This limited me in the second half of the engagement, in spite of the fact that it came out in my favor. I must say, I've been enjoying the F-14D. Fight #2 F-5E Tiger II vs. 2x Super Mystere B2 Loadouts F-5E: 2x AIM-9M, gun, 100% fuel, no tanks SMB2: 2x AIM-9P-5, gun, 100% fuel, no tanks I did this fight to see how a light weight fighter takes on the SMB2; as I saw, the F-4 had some difficulty close in (i.e. I got killed a lot and lost 4 of 5 fights), while the fourth-gen F-14 predictably handled better (no losses). What about an F-5? This lightweight fighter is more maneuverable than an F-4, but does not have the wing loading of the SMB2 (82lbsf vs 57lbsf), though it does have moderately better thrust to weight (SMB2 about .50:1, F-5 .65:1). The Tiger does have the ability to "snap" its nose around, especially at slow speed. I found during the fight that I need to work on this. Since there were 2 of the SMB2's, I didn't feel bad about taking AIM-9 "Mike" (all-aspect) Sidewinders. Fight time was 2 minutes, 19 seconds. This fight started in the left turn, about 6g pull into the threat. The SMB2's used the bait tactic, but -2, after seeing I was initially turning for -1, reversed and began coming nose-on PQD! When I saw this, I figured what a good opportunity to kill this guy. He's about 2 miles off the nose, about 2000 feet above me (no desert to interfere with the seeker head, and the sun was to my back), and now is nearly nose-on when I get tone. Fox 2! -2 tries to pull up, but to no avail, and he detonates off my nose. Now time to deal with -1, who had continued his press toward my six. I begin pulling to make a "two-circle" fight, but notice that this guy's nose is getting uncomfortably close, so I pull a bit harder on the stick, hoping to cut off his -9 "Papa's" seeker. It works, but it also departs the F-5. The SMB2 continues closing and I figure I'm done, but the erratic movement of the F-5 airframe spoils his gun solution and he overshoots. I put in some good left rudder and push the stick forward with a bit of left lateral, which apparently got some part of the F-5 to catch wind and kicked the nose down, still not fully in control. Bit more rudder work and the F-5 recovers, nose low. I check for the SMB2, putting very low "g" on the F-5 to keep it from hitting the ground, but able to build speed. He's coming around onto my six, having continued to press the attack as I fought the Tiger for control. I have a little speed now, and continue my slow turn, but the SMB2 is getting into a firing position. Okay, I don't have the thrust of either the F-4 or the F-14, and looping is a risky move, but the SMB2 doesn't have the thrust of my F-5. I gotta take the chance. Pull vertical, but not pure; rather, with a moderate right turn. The SMB2, having tried to match my lower speed for a gun shot (I assume) doesn't have the ability to follow, and overshoots. Now, I'm offensive! Come back down and spot the SMB2 in a shallow right-hand turn. I put a bit more "g" on the Tiger and the -9 Mike gets tone. I fire and the SMB2 pulls hard into me, but as before, this does not work (no flares probably helps) and the SMB2 goes down. Takeaways: Again, I need to spend more time in the older jets. The F-5 is certainly a little monster when handled well, but I need to get that handling down better, so that I don't depart the jet during an aggressive press - find the slow-speed sweet spots and know the limits of hard press versus over-press. I will say that I was happy I could defeat the SMB2 in close with an older generation fighter. Fight #3 F-8J Crusader vs. Kfir C2 Loadouts F-8J: 4x AIM-9H, gun, 100% fuel, no tanks Kfir C2: 4x AIM-9H, gun, 100% fuel, no tanks This fight was an attempt to see how well I could handle the F-8 against a slightly newer fighter. The Kfir C2 has added canards to provide better control to the basic delta airframe. It has better thrust to weight ratio (.78:1 vs. .62:1) and better wing loading (61lbsf vs 77lbsf) than the F-8J. Starting with about a 6g turn into the threat, which bled to 5.5g, then 5g, we were in a one-circle that the Kfir was winning. I put a bit more "g" on to try to even the circle out (about 6.5g), but couldn't sustain it, so chose to go nose low. I dove, and the Kfir continued horizontally, nose-low, so I pulled up, hoping to have enough energy to get on his tail, but the Crusader burnt too much speed in the climb, and the fight went back to being a one-circle, this time descending (now below 10,000 feet). This was taking too long, so I reversed to turn the fight into a two-circle, but with too little airspeed to press my advantage. Initially, it looked like I was getting nose-on first, but the Crusader ran out of speed and was then inching its way towards the Kfir, who was above and rolling in for the kill. Putting the stick in my lap, I just hopped to force an overshoot, and then to run to gain some speed, when to my fortune I realized that the Kfir, now having overshot, was in way too steep of a dive, and although with better energy than me, still not enough to build up enough "g" to effectively pull out before hitting the ground. SMACK! Fight's over! (Of note, we weren't super low, the Kfir probably came down from about 3,000 feet, as I was at about 2000 when he made his attack; the screenie makes it look lower). Takeaways: In spite of the fact that I ended the fight alive, this is not the outcome I truly wanted...I didn't really win this fight. It was more so a desperate pull to force an overshoot at low altitude that caused the Kfir pilot to kill himself, rather than good energy management and positioning that would have resulted in me shooting him down. In this case, I can at least say that I beat him down on energy enough that he wound up in a dive he couldn't pull out of and crashed, so there was at least some good takeaway. That and I didn't get shot down. I'll take that.

