Libya at Dawn
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i test this “destroy fuel tanks to disable an airbase forever” finding in kurile campaign.
i destroy all fuel tanks, but friendly ac destroy all runway sections at the same time. so i wait the airbase repairing for a while - the result is, all runway sections repaired, but the airbase remains 0% operatonal, and no ac flight generated.
only one airbase test… but this trick is quite promising…make life much easier.
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Sorry for not updating the thread, i am away for exams and simulator training in the UK.
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I am back !
It feels good to be back into the 3D world. For my first flight in 3 weeks i discovered something that really pleased me about BMS 4.34
In earlier missions i was trying to destroy “reinforced” fuel tanks with SDB’s, the result was little damage and i then realized something. My airspeed when dropping the SDB’s was too low, i was around 350 knots. The F-16 MLU from the BAC (Belgian Air Component), is equipped with the PW220E, which is not one of the most powerfull engines out there on the F-16. If i maintain FL200 with the power lever in MIL and configured with 1xGBU-54,4xGBU-39’s,2x370GAL Tanks,2xAIM-120’s,2xAIM-9x’s and a centerline ALQ-131 … the most i get out of the plane flying a straight line is around 350 KTS. I then realized that flying at those airspeeds and trying to drop bombs wasn’t giving me the most out of my weapons.
Second thing i figured out, is that the SDB’s can’t be dropped beyond 460 KTS IAS, when reaching 460 KTS the WLZ bracket in the HUD desappears and reappears as soon as you are below 460 KTS. I dropped my SDB while passing trough 450 KTS and the result was way different than dropping them at 350 KTS. Good job BMS team !!!At 450 KTS the SDB simply obliterated the fuel tak in contrast to when i was dropping at 350 KTS and i needed two SDB’s to achieve the same result.
Altough this is a major breaktrough for someone like me with little knowledge about tactics, one issue stood out for me, and of tactical importance. I have to plan my dropping parameters carefully, if i want to get the most ou of my SDB. I need to be at 450 KTS IAS and i can only achieve this while diving. But i can’t dive the way i want, i need to take into consideration that there are MANPADS and SHORADS wayting for me below 18000 feet. Using the burner would only highlight my position. So i need to climb and dive on a shallow angle in MIL power until i reach 450 KTS and achieve all that before i reach 18500 feet ( i give myself a buffer of 500 feet for the ressource i will make to level off above 18000 feet).
Now, those considerations are at night and with clear skies. Lets say that the cloud deck is below my dropping altitude, in that case even if i use burners i won’t be seen by the threats below me, considering there is a uniform deck above target area. Other case is during daytime operations, the use of burners is less likely to hightlight my position in the sky. A lot to write down and figure out.
Another consideration: the use of burners at night can also be a big give away to ennemy fighters if flying in contested airpace, something to keep in mind.
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SDB tactical consideration:
I was wondering about something the other day. I know that tactics is something kept in secret even in books that seem to talk openly about what happened over the battelfield.
In BMS we have cities, we have units more than once crossing the cities to get from a point A to a point B. Now imagine you have a column of tanks advancing trough a city and you want to target them. ROE (rules of engagement) are that collateral damage has to be kept to a minimum and civilian causalities to the lowest possible, avoid it if there is any doubt one could happen. So i am wondering if when you look trough your TGP (targeting pod) and see a tank in the middle of the road crossing a town if you would still attack a tank knowing the ROE’s. Let’s push it further and imagine that on your MFD where the TGP picture is displayed that you have a circle drawn around your cursor that displays the radius of fragmentation of the bomb. There are no buldings within that circle, can you still attack that tank ? knowing it is in the middle of the road in a city ? The tank when hit by your weapon, depending on which one it is will explode and implode. Implode because a tank usually has shells inside and those shells are going to explode if hit. A bit like a submarine being hit in the torpedo bay. Would you rather use a GBU-54/12 or a GBU-39 ? knowing it will both implode and explode, what will be the combined effect of both explosion and implosion on your frag radius ? i don’t know if those are just questions from me overthinking it or not .
I am tempted to say that in an urban environement it is better to use a GBU-39 (will it pierce the armour?) than a GBU-54. But on the other hand i see that with a GBU-54 you have some kind of terminal control of the weapon in contrast to the GBU-39 once dropped you can’t direct it away from it’s target. But, you don’t drop if you think you will have to sway the bomb away from it’s target. GBU-39 will induce the smallest damage and have the smallest frag circle. Now, what is the max frag circle of the GBU-39 ? i have to dig up the info, will report when i have found something.
