What are the most common A/G weapons?
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I’ve been hooked on BMS for a while now trying to familiarize myself with the different systems and master modes etc. Now I’m serious about actually starting a campaign and flying sorties.
I plan to frag my own flights and I have a basic understanding of how to do that but I have troubles picking the correct load out for the mission.
I usually can guesstimate wether I’d need external tanks or not but the main problem is what munitions to use.
I’m familiar with the A/A missiles but there seems to be an endless amount of A/G bombs.
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What are the most commonly used bombs for missions? For example if you were tasked with bombing an airfield which bombs would you pick from? I’m not looking for a tutorial on how to properly use said bombs just a list of munitions that you would go through for this type of sortie.
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When would you use an LGB or a JDAM or a GBU or a CBU or a PGM over another type of bomb? And even then, which specific bomb in that category would you use and how did you reach that conclusion?
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When would you use an unguided bomb over a guided one? Other than for the purposes of being realistic (no guided bombs in stock for example) and making the bombing mission more challenging for yourself.
Thank you.
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No reason. If you are training IRL, dumb bombs are cheap. If you are hitting something indiscriminately, dumb bombs are cheap. Most of the LGBs and JDAMs are basically mark 80 series dumb bombs with guidance kits attached. Other than the cost of the kit, there really isnt much difference between them.
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For airfields, BLU-107 Durandals are very common picks. Im not certain if the F-16 ever carried them for real? They don’t today, anyway. IRL Penetrator JDAMs are the way to go to hit runways. GBU-12s are common to see for CAS missions. Mk.84s are common for strikes, particularly low level ones - from high level JDAMs are more likely to be used.
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I dont typically use JDAMs at all in BMS. Their avionics mechanisation is not realistic in 4.32, so I dont use them. I tend to use CBUs when hitting a target indiscriminately, such as the CBU-97 to hit tank battalions, or the CBU-87 when hitting more lightly armoured units. When I need to hit a specific target accurately, which is moving, LGBs are the way to go. For bunkers there are penetrator GBUs, and for lighter targets there are mk-80 series GBUs. If you dont have CBUs due to say the Convention on Cluster Munitions, then the AGM-65 is a good weapon for hitting tanks. In particular if you need standoff from a target, air to ground missiles are very beneficial. In bad weather, you might not be able to attack a tank column by flying overhead, due to their embedded air defence units being able to see you when you fly under the weather. In which case AGM-65s are very beneficial indeed.
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Dumbs : not that useful except for pop-up attacks, where they shine.
High drag dumbs (Mk80s AIR or SE, BLU-107) : useful for pure low-level attacks. A bit too precise in BMS though.
CBUs : not bad for motionless vehicules (SAMs sites, tank column, etc. ). Again, a bit too precise in BMS, especially from high altitude. IRL, high risk of collateral and you left submunitions behind after the war…
LGB : useful for precision targeting of small stuff, like bridge pillars, and can target moving objects. The bridge pillar thing is not that useful in F4 though. However, ideal for targeting tanks. The bad thing is you need to almost overfly the target.
JDAMs : IRL, that would be for targeting buildings or fixed enemy positions. More stand-off than LGBs, but no retargeting, so no moving target possible. HOWEVER : badly implemented in BMS, so I advise not to use them.
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Dumbs : not that useful except for pop-up attacks, where they shine.
High drag dumbs (Mk80s AIR or SE, BLU-107) : useful for pure low-level attacks. A bit too precise in BMS though.
CBUs : not bad for motionless vehicules (SAMs sites, tank column, etc. ). Again, a bit too precise in BMS, especially from high altitude. IRL, high risk of collateral and you left submunitions behind after the war…
LGB : useful for precision targeting of small stuff, like bridge pillars, and can target moving objects. The bridge pillar thing is not that useful in F4 though. However, ideal for targeting tanks. The bad thing is you need to almost overfly the target.
JDAMs : IRL, that would be for targeting buildings or fixed enemy positions. More stand-off than LGBs, but no retargeting, so no moving target possible. HOWEVER : badly implemented in BMS, so I advise not to use them.
It would be very nice to see some inaccuracy built into dumb bombs in BMS. I would note that modern CBUs have fuzes such that failing to detonate on initial impact will still result in detonating some days later.
