For some reason I thought it was standard practice to fire 2 at each target...duh..I don't know where I read that. Indeed though..as Joe mentioned..if the first one missed..the second one did too!

As for the U.S...give me an Apache with 16 Hellfires (please ED..please!)...and we can have a shoot out competition between the Hellfire and the Vikhr! :P

BeachAV8R

I'm not saying the US AGMs aren't good..but an A-10 will typically only carry 2 mavs into combat(problems with MERs). That's two targets per mission (not counting what they might get with the 2 CBUs or LDGPs they also usually carry). 16 possible targets per mission with Vikhr vs 2....

vikhr hardly means 16 dead targets tho'. They have a distinctive, spiral flight path that can cause them to impact a bit off the target. I've had runs of bad luck causing me to miss almost all of the shots, despite being perfectly within parameters. I reckon you could get good at judging the target distance with regards to the twists, so as to have them hit all of the time.
Beach, what in hades' name were you thinking loading it out in such a chaotic manner? you like a flyin challenge don't you?

Two Vikhrs for heavy armor is a good rule of thumb, especially when attacking armor from the front. I get far less one shot kills on heavy armor. Everything else goes boom with one Vikhr.

I find if you're low and close, it's sometimes good to fire two Vikhr with a delay as often one will hit the ground on the low half of it's "corkscrew" as it nears the target.

US AGMs are typically fire and forget though - the AGM-65s on the A-10 and the AGM-114Ls on the AH-64Ds.

As for having the Vikhrs hit all the time, there are two rules:

- gain altitude; the steeper the Vikhr has to dive, the less chance that it will hit the ground at the bottom of its spiral

- the further the Vikhr has to travel, the less it will spiral in the end-game, and the "straighter" it will fly. Consequently, you may actually want to F-pole your Vikhrs by slowing down and putting the target at gimbal limits after launch.

I don't recall what the gimbal limits are though for the Su-25T.

Good points D-scythe...those suggestions make sense. When you are talking gimbal limits..are you talking about the limits of the Shkval system to designate? If so..the manual says +/-35 azimuth and +15/-85 elevation....

Thanks for the info..

BeachAV8R

I'm just trying to squeeze in as much "training" per flight as possible. With such a wide variety of weapons that the -T can haul..it requires loading a lot of varied ordnance (dumb bombs, laser guided missiles, rockets..etc..) for each mission. I can tell you..this mission in particular I had to write the load-out on a piece of paper..and I also wrote out a sequence of events on a pad of paper so I could remember what ordnance to use against which target. So there was a "script" to the mission...although as you can see..the mission, as flown, deviated a bit from the script (ie: missing both of the control towers..doh!). It was a pretty busy time.

Sure has been fun learning through this process though. Like I've said before..the missions are less of a teaching tool than a "mea culpa" since I end up learning more after the mission (through these threads) than I did before the mission..

BeachAV8R

Here's a track of a mission I did using Vikhrs. I've played this scenario before so I went a little lower than I would have otherwise. Probably would've helped my last couple of passes if I had followed my own advice though...lol

http://w12.easy-share.com/849501.html

If you don't have this line with these values in your lockon/config/view/view.lua file the track may not play back exactly right.

Hi guys,

just as a short followup: I did this mission again this weekend, and finally quite successfully so.

One of the key points for me came from the laser-guided missiles tutorials: the autopilot is there to use it

What I did is basically stabilize the aircraft in a shallow descent towards the targets, then do "Attitude hold" (ALT-1) and there is all the time of the world (well, nearly ) to concentrate on the TV monitor to get the targetting done ...

Thanks once again to BeachAV8R for this fine training track !!

-Axel-

Yeah, I was talking about the gimbal limits of the designator (Shkval). Typically, when using Vikhrs (and Mavericks), I circle about the target area out of SAM range for a couple passes, using my RWR, Shkval/IIR image and visual to scope out where my targets and the SAM/ZSUs are.

If you have wingmen, and you're sure that there are no radar-guided SAMs around, you can also cut him loose as you scope out the area against enemy air defenses with the "Attack Air defenses" command. He'll likely absorb some AAA/IR SAM fire, but he should be fine and would more importantly cue you to where the threats are. It's important though that you *must* take out the radar-guided SAMs first, as the AI has the annoying tendency to jettison their A/G load when under attack by a radar missile.

Then just hang back in the periphery and F-pole your shots to take out the threats first. Then you can run in and take out whatever you want, dropping flares whenever you descend low enough for a MANPADS shot. You're loaded with flares, so go wild.

Great mission report, really enjoyed the read. The Su-25 is so much fun to fly, a real pilots' aeroplane.

Oh, and one more thing. These BeachAv8r mission reports should really be in the article library, so they can be linked and accessed in a more regular manner by people who search for info on Lock-On. They are a great SimHQ resource, and should be classed as such, unless Beach, you want them on your own site?

But by putting them in the forums, I think we get much better discussion, no?

How about if I link them in the FAQ?

I think keeping them here is fine enough, as I don't even stop by the main page anymore.

I like them in the forums because it generates a lot of discussion...from which I (selfishly) learn.. Eventually I'll format them and move them onto my web-page later on down the road (I was supposed to do that to the Jane's F-18 ones but just haven't gotten around to it..doh!)...

Glad people are enjoying them..and the discussions. I've already started working on the next one..

BeachAV8R

you can find them here as a pdf download

reports

Nowhere did I say that they SHOULDN't be in the forums...

Just thought they'd be great to have somewhere "more fixed", if people do a web search.

Thanks Thomas! Looking forward to finishing training and starting to fly some other stuff (like your missions!).. I saw your posts on the Ubi-forums and I feel your pain (regarding making missions only to have them rendered unflyable with subsequent patches/upgrades). I certainly wish that some converter could be made...but if past history is a tell-tale..

Good luck!

BeachAV8R

Hey Beach,

Loving these missions but one minor typo has been bugging me: it's "cannon", not "canon".

Also, I thought the Vikhr does that spiral flight on purpose, as an energy-bleeding maneuver, and therefore the single servo is a design feature, isn't it?

Thanks, and keep 'em coming!