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Hhmmm… interesting points both, these last of yours, Canuck.
I’ll await to see what the conclusion of your speech will be before telling my (personal) one, on my own.
With best regards.
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UPDATE
The speed limitation for SDB’s isn’t true …. i actually happened to be too much off angle from the target during the drop. This is why i had no DLZ on my HUD.
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@ the moderators.
Please, would you be kind enough to close down this thread ? Due to the numerous updates (thank you for your work BMS team !) the files i had saved are not working anymore. I am going to continue my work on the KTO theater.
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Please, would you be kind enough to close down this thread ?
Too bad .
I tought this was a very interesting question in fact : ROE and ethics in BMS …
I just can tell you that I try as most as possible not to bomb target in cities …… but it depends :
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of the kind of mission I have been tasked … Sometimes, you just can’t do anything else … I try to have a little thinking for the innocent casualties … Sad duty .
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The side I have chose : Basically , if I’m fighting for DRPK … let’s say that Kim Familly has a very “broad” sense of the ROE :rolleyes:
But in some case, Blue forces didn’t do better (Vietnam…)
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Too bad .
I tought this was a very interesting question in fact : ROE and ethics in BMS …
I just can tell you that I try as most as possible not to bomb target in cities …… but it depends :
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of the kind of mission I have been tasked … Sometimes, you just can’t do anything else … I try to have a little thinking for the innocent casualty … Sad duty .
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The side I have chose : Basically , if I’m fighting for DRPK … let’s say that Kim Familly has a very “broad” sense of the ROE :rolleyes:
But in some case, Blue forces didn’t do better (Vietnam…)
Hi there, i am going to continue my work on the KTo theater. I am currently working on a TE which involves all forces in the KTO theater and i think it will be complex enough so that the questions i asked myself with Operation Lybia at Dawn will still be valid.
For me, in BMS, when the target is in a city, i just don’t go for it. For now we don’t really have all the options to for example set the bomb to explode after it hits the target. For example if you could set the bomb to detonate after the impact, the bomb would burry into the ground and explode. or if we could have bombs and choose to not have explosive charges on it, just using the kinetic energy of the bomb to stop a vehicle to advance. But those kind of scenarios are not really the ones you would find a full scale war like the one against North korea.
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But those kind of scenarios are not really the ones you would find a full scale war like the one against North korea.
For sure …
That’s why I love to swap sides : It helps a lot to have an idea of the tactics employed by a country and its ROE , according to the kind of planes and weapons they have on hand (- “No TGP ? They’ll be blood , sorry civilians…”)
But accuracy is for the wealthy .The lesser nation simply can’t afford it . Not that they are more barbaric than other . They simply does with what they have : innacurate weapons .
The biggest nation can afford the accuracy. But they are not all the time . When you see smg like this it probably means that :
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They don’t want to be accurate : can be seen if a country is wealthy , but not with a very democratic regime(here civilians are note true “voters” ,so the regime doesn’t fear to lose its power)
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Or on the opposite , they are to be accurate (here in true democratic countries , the "voters pressure"is high cuz they don’t taste to see other civilians being targeted , which seems understandable at first look :so the regime fears to lose its power )
When I play , I try to simulate some operationnal conditions .
According to what I said above …… well … I’m not always as accurate as I could …War "is politic by other means " , manner to say that war is all but ethical . It proved by age , to be obvious
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I think that using SDBs (or other low weight precision weapon)is the best you can use to be as ethical as possible when making war … But , as you are dropping explosive somewhere … Chances are high to kill something .
Better should be not making war ?
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It’s good to learn anyway.
Let’s only hope that you will be able to share that custom TE of yours soon, dear friend Canuck… it seems so interesting to fly with.
With best regards.
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It’s good to learn anyway.
Let’s only hope that you will be able to share that custom TE of yours soon, dear friend Canuck… it seems so interesting to fly with.
With best regards.
Hi Jackal,
The work on the TE is on hold for the moment. With this whole COVID 19 situation you can witness that the whole airline industry has been turned upside down. I am very busy with getting back in the cockpit and studying for upcoming checks and exams that i have to go trough in order to be bale to fly again. I guess i won’t start working on TE’s again until my line training is completed (i moved from the prop to the jet). Should be around september if everything works fine. Thanks for your interest
Take care Jackal.
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All the best for you, dear mate… that’s just what I can wish you.
And keep always yourself safe… this pandemic story hasn’t ended yet, you know.
With best regards.