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It would be very nice to see some inaccuracy built into dumb bombs in BMS.
Me too
BTW, creating a predictive algo on where a bomb will fall, including air density changes and drag, is trickier than it looks
CEP for dumb bombs is definitely quite larger than what we see in BMS, even in optimal condition (dive bombing).I would note that modern CBUs have fuzes such that failing to detonate on initial impact will still result in detonating some days later.
That is a fair point.
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- What are the most commonly used bombs for missions? For example if you were tasked with bombing an airfield which bombs would you pick from? I’m not looking for a tutorial on how to properly use said bombs just a list of munitions that you would go through for this type of sortie.
Nowadays, most commonly used are LGB and JDAM, because of their precision. A handful of countries have not signed the convention to no longer use cluster bombs, so those could theoretically still use them, but in today’s (real life) asymmetric warfare against ISIS and the likes, risk of collateral damage usually denies that possibility.
What bombs to choose in your example would depend on the target you’re assigned to take out. The runway will require a different approach than a shelter, fuel tank or control tower.
- When would you use an LGB or a JDAM or a GBU or a CBU or a PGM over another type of bomb? And even then, which specific bomb in that category would you use and how did you reach that conclusion?
How to decide what bomb to choose depends on a number of factors, such as:
- target assessment: How many targets are assigned to our flight? Am I targetting a “soft” (jeep, truck) or “hard” (tank, building) target? Are there specialized weapons for my kind of target (e.g. BLU-107 or AGM-88 )? Does the bomb need to penetrate a layer before exploding or should it airburst? Could my target be mobile?;
- inventory, jet and pilot capabilities: Which weapons can be loaded onto my aircraft, and how many of them? Are these weapons available? Is the pilot trained to deliver this type of bomb?
- bomb characteristics: What is the operating procedure for my bomb? What possibilities does my bomb (need to) have in terms of fuse types, arming delays, guidance, penetration, …
- weather: Will I need to see my target, can my bomb finds its way on its own or can somebody else guide it onto target? Could wind blow my bomb off course? Could the sun interfere with IR guidance?;
- threat assessment: Should I go low level to avoid Surface-to-Air Missiles, or can I stay medium/high altitude? Do I have time to loiter and/or make several passes over target, or do I need to get in and out fast with a single pass?;
- collateral damage estimations: What is the overall precision of my bomb, and what is it’s blast radius? Will there be friendly, neutral or civilian persons, vehicles or structures nearby and if so, how far are they?
Do note that some of the factors summed up above do not really apply to BMS (yet), such as airburst, somebody else guiding your bomb on target, collateral damage, … but maybe someday, they will.
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Thank you everyone for your replies.
Just successfully completed a SEAD Strike. 2 launchers down with 2 A/A kills on the ingress to top it off (1 AMRAAM + 1 AIM-9).
What an amazing feeling when you finally land and shut the bird down.
Can’t imagine what it would feel like in real-life.
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Feel? The take-off, flight and landing? Or that you had killed someone?
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Feel? The take-off, flight and landing? Or that you had killed someone?
Killing someone is (almost) never a good burden to hold, even in a war scenario. I’ve watched enough war documentaries to know that.
The general feeling of flying a fighter jet though must be exhilarating.
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Did anyone manage to hit more than one tank with CBU-87’s? They seem to have a very small radius compared to real ones.
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Did anyone manage to hit more than one tank with CBU-87’s? They seem to have a very small radius compared to real ones.
You can probably hit many, but destroying them is another story. CBU-87 are mainly for light armor.
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CBU-97s should be better with their heat seeking pucks.
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Did anyone manage to hit more than one tank with CBU-87’s? They seem to have a very small radius compared to real ones.
From the SMS, hit CNTRL on the MFD and set the BA to a higher altitude (I like 1000 feet). In real life you can also adjust the spin rate to increase the radius of the bomb.
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Not from the cockpit though.
Setting AD/BA in the cockpit is meant to tell the SMS what the setting is on the bomb, rather than making the bomb have that setting.
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CBU-97s should be better with their heat seeking pucks.
Maybe i m wrong, but are the CBU´s in BMS not all the same, imho there is no different model for each bomb.
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The differences are just in rate of damage… there are no different seekers or anything else simulated… BMS is not real life
It is close, but according to weapons its not very close… 
