The use of Mavericks to kill igla,s

This may sound odd but Javelins have been used in such circumstances to take out a soldier

You don't say, yeah I'm very much aware of that having spent a reasonable portion of my life in Afghanistan. ;)

so do not be surprised if in some cases something like a maverick was used against a soldier in a CAS situation particularly laser guided.:music_whistling:

However, a small detail that you're missing. We don't use Javelin or other similar weapons to engage "soldiers" per se. They are used to engage enemy "positions", that is buildings and/or terrain features being used as firing points. Might seem like semantics, but it is a subtle and important distinction.

You could certainly employ E/G/K model Mavericks in that manner, but you're still not going to be flying around trying to pick off MANPADS operators, even if by sheer luck you could spot them. You're going to engage your fragged target and get the hell out of dodge, or you're going to abort and go home. In an on-call CAS TIC situation, you're just going to have to suck it up even more, in that situation you certainly don't have the time to be picking off any air defences, the guys on the ground will not thank you for that while they're dying.

This is why there are TTPs air to ground operations that make constant use of suppression/cover/shooter roles, and why aircraft always operate in flights of two or more. Again, this is one of those "solutions to problems that don't actually exist" situations that stem from simmers without knowledge/understanding of real world TTPs trying to apply their experience of a game to real world operations, I'm afraid it just doesn't work that way around. Remember in reality time on target is normally measured in seconds or a few minutes, not tens of minutes or hours.

Interesting thing about the AAA suppression I read somewhere that back in the day the 30mm on the A-10A could be used to take out a Shilka IRL the advantage of a 30mm of 23mm cannon. It would be unheard of these days but back in the cold war I do recall reading such an article now days when I first started using Lockon I did actually practice that in some missions. For FC3 I use Mavericks for Strela/Shilka and Tungaska units but the bigger SAMs I'd avoid.:thumbup:

Interesting thing about the AAA suppression I read somewhere that back in the day the 30mm on the A-10A could be used to take out a Shilka IRL

Not only could it be used for such, it was designed to be able to outrange and kill the Zeus. It does so in DCS as well.

Something often forgotten/unrealised by many DCS players is that the GAU-8 is the second best stand off weapon you have in the A-10, second only to the Maverick. Of course, the limitations of the sim damage modelling and AI mean it's less effective than in reality (no mobility kills etc. in DCS and suppression only sort of works if you use scripting), but the tactics are still valid and work to some degree.

If you read OAF, you would know 2 things:

1- mavericks couldn't get a proper lock if the target was in its face, or if heat in the desert (Desert Shtürm) made the seeker image a white blanket.target being a vehicle. Let alone a tiny soldier. Definitely not the cup of tea.

2- soldiers are ultra mobile units. They can be anywhere. DCS manpads are often fixed unless scripted to move between shots.

3- MANPADs are not emitters. They are passive systems which lock on heat sources. Therefore most of their shots are rear aspect. And they are not taken care of except with similar ground troops.

4- in DCS, IGLAs (needle) can reach as high as 18000 ft. 12000 bare minimum. This is from a recent test in an F-15 at slow speeds directly over the manpad.

5- just scan the area with TGP, very well, do multiple passes, and perform full throttle maneuvers to avoid sustained lock.

Of course my talk is DCS so not so real life.

 

4- in DCS, IGLAs (needle) can reach as high as 18000 ft. 12000 bare minimum. This is from a recent test in an F-15 at slow speeds directly over the manpad.

 

really interesting, most of the tips documents in the web, need to be updated

really interesting, most of the tips documents in the web, need to be updated

That is because most people miss the fact that we have both the SA-18 Grouse (Igla) and SA-24 Grinch (Igla-S) in DCS. Although for some reason ED has given both the SA-18 NATO reporting name while they have the correct Russian designations, that I think is the source of the confusion.

While the SA-18 has around a 12000 ft ceiling, the SA-24 is closer to 18000 feet.

That is because most people miss the fact that we have both the SA-18 Grouse (Igla) and SA-24 Grinch (Igla-S) in DCS. Although for some reason ED has given both the SA-18 NATO reporting name while they have the correct Russian designations, that I think is the source of the confusion.

 

While the SA-18 has around a 12000 ft ceiling, the SA-24 is closer to 18000 feet.

you live and learn! Thanks for that, I didn't know! :thumbup: