How should I attack this target? (Interdiction BMP column in a town)

In Georgian Hammer I was assigned to interdict a couple BMPs on a road in a town.

Dunno what's the best way to do this. Sure I could drop GBU-12 but I don't know if I should be considering about collateral damages, because in that case I should be going with the weaker mavericks right?

Not sure how much colateral damage you'll see from either. A lot of times I choose weapons based on what I am "able" to use on a specific target.

4 BMPs on a road by themselves can be killed one at a time with the GAU-8...unless there are MANPADS or other SAMs in the mix.

If I can fly over the SAMs I drop bombs on em.

If I can't fly over the SAMs then I use Mavericks.

Tailor the attack to the targets you have now and ones you might encounter later.

Looks like a job for CBU-97s or 105s.

Looks like a job for CBU-97s or 105s.

Sierra 99 is right.

Also is draika.

I would drop a CBU to finish the job at once.

Looks like a job for CBU-97s or 105s.

When OP is concerned about collateral damage, area effect weapons don't seem to be the best choice TBH. And I wouldn't count on the SFW not to mistake George R. Georgian's Lada for an IFV, especially seeing as it includes anti-personnel components. Add to that the potential for UXO (despite what the manufacturer pledges), and I'd say this is almost the worst possible choice.

In the above screenshot, I think the gun might actually be the most precise weapon with the least potential for collateral damage, as long as it's fired nicely along the road.

If timing isn't important and the vehicles are on the move, I'd probably just wait for them to get out of the inhabited area and pick them off one by one with whatever I have available - and then a single CBU-97 or -105 could finish off all of them in one go.

However, DCS itself doesn't take collateral damage into account (but mission designers might detect it with triggers), so if the question was purely regarding the most effective way within the constraints of the campaign, I believe there's no downside to leveling an entire suburb, as long as the primary targets are destroyed. ;)

In Georgian Hammer I was assigned to interdict a couple BMPs on a road in a town.

 

 

Dunno what's the best way to do this. Sure I could drop GBU-12 but I don't know if I should be considering about collateral damages, because in that case I should be going with the weaker mavericks right?

Collateral damage is always a possibility no matter what weapon you use, even the GAU. We always use whatever has the best potential of taking out the enemy with the least amount of wasted ordnance. The CBU-97 will do the job but it's really a waste on softer targets like BMP's in my opinion. You'd have to use multiple guided bombs or mavericks so that's not ideal either. If they're lined up nicely you could take out all 4 in one pass with the GAU but don't get close because BMP's are deadly when in close range. Max range on the GAU is recommended and they're easy to kill because just a few rounds on target will get them burning. Or you could make a rocket pass on them. Just run your rocket piper along the column and put one or two on each one. Again, stay out if their firing solution though.

Thanks for your replies, especially Yurgon who addressed exactly what I was concerned about.

I was thinking of the GAU but there are quite a lot of BMPs there, I count 10 on the map. That's quite a lot. Plus i'd imagine towns are hotspots for manpad hideouts.

I think i'll just go ahead and use the AGM65-D, it only contains 100 pounds of explosive and ofc is extremely accurate.

EDIT:

Mission complete! Great success. 6 mavs 6 kills. According to the log I hit a lot of other things with the blast. 2 of them were just light poles. The other things are named "0" so i have no idea what they are.

Got a score of 60 for all those kills, beats my previous records by a mile haha.

Landing was a bit rough, almost blew a tire but managed to keep everything together, and before landing I passed this other aircraft which was awacs I think? If so he said he was RTB ages ago but never landed successfully, either he got hit by something or the pilot was having seizures:helpsmilie:.

Looks like a job for CBU-97s or 105s.

:lol:... you read my mind...collateral damage?...shhh.. but you'll take out the whole colmn and probably 2 more you didn't even see lol!

In all seriousness I've found there are two types of missions in GH.. ones where you can load up realistically and engage your tgts in a reasonable manner for the surroundings, and then there's "Push" missions where flattening the entire area is almost mandatory to keep your guys alive. This is mainly due to the # of tgts and capability of friendly AI.

This doesn't really answer your question, but rather explains that there are times for everything in this game, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

:lol:... you read my mind...collateral damage?...shhh.. but you'll take out the whole colmn and probably 2 more you didn't even see lol!

 

 

 

In all seriousness I've found there are two types of missions in GH.. ones where you can load up realistically and engage your tgts in a reasonable manner for the surroundings, and then there's "Push" missions where flattening the entire area is almost mandatory to keep your guys alive. This is mainly due to the # of tgts and capability of friendly AI.

 

 

 

This doesn't really answer your question, but rather explains that there are times for everything in this game, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

Thanks for the advice. Though this certainly wasn't a push mission. It was an interdiction set kinda deep inside enemy territory, as in like more than 5km over the FLOT.

I did do a push and support kind of mission just before this one and I just blew everything up ahead before signalling the tanks to push on :D well I did keep them safe!

