Falcon 4 BMS - Targets of Opportunity

Our F-16C flight crosses into North Korea on a battlefield air interdiction mission. The FEBA is ripe with enemy targets. Rifle!

The high number of ways that the Falcon's targeting and navigation systems can be used to accomplish a mission is just amazing. In this short entry, how I used a mark point to acquire targets of opportunity that were not in our briefing.


This is BAI mission in one of the Falcon 4 BMS campaigns. We are loaded with AGM65-D Mavericks and our target is a North Korean mechanized battalion.

After our takeoff from Kunsan (background), we climbed  and regrouped before starting our navigation towards the target area.

Some 80 miles from our target (steerpoint 3), it's time to cool down the Mavericks and prep the targeting and weapon systems for the mission.

My four ship flight, in trail formation.

The city of Seoul. So big. So vulnerable.

The target area, as seen through the seeking head of a Maverick. Where is the mechanized battalion?



The target area (diamond in the HUD) has very little to offer to our ordnance. We shoot at some unidentified static structures ... But a point west of the target area (box almost over imposed the flight path marker) catches my attention because of the staggering amount of vehicles in it.

I make a mark point on the position of these vehicles. The mark is now waypoint 26, which I can recall with the ICP (all the buttonery with the numbers, see also the DED panel in the right or the cockpit) and aid to target the rest of my Mavericks.

Targeting around steer point/mark 26. The right MFD shows the Maverick's head seeker and the left MFD the ground radar.

It took me several passes to acquire targets. In this image, I am approaching steer point/mark 26 (diamond in the HUD) from the east. The box in the HUD is where the Maverick's head is pointing. The assigned target area is near the buildings in the top left of the screenshot.

After all the ordnance is spent. I regroup my flight over friendly skies. We have done some good killing (note smoke billow in the far background).

A shaky return to Kunsan. Despite the appearances, the weather had some pretty significant winds to test our skills. Remember to practice landings in non-perfect weather conditions before you go into a campaign.

We were lucky to be cleared for landing very quickly. The airbase was buzzing with activity. Another flight was due to takeoff within minutes of our landing.

We received an excellent rating for our performance. We ended up hitting a missile brigade and we destroyed trucks and launchers, mainly. I hit two trucks and one SA-3 (launcher, vehicle, or just the suitcase ... I don't know).

The mark point helped me enormously. I tend to get very tense during these campaign missions and disorientation goes wild. A good mark, which becomes a new steer point is a great help because I can slave sensors and guided weapons to it.

Cheers,