Cool stuff, Spectre!

Concur with Fubar on this one (Highway Star).

Since defensive combat maneuvering is part of air combat maneuvering in general, and "Bug Out" maneuvers and TTP's have been developed for the express purpose of getting the hell outta dodge with your life and your jet, I certainly wouldn't mind hearing about it, Slarti!

Glad to hear it!

Long report today, 5 rounds of DACT, 1v2's - had to do 5 'cause it took me 4 tries before I won! Today's fights are... F-4EJ Kai vs. Super Mysterie B2 1v2 This series of bouts came up after reading "Roger Ball!" - the biography of Capt John Monroe "Hawk" Smith, USN., Ret. Prior to becoming a pilot, "Hawk" was a RIO and went on cruise with VF-102 Diamondbacks. During one of the joint exercises with France, VF-102's F-4 Phantoms were badly beaten by French Super Mysterie and other aircraft within visual range (while the French used conspicuous means to deny them long range shots). The Super Mysterie has far superior wing loading to the F-4, and is a much better turning fighter. It also has a gun, which works well for it. So, to make the fight a bit more even, I chose to take the Japanese F-4EJ Kai Phantom II. Like Navy Phantoms before it, the EJ Kai has better thrust to weight ratio, and also has a "soft" wing, making it a better turning aircraft, but as I discovered, it cannot hold a candle to the Super Mysterie within visual range. In a total of 5 fights, I was able to win once, on the last fight, the first four ended disastrously for me. I eventually abandoned the visual fight, got a hell of a lot of separation, and fought the way the Phabulous Phantom was designed: missile shots from long range. Loadouts (all): F-4EJ Kai: 4x AIM-9L, 4x AIM-7M, gun, 100% fuel, no tanks Super Mysterie B2: 2x AIM-9P, gun, 100% fuel, no tanks Fight #1 Starting neutral at 15,000 feet, as all fights, I knew that the F-4 has to be in one of two regions to defeat an opponent: either always above 450KIAS, or way down in the mid 100's of KIAS in a slow-speed, flaps down rolling scissors where a good F-4 driver can make the plane do surprising things. I know I have two things going for me: higher T:W, and better close range weaponry. It's simply a matter of getting nose-on the opponent. The F-4 bleeds speed like no-one's business, and cannot sustain high "g" for very long, so I started with a roughly 4g turn into the threat, keeping my speed just about stable. The Super Mysteries were inside of my turn damn fast, but with the moderate "g" pull, I had gained some separation. At least one fired as my exhaust was facing them, I noticed, but my nose was close to cutting off the 180 aspect and the missile went dumb. At 5.5g, I was able to get one of the SMB2's onto my nose and fired an AIM-9L at him, striking and killing. When I checked for #2, he was literally already on my six o'clock. Pulling hard into the vertical and running, the Mysterie tried to follow me, but as I reached 30,000 feet, he was way too far back and ran out of air speed. He tries to shoot at me with his gun, but he is way out of range. Good! I can kill him! Put out the flaps and plug in the blower, hard rudder roll to force the nose to slice down and I'm picking up air speed. Problem: not fast enough. As I'm nose-down to get to his level, my Phantom cannot get its nose up. This is something I am not used to, normally flying F-14's or other "Teen-Series" aircraft. As it turns out, I can't get the F-4's nose on the threat and I blow through his altitude, then elect to extend to try to get some energy and distance. Unfortunately for me, I reversed into the Mysterie too early. I tried to pull nose-on with too little energy and again, the SMB2 was inside my circle. I elected to go vertical again, but this time the Mysterie had enough energy to follow, so I completed a loop and hoped to bring him back up with me and drive him out of energy. As we were coming down, he fired his second missile (this was the initial shooter, I noticed), and it too missed. Unfortunately the F-4 did not conserve very much energy even in the dive, and the Mysterie followed, spraying snap shots with his guns. He got lucky with a burst and my Phantom was on fire. I attempted to get the nose around and shoot a Sidewinder at him, but my heaters and Sparrows were lost in the hit. Time to punch out! You win this round, France! Fight #2 This fight started more aggressively with a 6g+ turn into the threat. Again, we got nose-on each other, but this time I immediately pressed vertical, trying to get the Mysterie's to follow me, which they did. Unfortunately for me, I thought I had enough pitch authority to get the nose around after one followed and shot a pair of heaters at me. First one missed, and I thought the second one did as I tried my fast nose-flip at the top. Suddenly, the damn jet is on fire. Okay, try something else. Fight #3 This time, I want to try to get the Phantom's nose around faster than the Mysterie's, so I opt for a full 9g turn into the threat. This spikes to 10g, and I still