Gun might be a good choice for less collateral damage, but I wouldn't go about trying to poke a BMP (Especially if BMP-2s) with a gun, even more when there is a big hive of 20mm fast firing guns with gun elevations up to almost 90 degrees

I missed the picture when I first commented. Now seeing what your working with I'm curious how it would be done in RL...I would imagine they would use the gun, SAM permitting, like Sierra 99 said. If gun wasn't an option, and they didn't want to go by ground, I would put my money on GBU 12's. I have no idea what doctrine is followed in regard to collateral damage but I would imagine, in war, there are some scenarios where it's just gonna happen. You can't let the enemy operate with impunity simply because they are in a town.

Also, a side note, a lot of missions don't make the cities and towns look like a war zone. All the towns and cities look fully populated and in good shape, making you feel like the bomb you just dropped just ruined the poor Johnson family's dinner. In reality these towns would either be evacuated, or the people there would be fully aware there is a war going on and that they probably shouldn't be near the enemy. If neither of these are the case, then I defer back to my first paragraph. Sometimes it's just gonna happen.

FORTUNATELY this is just a game, where nothing really dies... except your social life. :lol:

Mission complete! Great success. 6 mavs 6 kills. According to the log I hit a lot of other things with the blast. 2 of them were just light poles. The other things are named "0" so i have no idea what they are.

 

 

Got a score of 60 for all those kills, beats my previous records by a mile haha.

 

 

 

Landing was a bit rough, almost blew a tire but managed to keep everything together, and before landing I passed this other aircraft which was awacs I think? If so he said he was RTB ages ago but never landed successfully, either he got hit by something or the pilot was having seizures:helpsmilie:.

If you care about collateral damage, maybe you also care for realistic loadouts. The A-10 can't carry 6 AGMs.. ;)

To be more precise, when you fire the inner AGM on the Triple Ejector Rack, it will most probably burn away your landing gear..

AGMs are the most expensive thing you can hang under the A-10. I would have taken the gun, too.

AGMs are the most expensive thing you can hang under the A-10. I would have taken the gun, too.

Negative. CBUs are the most expensive by far, from what I know. Minimum 3 times the price of a Maverick if we base the price from wiki

Maverick is the better weapon for this mission.:thumbup:

Negative. CBUs are the most expensive by far, from what I know. Minimum 3 times the price of a Maverick if we base the price from wiki

Still, when you want to stick to realistic loadouts you can't load 6 of them, so after 4 BMPs (3 if you want to load a TGP on a station next to a Maverick) there are plenty of targets left when you are out Mavs..

Still, when you want to stick to realistic loadouts you can't load 6 of them, so after 4 BMPs (3 if you want to load a TGP on a station next to a Maverick) there are plenty of targets left when you are out Mavs..

Have I said anything about the use of Mavericks ?

No, but it seems to be a prominent weapon of choice here

Can't place 6 mavs on the A-10? What's the deal with this in game then? Why does it allow this to be done?

Can't place 6 mavs on the A-10? What's the deal with this in game then? Why does it allow this to be done?

I always understood this to be more like a precaution measure for training and low intensity operations, which can be lifted if needed. I haven't seen anything official on that matter either.

I always understood this to be more like a precaution measure for training and low intensity operations, which can be lifted if needed. I haven't seen anything official on that matter so far, just some talking.

Gotcha! I bring 6 mavs with me almost every time I fly the hog, no point not to if you can take the weight. Especially since no taxpayers are footin the bill lol!

Agreed, i routinely take 2 or 4. The rivet counters on here hate you taking 6 though :D

So I did some searching around and it seems the reason why people don't usually take more than 4 mavericks IRL is because launching the maverick on the innermost rack burns the tires of the a10. Can't remember where this was quoted though. EDIT:: oh, someone mentioned it earlier in this thread as well

As far as maverick costs, according to wikipedia figures https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AGM-65_Maverick, a maverick can cost anywhere from $17,000 to $110,000 according to the variant, but doesn't explain which variants cost what. I'd assume though that the mavericks with the larger letters are more expensive. There is another table that shows variants A, D, and H carry much less explosive mass than the other variants, so I'd imagine those are the cheaper ones.

I used 6 of the D variant to complete the mission. Didn't load any other weapons to lighten up as much as possible. The tires are ground crew's job anyway :p

Some people seem to favour the CBUs and I was curious how economical they really were, so I found another cost figures chart over at http://www.f-16.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1434 . I see costs for a lot of weapons in DCS. It was really astonishing to see just how expensive CBU-97s are, at $350,000+! I found a really interesting video on how they function in this youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQLWzbDTAEk. Man are they complicated! No wonder they cost so much. But strangely again no maverick variant prices!! Why are they so elusive to me lol!

Definitely from now on taking less mavericks though. I realise how heavy they are and I don't really need them for anything except situationally like this mission. If they're out in an open field with no known sams I'll definitely just bring 1 maverick and a ton of bombs instead or something.

Real world loadouts are secrets, but forum speculations suggests burnt tires, drag from the lau-88 and damage risk to the tgp as reasons not to carry more than one per pylon.

There are however tons of images of A-10C's around, and you'll be hard pressed to find one carrying more than one mav per pylon.

There are some shots though from OIR of hogs with frankenstein loadouts carrying GBU-12's on TER's, which Snoopy won't talk about :)

Some people seem to favour the CBUs

Because it's a no brainer. Just toss them near the target group, wait the short lag, and see them all burn. Don't care for collateral damage or the cost of the ordnance..

Pretty boring imo