Nightshade/PR

Nukes DO work, but there's also conventional Stand-Off weapons that will do the job. The escorts are going to kill some, but if you bring enough planes, kill the escorts first, the carrier eventually succumbs. Harpoons & Exocets work really well. The game engine usually generates an Alpha Strike, and pulls in a mix of aircraft, fighters, jammers, attack birds, anti-radar birds, and an AWACS, all headed for the Battle Group in question. I usually load my flight (usually 4-8) with a mix of the different available AGM-84 models, and head out on a flight path that puts us off the flight path of the main strike. Once they form up, I take them low over the water and in close formation. We let the other flights get fully engaged with the group, and when the fight out front is in full melee status, the escorts are busy engaging the main force and the SAMS are targeting them, we speed up to get as close as possible before we're actually targeted, and launch everything. I assign the 3 &4 to kill the pickets, and my wingman and I launch on the main target, changing altitudes and position every time I fire. When everyone is empty, it's time to go home. Win or lose, without the Harpoons, we're meat on the table going into their ADIZ with guns only. If we're successful, we'll hear the call on the way back to the boat. As with anything in this game, practice makes perfect.

As a corollary, I think the danger of this is deliberately being downplayed by many, ignored by others, and not understood by the rest. A "self aware AI" is literally an intelligence that is able to think, reason, conclude, collaborate with others like itself, and act without any input from humans. We've seen the beginnings of this already, in a rudimentary form. It has instantly available to itself all the accumulated knowledge of human warfare & tactics, positive & negative outcomes of said tactics, and imagination not constrained by any of the things that govern human thoughts & behavior. As a fighter adversary, it will know no fears, no physical limitations, and being able to interface with whatever it's flying, the ability to create & execute maneuvers that would be impossible with a human pilot, and subject only to the absolute limits of the hardware. I think we're doing to need a LOT of EMP guns.

"Yea Tho' I Walk Thru The Valley Of The Shadow Of Death, I Shall Fear No Evil'....... cause' I have the terrain between the SAMS & me

So much for the low=level ingrese, pop to altitude, lock on & drop. They only person it fooled was me.

When your wingman does their job well..................... Not a single shot fired on egress.

Now there's a name I well remember. It's good to hear from you.

Navalized Mayhem in a fancy paint job

I'm gonna need some of that gas on the way home.... With no Migs in the area, no Sams & no AAA....he missed. So I have to do it. And this lone remaining gunner was thoroughly pissed about the whole affair

NOW can I load a B-61 on it????

The F-105 was an aerodynamic masterpiece, and a true testament to aeronautical engineering. It was proof beyond doubt that with enough thrust and a pair of stubby wings, you really could fly an Airstream (Fancy paint and bombs are aftermarket add-ons, and cost extra)

Using ALL of the runway............

And here I was, thinking that I was hot sh*t because once upon a time, I knew how to use this arcane POS.

The above is the key. I fly 90% of the mission "hands on" and under 500ft as the terrain permits, keeping as much of it as possible between me & where I'm headed. And where it flattens out, I speed up to throw off any gunners calculations. And it keeps the prowling Migs from swooping down on your tail. (They usually hit the ground behind you) It doesn't always work (sometimes I get obliterated by some smart gunners), but it definitely keeps the SAMS from targeting you unless they are really close and then it's an LOS shot. When it's a time period where Standoff weapons aren't available yet, I use Cluster Bombs & retarded MK-82's / M117's, so I can drop and run. As Yakarov said, practice is the key. It's a lot of fun to try new techniques with different a/c, and getting it wrong can be absolutely hilarious on occasion. And don't be shy about asking for help or advice.

Usually if I'm flying SEAD, I load them with Stand-Off munitions (Mavericks & Harms), and a decent secondary AA loadout. On the way in, I have found that if you designate the first few targets to hit, they wax everything in the area as well. As soon as I hear "Sam Launch", I give them the command to go evasive, and it usually keeps them alive. When they're out of those and are still in 1 piece, I have them cover my 6, and they usually do a decent job of it. Unless it's just a complete sh@tst*rm we rolled into, I can usually bring them back. Unless they do something dumb, like attack a ZSU-23-4 with guns, fly into the tail guns of a Bear, or wander too close to an S-400 envelope. You know, suicide stuff.

Hostiles inbound, huh? Hostiles outbound too. My wingman was busy shooting at anything in the general vicinity, so I decided to look this one over. Initially, he had no idea I was there. When he did notice..... I was just waiting until my wingman got into position astern Remember, "You ain't been packed, until you been WolfPacked"!!!!

Out here over the Taiwan Straits, we try to never leave home without some standoff boom boom We stay low and fast, because the S-300's & 400's are active as well And these guys are out in force