don't get nose-on first. This time, I go nose-low to conserve energy, and wind up pulling through into high vertical as one of the Mysteries ends up nose on. I put two heaters his way and neither guides. The Phantom is now burning energy like a mad man, as I try to turn onto the SMB2's tail. This runs me out of energy and #2 has been following me. Again, my Phantom becomes a ball of flames. Fight #4 This one starts immediately nose-high vertical in a run to get the SMB2's out of energy, which works initially. I don't drop flaps as I get through 30,000 feet this time, but let the nose slice through, and go making speed unadulterated. This allows me to get nose-on one of the SMB2's, who also tried to follow me through the vertical push. After getting nose on with a moderate turn and pull into the vertical onto his tail, I fire two heaters his way. Both strike, but somehow the jerk manages not to catch fire. Riiiiiight. Meanwhile, I notice #2 has gotten on my tail and again it is only a matter of time before he's got a gun solution on me. Put him through a workout, but yet again, a lucky snap shot lands on the Phantom. Fight #5 Okay, this whole "visual" thing isn't working out. I start this fight by simply plugging in the blower and running like a bitch. I get the jet to about 1.35M, and put it into a turn, setting the Radar to 20NM, acquiring the SMB2's at 7NM separation. Lock the first one, Fox 1 twice! As we close, he detonates off the nose about 3NM away. The second SMB2 has gotten on my tail - he must have followed more closely than his wingman. Okay, well, knowing what happens when I turn into the SMB2 anywhere within the vicinity of 3NM, I know I'm not doing so this time. He fires two AIM-9P's at me, both run out of juice in the chase. I bring the fight pure vertical, knowing he's going to have to gun me, and has nowhere near the energy to follow me. I get to 53,000 feet before running outta smack, while the SMB2 stalls 20,000 feet below me. Nose low, I can't get good control of the Phantom, but the plane does not depart. I pull through the vertical at about 25,000 feet and back up into the SMB2. He pulls his nose low and into me from his perch at about 33,000 feet and as we meet and I go above him, I know this is not the place to be (from getting either gunned or shot the past four times). Extend! The F-4's better engines project me a few miles away from the Mysterie, and I know this is my best chance to kill him. I have some 1.12M to work with and pull hard to get the bandit on the nose, burning the speed down to about 400KIAS. The Mysterie is getting nose-on, but so am I this time. It is already too late for him; FOX 2! Send two heaters his way for good measure, and he detonates off my nose like his wingman. Finally! The EJ Kai pulls through! Takeaways: The Phantom II was born as a thoroughbred interceptor, unlike its VFX/FX replacements (F-14/F-15) and it shows. It takes a truly skilled Phantom pilot to fight WVR, and that I ain't. The superior wing loading and turning performance of the Super Mysterie B2 shows that in spite of its superior avionics, the F-4EJ Kai is still a Phantom, and the turning fight is not the F-4's strong point. In the vertical, there is an obvious advantage, which I certainly did not exploit properly, simply trying to run the Mysterie out of airspeed. A better way would probably have been trying to initiate a vertical scissors after splashing one of the Mysteries. In spite of the fact that this is a game on a computer, I can see what "Hawk" was talking about - aircraft like the Super Mysterie, MiG-17 Fresco, and A-4F Super Fox are quite dangerous inside of visual range because of their super low wing loading and excellent turning capability. Even for a Teen-Series pilot, they can be quite a handful. In the Phantom, pressing your advantages (radar, avionics and vertical power) is absolutely necessary if you wish to survive. I've taken that lesson the hard way. At least it wasn't a total wash, and if I had to fight them another four times, I have no doubt I'd come out on top every time - I let myself fight their fight and it cost me. May like to see how much better the Tomcat, Hornet, Eagle or Viper fare. EDIT: So, I did take up an F-14A and F-14B versus the Mysteries. The F-14A, I ran 5 times like the Phantom, but every fight ended up in my favor. The Mysteries can still provide a turning issue for the underpowered F-14A, but in the rolling scissors (fight 5 had a pronounced one), vertical fight, and even sustained turning fight, they had no advantage. Average fight time was about 2 minutes with a 3 minute bout once. Against the F-14B, they stand no chance. Even with one pressing for my tail after "taking" his wingy for bait, I pressed vertical, and at such T:W the SM couldn't follow. He ran out of speed, I completed my loop and shot him in the ass while he was still trying to recover the jet at a scant one minute, five seconds. My takeaways from this: I need to spend more time in the second and third generation fighters!

