Help with capabilities of each Squadron.

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0405 Andrew
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Re: Help with capabilities of each Squadron.

Post by 0405 Andrew »

I'm reviewing Tacview's of the past to see what the rest of you get up to. Previously I'd only looked to see how the A-10's did.
It makes interesting study with lots of useful information, I'm getting a feel now for quantity of Red Air needed.

What's very interesting, so far I've not found one use of AAR, is this because it's time consuming in a 1.5 hour mission and you need to re-arm. If they make a Mod for a tanker client, my advice don't volunteer :lol:
I assume the AI would attack the tanker if it got through and that's part of the CAP mission to defend them.
0405 ANDREW

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Flyco: 28 Jul 2021, 12:50
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Beanie
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Re: Help with capabilities of each Squadron.

Post by Beanie »

The F-16 is a thirsty beast which is why we always carry extra fuel tanks on the wings. We can only store 7500lbs of fuel internally and with the two tanks it takes it up to 12,000lbs
This however doesn't detract too much from our platform as we can still carry a multitude of armaments.
For the moment we are working up to A2A re-fuelling, it's part of our BFJT training so if we could have a capable KC-135 with a boom in missions that would be amazing.

We have at our disposal (Including Wing Tanks):

Targeting Pod
2 x Aim120's
2 x Aim 9's
2 x AGM88
6 x AGM65 D-G
Various dumb bombs (6 x mk 82 or 2 x mk 84) (2 x GBU 10 or 4 x GBU 12) (4 x CBU-87 or 4 x CBU-97)
Rocket pods

We stick to 360kts whilst bimbling around waypoints and we had the KC-135 doing around 300 - 310kts.

I can't think of much else to add a the minute if you need more info, let me know.
Sqn Leader Andrew "Beanie" Benson - RAF Air UK
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Neil Willis
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Re: Help with capabilities of each Squadron.

Post by Neil Willis »

In a word, the tankers don't get much use because we don't have any long flights into the battle area. I think using them more would add to the missions, especially if we had a taxi rank set-up for the second and third wave elements.

Distance = time, so to give the first wave time to finish, the second wave aircraft could fly a longer distance into theatre, while first wave stuff is closer.

Something along the lines of F-18 and F-16s go in to soften up the air defences escorted by F-14s on CAP (F-18s and F-14s from carriers, F-16s from forward bases. They bug out and land to re-arm with CAP weaponry and return in time for the second flush of red air to try to cover the home defences.

In the meantime, 2nd wave blue forces get airborne from bases further afield, hit the tankers on their way in to theatre and await the call to head in for deep strikes to take out airfields. They complete their phase and RTB via tankers.

The F-16s, F-18s and F-14s have time to cycle through the tankers in turn to maintain cover for the duration of the other sorties, and attack any threats as they appear. Limited weapons would mean they would need to make very good use of what they have in eliminating threats.

Everyone hits the tankers again before exfiltrating to home plate and the carriers.

Of course, not everyone can tank at the moment, so we'd also need to have some aircraft less heavily armed, but with long range tanks perhaps?

Just one scenario, but for a mission where tankers are key, it might be fun.
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john (scooby)
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Re: Help with capabilities of each Squadron.

Post by john (scooby) »

F14. CAP-ground attack- Small quantity of dumb bombs and laser guided (any TGP?) - SEAD capability? - medium 400kts? - ATA Refuel?- Rearm at base? - Good A to A capability against mig 21's or 29's?
cap upto 6 phoenix + 2 sidewinders with very long loiter time + aar capability
ground attack, upto 18 mk82/snakeye + 2 siwdwinders and fuel tanks or 4 lgb with tgp (although the most basic tgp its still decent) + 1 phoenix 2 sidewinders and tanks.
no sead specific weaponry apart from upto 4 glider decoys

very long endurance, very fast in all conditions (just not at the same time as endurance lol) excellent a-a (when its not broken) and an excellent bomb truck too. where it falls down is atg missiles and complex nav routes (only 3 wp available in mission editor)

we can ALWAYS carry 2 tanks and 2 sidewinders as those stations are specific to that ordnance type, we have another 6 multipurpose stations available
Sqn Ldr (Scooby) Burton RAF Air UK
XI(F) Sqn 2ic
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Beanie
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Re: Help with capabilities of each Squadron.

Post by Beanie »

I like the idea of Fuelling mid flight for missions. However, the F16 use the boom rather than a basket so we can only fuel one at a time. so it'll take a bit longer to get back into the fight as it were.
Sqn Leader Andrew "Beanie" Benson - RAF Air UK
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Roon
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Re: Help with capabilities of each Squadron.

Post by Roon »

Hi matey, current 54 Sqn and OCU missions consist of:

Ship or land launched all weather.
Low-level or medium level formation/navigation to target with TOT using from simple pairs up to 8 ship formations using tactical turns and crosscover.
Smart or dumb bomb release within wpn parameters in retard/toss/loft plus manual (mills) and ballistic modes.
Bounce reaction, detachment of pairs to protect the formation whilst the rest target progress. Basic A2A BFM and BVR.
Refuel from tanker.
Bad weather Instrument Flying using SID's and STAR's.
Case 1, 2 and 3 launch and recovery using our own Marshall and Paddles.
SEAD, low-level and limited A2A missions (we don't do CAP or CAS specifically as other types are better suited but we are CAP/CAS capable if there's no low-level on offer).

Many of our pilots are capable of the above and some are still undergoing OCU training. However all those undergoing training are cleared operational low-level and formation ops having already completed the relevent phases.
Sometimes stuff is supposed to fall off....sometimes not.
I still can't be sure which... :?

Officer Commanding F18 OCU
Wing Commander Ade Rhoney - RAF Air UK
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0405 Andrew
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Re: Help with capabilities of each Squadron.

Post by 0405 Andrew »

Many thanks for all the responses, I'm underway building my first multi squadron mission using the mission template.

I will be using Operation Ivory Coast as bit of inspiration.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ivory_Coast

Could any of you kind people send me some missions you have created that use Red Air. I'm interested how you have set the triggers and flight plans for the RED AI .

Cheers
0405 ANDREW

Tuesday Mission group lead
"Andrew, you are right"
Flyco: 28 Jul 2021, 12:50
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309 Geoff
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Re: Help with capabilities of each Squadron.

Post by 309 Geoff »

Andrew,
Some of us tested a WWII Bomber Escort mission a couple of days ago. The triggers for 2 flights of German fighters worked fine. The miz file is attached. Hope it helps. However, I'm relatively new to mission building.
Attachments
B17 Escort05.miz
(26 KiB) Downloaded 118 times
Flt Lt Geoff Mansfield RAF Air UK
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0405 Andrew
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Re: Help with capabilities of each Squadron.

Post by 0405 Andrew »

Many thanks for the reply Geoff, I got caught up with Combatflite / mission designing,
They're very similar triggers to what I have used. Nice and simple.
0405 ANDREW

Tuesday Mission group lead
"Andrew, you are right"
Flyco: 28 Jul 2021, 12:50
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0405 Andrew
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Re: Help with capabilities of each Squadron.

Post by 0405 Andrew »

Which airframe would be the most capable of a naval strike? And how does an attack work on a naval group, take out the escorts (SEAD) and then go in for the big one?
0405 ANDREW

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"Andrew, you are right"
Flyco: 28 Jul 2021, 12:50
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