Realworld Loadouts - On what do the depend?

Hello!

As we can load anything that goes (and eventually more) onto our virtual fighters I asked myself on what do the real world loadouts depend?

For example just on supplylines I think... if you are in the middle of the desert you dont have all weapons on hand. But how much is this really limiting the loadouts?

On the mission - clear thing, but how would a realworld Harrier loadout look like for example when they attack an convoy, or an outpost? Would be nice to have mavericks, but will they prefer mk82 because they are more cheap?

This leads me to money - How much is the cost/benefit ratio an factor?

Please tell if you have storys, experiences or sources for such infos!

Thank you very much!

The first criteria is what target effect do you want to achieve ?

What is the threat level ?

What weapon do you need, what plane can carry it ?

Then, depending on the surrounding you may have to balance target effect Vs collateral damages. Fusing delay may be the solution here.

If the weapon is in stock, cost isn’t really the issue anymore. Weapons are more expansive to procure than to dispense.

If there are defenses, you try to use the weapon that gives you stand off range.

Adding to jojo's post, there's also the range and performance issue. If you go too heavy on weapons and your plane almost refuses to fly, you'll burn a lot of fuel on the way to target and also be very vulnerable if trouble comes your way.

Adding to jojo's post, there's also the range and performance issue. If you go too heavy on weapons and your plane almost refuses to fly, you'll burn a lot of fuel on the way to target and also be very vulnerable if trouble comes your way.

This! Range is actually one of the main concerns, as range varies drastically with different loadouts.

FWIW, from Joint Force Harrier.

Typical UK Harrier load for CAS in Afghanistan was 2 bags, 1 540 lb dumb bomb, 1 Paveway, 2 rocket pods and TGP.

Bombs on the outer pylons, rockets mid and bags inner.

All planes in DCS except the A-10 would almost always carry drop tanks and even with the Hog you wouldn’t load fireworks on every pylon.

Googling pictures of units involved in Syria and Afghanistan can be quite instructive. The general picture is less ordinance than you might imagine!

On the subject of cost, from a Squadron flight I did a stores jettison on:

I did a stores jettison as I RTBd so I thought I'd have a look at what me getting back to Vaz a couple of minutes earlier cost the tax payer:

3 x CBU-97 at $360k each - $1M in round numbers...

2 x AGM-65 price varies depending on model but probably around $250k for the pair

1 x GBU-38 around $2k for the bomb and $27k for the JDAM kit.

1 x GBU-12 $27k

21 x M151 and 7 x M257, unit cost $2800(!): about $78,400

2 x AIM-9M ($84k each) = $168k

So around $1.6M if you include a bit extra for the rocket pods themselves, rails etc.....