The demo came out, and I'm glad I downloaded it, because the answer for me is now a definite "no." I really do not like the close range "assault" system, nor the fact that they've brought the engagement ranges to as close distances as they have. If you're not in "dogfight" mode, it takes a LOT of effort to stay on a bandit's tail and half of your missile shots miss, while your gun is highly inaccurate. Unfortunate, because I really thought this series could be cool in a real-world setting. To me it feels hectic and almost like a rail shooter once in "dogfight" mode and I don't care for that - rail shooters are rail shooters, this is a game about air combat (arcade style or not!). This opinion is my own, and for anyone who enjoyed the demo/game, I hope you have a great time with it - for me, this will not be an addition to my collection.

Usually I have better luck with the 9-Lima, but the thing is, I was slower than the MiG when I shot the first one, which was probably about 1.2-1.5NM distance. The MiG pulled into me and began releasing flares with every Sidewinder shot at him, but the third wasn't fooled. Both first and second started out fine, but then were fooled by CM, and the fact that the MiG was beginning to come perpendicular to their flight path. Real world, IIRC, the 9L's best place to be is between 1.2 and .7NM behind the target, co-speed or faster but I have to use anecdotal evidence for this statement (1200 yards being a figure I recall). In my case, I was a little outside of that, like I said, 1.2-1.5, but slower than the target until he pulled into me. EDIT (21 September 2011): Just an update here, I got my MiG-17F's flying again (apparently they got their ini's ditched somehow, so I had to fix that quick). Did the 2v6 proper this time, took 3 minutes, 23 seconds. Again, my wingman was competent, not as aggressive as when it was a 2v4, but he did his damage. This fight took place between 15K and 20K feet, where the vertical and slow speed scissors worked better than the horizontal for me, especially against the MiG-17F's. My wingman got defensive problematically only once, but kept his head and continued engaging "his" bandit as I shot the Fresco that got on him off his six. A MiG-21 also tried to get on his tail with detrimental effects to his MiG. Fulcrum #1 died first, then Fishbed #1, #2, Fresco #1, Fulcrum #2 and finally Fresco #2 (wingy). Although he only had one kill, he kept Fulcrum #2 on the defensive as I went around splashing the Fishbeds and Frescoes, preventing him from engaging me. Good stuff!

