2009 Joint Services Open House: Assorted Images (Part 1)

The Joint Services Open House is held every year during the second week of May at the Andrews Air Force Base in MD, USA. It features both a great airshow and static displays from the US Army, the US Air Force, the US Navy, the US Marine Corps, the US Coast Guard and also civilian organizations.

I visited the show on May 16th and took some pictures of the static displays. Unfortunately, the ceiling was very low and many of the air performances were delayed to times after my departure.

The C-17 Globemaster, a gargantuan transport.

The AC-130's arsenal is nothing to kid about

The AC-130's target acquisition system. You can run, but you can't hide ...

Nimble and versatile. What's not to like about this classic?

The cockpit of the air-assault heli above


A USMC's AH-1W Super Cobra

Another angle of the Cobra ...

Rocket launchers of the same Cobra

"The pilot's office". USMC AH-1W Super Cobra.

More to come in a future entry. Stay tuned.

Cheers,

Panther Games Offer an Unrivaled Command Experience

Panther Games is a small war games developing company based in Australia. They developed a series of war games in which you command troops at a level of warfare situated between the tactical and operational (divisions and brigades) during WWII.


The games from Panther are not your average WWII war game.

To start with, the representation of time and space in this series has no pre-set boundaries (no hexes, no turns). The games are also historically accurate and the mechanics of real-life combat and movement are exquisitely modeled.

But in my opinion the most revolutionary feature of this game series is how it implements a command structure in which you can delegate tasks to a virtual staff that will carry them on. Carry them on very efficiently, I must add because the artificial intelligence of these series is outstanding. You can order a brigade, a battalion, a company (whatever your choice down to the smaller unit represented, the platoon) to move, probe, attack, etc., and the virtual staff will execute such orders, moving accordingly all the units involved. No need for you to push around every single icon in the map.

It doesn't end there: you staff will need time to execute your orders. If you order a battalion to attack a hill, they will need an hour at best to organize themselves for such a tactical mission. If they are under fire, or if you have been giving too many orders (simulating staff overload), it may take even more. This orders delay system is unique and forces the player to think ahead on time about how the battlefield is continuously changing.

Panther Games newest production, "Battles from the Bulge" is in advanced beta-test stage right now. The release is planned for this year.


Cheers,

DCS Black Shark: Tactics Primer (Part 2)

10 Rules to Live By (continued)

Rule #4: New Area=Danger Area
Every time you enter a new area, assume that every tree is hiding an enemy anti-aircraft system.

Rule #5: There is no such thing as too much reconnaissance
Taking advantage of your helicopter's maneuverability and powerful optic systems, thoroughly recon any new area you are about to enter. Use terrain to mask your position: initiate a hover from a covered position, then slowly and progressively bob-up until you can scan all the new area. During this bob-up, get ready to descend in case you are detected or fired upon.

Rule # 6: Identify your targets
The modern battlefield is very dynamic. The position of enemy and friendly forces can change considerably in a very short time and without notice. Given the mobility of mechanized and armored warfare the concept of front-line is obsolete. Identify your targets based on type of equipment, their spatial orientation and the briefing.

Rule #7: Preserve ammunition
It is useless to arrive to the objective with the cannon as your only weapon available. Focus on the mission objective. Avoid decisive engagements with opportunity targets if doing so means risking the completion of the mission. Also, remember that once you completed the mission you may need ammo to fight your way back to base.

Rule #8: Know the operational situation
Pay very close attention to the briefing: it contains all intelligence available at the time of take-off. Depending the type of enemy forces you will face, arm your helicopter with according ammo and counter-measures. Pay close attention to the climate report, it may be important to determine your approach to the objective area. Off all combat aircraft, the attack helicopter is the one that operates more close to land forces. Try to understand your mission objective in the context of the operations of the land forces your are supporting.

Rule #9: Attack the enemy from your maximum munition range and on its flanks
When you attack frontally, you expose your helicopter to fire from all the enemy line. Attacking on one flank the amount of enemy weapon systems that can fire at you are reduced.

