USMC Upgrades being planned

https://www.janes.com/article/85013/usmc-seeks-hmcs-for-harrier-ii-aircraft

"An HMCS is one of the enhancements for the Harrier that NAVAIR has been considering over recent years as it looks to maintain the platform out to its planned retirement date of 2026. Other enhancements include Link 16 (approved as part of the OFP H6.2 capability drop in 2016) and Variable Message Format (VMF) integration for digital interoperability; expansion of the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) envelope; and radar relevance and sustainment."

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Looks like the bII+ version will be getting jhmcs integration by 2022, wonder if they plan on adding AIM-9 X's to the weapon roster

With that F/A-18 APG-73 and HMQS, AIM-9X has its maximum envelope. +=130 Off Bore sight, radar quiing, and emergency AG mode. NAvy tests in China Lake and Pt. Mugu, shows that AIM-9X is effective against small fast surface combatants, like GoFasts.

...... AIM-9X is effective against small fast surface combatants, like GoFasts.

Erection activated

Splash some cold water on it and it goes away. Saw that on Seinfeld episode. The one with trip to Hamptons. Kramer steals lobsters.

Anyhow, RW Navy tests does not mean that DCS: AIM-9X air-ground is or will be suppourted. I have no idea , one way or the other. In DCS: AV-8B/NA those GoFast speedboats are the hardest of targets to hit. First they are tiny, and difficult to locate on the water. Second, DMT Optical does not track it as moving object. Third Litening II TPOD in DCS: HarrierII does not yet support point tracking (i.e. moving target). In day or night speedboat has to be acquired visually. They do show up nicely on FLIR and TPOD in FLIR , provided that the sensors are looking at correct area. Rockets and guns work fine, but you must get close, within range of their heavy DSHK machine guns. In DCS, I find, DSHK heavy machine guns are as bad as 23mm. I have lost many an engine (in various types) to those guns. Attack at minimum, at 400 KIAS or faster. In AV-8B/NA AGM-65G works, if you don't mind the overkill of using such heavy weapon against such light target. Or you must manually track it with TPOD while lasing it for -65E or LGB. If rockets and guns are fired from longer ranges, by the time of impact, boat has moved out of impact area. Realistic combat speed for speedboats is 15-20 knots. Most effective platform against these gofasts, especially at night, is A-10C armed with AGM-65D IRMAV and GAU-8. MK-82 work but they must be aimed at predicted position of speedboat. HD and AIR versions of MK bombs take too long to fall, and in water their effectiveness is limited. JDAM is completely useless against GoFasts. MK20 CBU is low on effectiveness, which I beleive is fault of the sim. Even if Rockeye bursts above the boat and saturates area, often the boat is not hit.

IMHO, cluster munitions in DCS (A-10C and AV-8B) kind of suck. The best AV-8B delivered rocket against these gnats of a targets, is Zuni. A pair of Zuni, properly fired, have great effect on those boats.