Got two sets of DACT today: first is a 2v4 in the F-14B, second is a 1v1 in the A-4 Super Fox vs a MiG-29A Fulcrum (EDIT: Patch is September 2011) Fight #1: 2v4 DACT 2x F-14B Tomcat vs. 2x MiG-21bis Fishbed, 2x MiG-29A Fulcrum Loadouts: F-14B: 4x AIM-9L/M, 4x AIM-7P, gun, 100% fuel, tanks MiG-21bis: 4x AA-8A, 2x AA-2A, gun, no tanks MiG-29A: 4x AA-8A, 2x AA-10A, gun, 100% fuel, no tanks This was intended to be a 2v6, but for some reason (will re-check the mission), the planned MiG-17F's didn't show. Regardless, I was quite impressed to have a no-kidding competent Tomcat wingman - a rarity with most airframes, but I do usually find the F-8 wingys to be vicious, not so much for the F-14, F-15 or F-4. Total fight time was 1 minute, 50 seconds. Fight started with a hard port break into the threat, probably about 8g, slight nose-low due to our weight, and I send -2 after one of the MiG-29's, while I engage the second MiG-29, who again appears to be the bait aircraft, but only for a second. He separates from the group, then pulls hard into my turn, while apparently the Fulcrum leader has taken an interest to -2. Right now, I'm not overtly concerned with the MiG-21's; I'm in a Beast for heaven's sake! (more on this later). To try to gain an advantage, I pull pure vertical - my idea is to try to kill off some airspeed for an altitude advantage, and hopefully get the Tomcat down into the 280-320KIAS region to curl inside of the Fulcrum I'm engaging. Both MiG-21's are still with this Fulcrum. The Fulcrum is nearly nose-on me as I come over the top, working the rudder and having burned more energy than I hoped, thus dropping the flaps/slats to take-off position. This gets me nose-on the Fulcrum as he's pulling into me, but we're both too close for a shot as I get tone, my nose in a better position than his. We pass, but I'm above him with my nose coming back through the vertical - highly advantageous for me! It takes about seven seconds as he blows through, maybe to support his lead, who I had assumed was giving my -2 a hard time (evidently not), for me to get my nose on him. My Tomcat's huge GE engines bellowing fire, gaining speed rapidly. I get tone, am in a good six to seven o'clock position of my bandit and fire an AIM-9L. I can see this is going to miss, so I fire another, which I also see is going to miss, and thus a third. The Fulcrums have to die; we can deal with the -21's later. This one guides true and the Fulcrum detonates off of my nose, about a mile away. As I scan the skies, I find the two MiG-21's on my tail, nearly matching my turn. Well, that's what I get for focusing so much on the Fulcrums! Fortunately for me, my Tomcat's got better wing loading, better thrust (even at this weight), and I've gained enough energy that I can put the Tomcat into a sustained defensive turn that will keep me alive. In the turn, I punch off the tanks and spot the second Fulcrum, apparently coming at me. There are two quick "Fox Two" calls and shortly after, the second Fulcrum blows up below my Tomcat. My Wingman just outfought the Fulcrum and blasted him outta the sky! Sweet. I reverse nose-low to begin dragging the MiG-21's into a rolling scissors and tell -2 to take care of one of the Fishbeds. The MiG closest to me is taking the bait. As I come vertical, rudder rolling, he begins pulling into me, only to have -2 lance him with another Sidewinder. I'm not worried about this guy anymore. I scan the skies for the last Fishbed and spot him probably looking to gain a firing position on -2. This never happens as I get nose-on and fire my last Sidewinder his way. He's flying tangent to me and my Sidewinder, so I'm expecting a miss and to go for guns when the Lima impacts and destroys the last Fishbed. Takeaways: My bad SA on the Fishbeds probably almost got me killed while I was fighting the first Fulcrum. When I saw them, they were right outside of the firing envelope for their missiles, and probably could have snapped a shot off at me when I was slower a few seconds before. Apparently, they weren't in a good enough position to do so, and that's what saved my bacon. Wingy, meanwhile, actually knew what the hell he was doing, outfought and downed his Fulcrum, then did not hesitate at all to shoot at the Fishbed. Bravo Zulu, wish I could save this AI's profile to fly with again! Any Time, Baby! Fight #2 1v1 DACT A-4F Super Fox vs. MiG-29A Fulcrum Loadouts: A-4F: 2x AIM-9P-5, 2x gun, 50% fuel, no tanks MiG-29A: 2x AA-10, 2x AA-8, gun, 100% fuel, no tanks This fight was actually pretty non-eventful, just very drawn out (fight time 4 minutes, 12 seconds). It was a no-kidding left-hand energy circle from 15,000 feet down to 200 feet, but what is interesting is that the Super Fox was at the advantage the entire time, including multiple points where I had tone, but no legitimate firing solution. I didn't quite have the thrust to weight of the Fulcrum, even if I was flying with similar fuel quantities to Navy Aggressors (~2000lbs), so where as I could have tried to press vertical like in my former Tomcat v Flanker duels at EricJ's recommendation, I wouldn't have been successful here. I tried a few nose-low vertical presses (almost Split-S) to try to get a better position, but to no avail, and we continued to descend. My first shot came at low altitude where the missile flew off the rails, got the MiG to eject flares, but the missile wasn't even close. Second shot came when the MiG ran out of altitude before I did, and the Fox got nose on. Fox 2 aaaaand...stupid. Great. The MiG tries a hard left pull and I switch to guns, following him. The Fox, even with the hard wing in this case, got lead. It took about three bursts. First to gauge where the gun was shooting, second because I thought I had lead, then the third, he was lined right up, I pulled the trigger and he flew himself through the rain of bullets. Fights over! Takeaways: The Super Fox is a badass little bird, but then we knew that. There isn't much to take away from a prolonged turn with some small vertical parts thrown in. One thing to remember: your loadout! The AIM-9P-5 is not an all-aspect missile. During the fight, I had forgotten I wasn't packing Lima/Mike Sidewinders, so my first shot was really a waste without question, and I wouldn't have taken it if I remembered what I was carrying. Probably would have instead ripple-fired them when the MiG did his low-altitude pullout.

Happy Birthday!

I was initially in Biology class in high school when I first heard the news, and I couldn't believe it. I figured it was some kind of hoax, especially when I had heard the Pentagon was hit. A few hours later in Math, our teacher had his computer hooked up to the internet where there were pictures of the incident. I didn't see the video until I got back home from school. At first, I hadn't realized it was all over, so when they showed footage of the second plane hitting, that got seared into my memory pretty darn well. Can't believe it has been a decade.

I can just see it now: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! The George Lucas Collection". Seriously, hasn't this man d*cked up his movies enough? Oh well...

Regarding your question on range to burn-through, I can tell you that a radar putting out a lot of power is typically going both see an object sooner, and get through ECM more quickly than one that does not. Now, I worked with the Upgraded Early Warning Radar on a daily basis, but this is a Missile Warning radar, not a tactical radar. We could see an object with the RCS of a softball several thousand nautical miles away. Too bad we can't sling one of those to a fighter! For tactical radars, I'll have to defer to the experts, but I can tell you that in my best estimate, you wouldn't have to get within VR to burn through ECM with a modern fighter. The F-14's AWG-9, for example, puts out 10.2kW of power, while the F-15's APG-63 does 5.2kW[1], both could detect a target the size of a small fighter at about 100NM[2, 3], and the AWG-9 proved able to lock up and send a Phoenix at a jamming target more than 47 miles away (F-14 had burned through while engaging two drones over 25 miles apart at once)[4]. A might bit further than WVR! EDIT: Now, in practice, with TTP's, etc, there were clearly ways to fool these radars, exploit weaknesses, etc., to help (especially) a small fighter land in a position of advantage, even without robust radar (if you get a chance, check out "Roger Ball!" by Donald "Duck" Auten). 1. Ed. Lake, Jon, Grumman F-14 Tomcat, Shipborne Superfighter, 87 2. Stevenson, J.P., F-14 Tomcat, 79 3. Stevenson, J.P., F-15 Eagle, 76 4. Gillcrist, Paul T, TOMCAT! The Grumman F-14 Story, 41

Don't have a problem with what you're quoting, MB, and it sounds like a good read, and I know that general discussions on characteristics about ECM are fine (own a few books with that subject discussed myself). The thing I was/am concerned about is that once you get into the technical aspects (how it works operationally, reductions to RCS tied to an airframe, etc), you get onto the high side very quickly. I guess you could just call me a bit paranoid is all.

Not to be the one to pull the OPSEC flag here, but the majority of modern aircraft's RCS modelling, reductions and intel are classified. Might not be the best place to start posting on that topic.

Ditto to what StreakEagle said. You can get bits and pieces on the unclassified side on jamming; historic information on how effective it may have been in this circumstance or that, that x system was designed to work in a electronically jammed environment, basic information on the physics behind ECM, etc., but actual effectiveness, TTP's, studies, etc. are pretty much limited to the classified side.

OK, it's been a long while since our last DACT report, so I've got one tonight straight outta' TOPGUN (not the movie). This was in essence a 2vUNK, but with the numbers known (2v6), starting neutral. The bandits were 2x F-16C Blk 30, 2x F-5E Tiger II and 2x A-4F Super Fox, representing an enemy equipped with MiG-29, MiG-21 and MiG-17/19 fighters. The fighters were 2x F-14B (96) Tomcats. In this case, we were outnumbered, but had the missile advantage, having 8 all aspect heaters, and 8 radar guided missiles augmented by two guns (total) compared to the enemy with 8 all aspect heaters, and 8 rear-quarter heaters, though with 6 guns split among them. Loadouts were as follows: Fighters F-14B Tomcat: 4x AIM-7P, 4x AIM-9M, gun, 100% internal fuel, tanks (immediate jettison) Bandits F-16C Blk 30 Viper: 4x AIM-9M, gun, 100% internal fuel, no tanks F-5E Tiger II: 2x AIM-9J, 2x gun, 100% fuel, no tanks A-4F Super Fox: 2x AIM-9P-5, 100% fuel, no tanks The fight started from neutral with hard pulls into each other. Because our Tomcats were heavy, I decided to perform a nose-low initial max-g turn into the threat. I assigned -2 to go after the second F-16 as I went for the "bait" aircraft. In this instance, only the one F-16 acted as bait, all other aircraft began turning onto our tails. I fired an AIM-9M at the bait Viper, but it looked like it was fooled, so I boresighted and fired an AIM-7P. Just as the Papa left the rail, the F-16 exploded off my nose, so I padlocked the second Viper just as the AIM-7 also struck the first Viper. I pulled hard and was getting close to nose-on when the first Viper and both A-4's began shooting at -2. Clearly he wasn't putting much effort into maneuvering on the initial attack, but since the Vipers had the all-aspect missiles, I don't know if it shot at him angle-off or what (from the screenshot, it looks like it). Because the Viper was shooting at -2, he hadn't taken evasive action against me and I called FOX 2 on him about two seconds after his missile left the rail. My wingman took the Viper's Sidewinder but kept flying for a moment, as my Sidewinder impacted the Viper, tearing off his starboard wing and causing the pilot to punch out. Seconds later, the Super Fox's P-5 also struck my wingman, causing him to punch out. Now it's 1v4. I quickly spotted the A-4 that had shot down -2, and began to pull hard into him, when I suddenly realized I had no idea where the F-5's were! Check Six! Right there was an F-5 closing, but off boresight and unable to fire. I initially turned hard and to his left, but I realized he had the energy to match me. One thing I know is that even the TF-30 powered F-14A has better thrust to weight compared to the F-5. Time to take it vertical - began an Immlemann. The F-5 follows, but is quickly loosing energy. As I begin to finish my Immlemann turn, I can see he's damn near out of energy and is going to drop like a rock if I can hold the fight a little longer. Rolling the Tomcat back onto its back and putting the stick into my lap, I see the F-5 drop its nose hard; he's practically floating, I drop the flaps to get my nose down more quickly. At this point I'm at under 80 KIAS. Tone, FOX 2! First -9 Mike misses, FOX 2 again! Good kill! Lifting the flaps to gain energy, and pulling out of my dive, I check for the second F-5 or any A-4's hanging around. Suddenly, I get a "Missile Launch!" warning. Rolling and pulling, dropping flares, I see where the missile is coming from, and realize I can beat it with maneuvering. Plug in the blower and continue to pull into what turns out to be the other F-5, he overshoots and a horizontal scissors ensues. I'm down at around 180-200KIAS while the Tiger driver keeps his energy slightly higher and so is able to keep the fight slightly favoring himself, I go for a vertical attack, pulling low, and then into a loop. The Tiger is able to keep his nose more threatening (never enough for a gun shot), but his flaps are dropping. He's low on energy. As he pulls through nose-low, I press vertical as before (having taken a few seconds to extend and bring the energy to closer to 300KIAS). As his wingman had, this Tiger runs out of energy and is flying predictably straight, trying to rebuild energy. As before, I drop flaps, get the nose around and select gun. I was at about 6000 feet to the F-5's 1000 feet, but slow enough and with the flaps down so that I could complete my loop and hit him. Get some lead and zzip! Guns on the F-5! Now where the hell are the A-4's? Well, I suppose they thought they'd get away after splashing my wingman. That's unfortunate. They had gotten about 18 miles away from the fight. They must have forgotten the Tomcat has a lot of speed and a lot of gas available to it. Plug in the blower, get some altitude and take a chase shot with a 400-Knot closure rate at about 12 miles. First A-4 takes the shot and detonates. Target the second one FOX 1! Miss, FOX 1 again! Miss. Okay, well, I now have to modulate the burner because I'm going fast enough that I have to worry about engine overheat. Get to within 2 miles, cut the blower and dive on the A-4. The Fox doesn't see me, I line up and gun him. Wingy avenged! Still have over 7000 pounds of gas in the jet, well more than enough to get back to friendly lines and land. Total fight time: 7 minutes, 35 seconds. Whew! Takeaways: Aside from the obvious "if this was an actual combat mission and not a DACT starting at dogfight range we'd have shot our Sparrows at 'em to thin their numbers beforehand" I need to work on wingman tactics, or my wingman has to use his plane better. As it stood, I knew both F-16's had to die fast. They (at the weight we started at) had better thrust to weight and also had all-aspect missiles. With them splashed, the next biggest threat was the F-5's. Both were sneaky and both found their way onto my six while I was dealing with another enemy. In this case, it was their own fatal flaw to try to fight me in the vertical, and to allow themselves to get dragged slow. The A-4's, for whatever reason, gave up after they shot down my wingman, and could have made the whole thing a lot deadlier if they had attacked alongside the F-5's, but instead gave me a good tail-chase interception scenario after the other bandits were splashed. Now, would be neat to try this against the MiG-29, -21 and -17! Any Time, Baby!

Heck, the Delta rockets and Minuteman III tests caused a helluva lot of noise miles away at Vandy, and they're not even the heavy lifters (the later being an ICBM)! Don't think a Saturn launch would be anywhere in the realm of possibility to conceal by a long shot! Not sure what to think about this one; might be a rental, but odds are I'd get frustrated with it like I do for most horror movies.

Just a friendly reminder that if you haven't done so recently to back up your stuff! Just did so here prior to performing a computer upgrade; put the whole mod folder onto a single BD-RE prior to upgrading the rest of the machine. Don't let data loss happen to you!

Go 174th!

I think what he means by TWS is the AWG-9's Track While Scan-Automatic and Track While Scan-Manual (TWS-A/M) modes which allow either the AWG-9 to select the 1-6 most threatening targets (automatic), or allow the RIO (manual) to do so, and designate a Phoenix to each, allowing for multiple simultaneous target engagement with the AIM-54. Fire one, wait a second for the radar to update, fire two, wait a second for the radar to update, fire three, etc... Current TWS mode allows the player to select a target without locking and still see other targets on the screen, but to shoot, we still need to lock and go into Single Target Track mode. TWS-A/M would be cool, but it won't be a deal breaker for me if the new Tomcat is released without it. If it is added, it would be cool to add the feature to TMF's Alpha and Bravo, too!