Rule #10: Patience
Lack of patience is a killer. When you discover enemy units at a rate higher than the rate that you can destroy them, re-think your approach.


Source for the "10 Rules to Live By" entry:

"Gunship Academy", by the great simulation-guides author Richard Sheffield.

Cheers,

"The Most Dangerous Animal: Human Nature and the Origins of War"

Every human in earth knows wars as catastrophic events. Why we humans engage in them anyways?

This fantastic book by Dr. David Livingstone Smith offers a somber hypothesis from the perspective of evolution, anthropology and psychology: evolution may have shaped our human brains in that way.

According to the author we have a strong and intrinsic disgust for killing each other, yet through evolution the brains of our ancestors have acquired the trait of being able to deceit others and even ourselves. Surprisingly, this self-deceit process appears to be even unconscious. Add to that our ability to imagine threats and the list of ingredients for the recipe of the "Most Dangerous Animal" is almost complete.

To explore the possible roots of our same-species violent behavior and to find an explanation to it, this book will take you back and forth in time and space, from a cave millions of years ago to present day Iraq. Well documented, accessible to the lay reader, this is book written in an engaging style.

A small warning: this book is not a light reading neither it has a happy ending. The vignettes of wars and other violent acts are very graphic and quickly brings the point to you that we tend to sanitize, romanticize and glorify war. The book wraps it up with a final chapter explaining why, alas, there is apparently no end in sight for the terrible custom of war.

Cheers,

DCS Black Shark: Tactics Primer (Part 2)

10 Rules to Live by (Continued)

Rule #2: Fire munitions from their maximum range

The farther you are from your target, the less possible it will detect and fire back at you.

Shkval view of an enemy tank engaged with an anti-tank missile from a distance of 1.7 km. At this distance, enemy tanks can shoot you down very easily.

Shkval view of an enemy tank engaged with an anti-tank missile from a distance of 5.3 km. At this distance, the enemy tanks will have a hard time detecting and firing at you.

Rule #3: Avoid the "Dead Man's Zone"

The crest of hills are the worst places to be hovering or flying. Remember to use terrain to mask your helicopter. Fly around hills, not over them.

(Click on the image for an expanded view)

(Click on the image for an expanded view)

Cheers,

DCS Black Shark: Tactics Primer (Part 2)

10 Rules to Live By

All forms of combat require an agile mind able to adapt to the continuously changing challenges of the battlefield. In tactical combat, there are never absolute truths or optimal solutions and speaking of "rules" sounds like out of place. The "rules" discussed here are actually guides that are valid in most situations. Take these "rules" as a framework to think about your own solutions to the tactical challenges you will face.

Rule #1: Never fly over the objective

... or over any area in which you know or suspect there are enemy troops. Remember, under your aircraft is one of the places where you cannot see or aim your weapons.

(Click on the image for an expanded view). During un-guided rocket runs is when most of virtual pilots make the mistake of over-flying the objective.

(Click on the image for an expanded view)

(Click on the image for an expanded view). An ideal un-guided rocket run.

(Click on the image for an expanded view)

Cheers,

Real Life Interruption. Will be back soon though!

Dear readers,

I'm in a business trip and will be back posting very soon. Stay tuned!

Cheers,

"No Enemy, but Peace", a Comic About Real Heroes

This has to be my oddest find ever. In a comics store I found a comic written by a US Marine about a real-life story of heroism and courage during the battle of At-Tarmiyah.

Very good reading and illustrations. You immediately note that the author knows what he is writing about.

There is a more extensive comic coming out in the near future.

Please support this small operation by buying the comic here.

Cheers,

War Gaming in the Military

The Training and Simulation Journal has an article about war gaming in the armed forces around the globe.

The Army realized that the new generation, or Generation Y, is a significant percentage of the Army and that it learns more efficiently using a game than with PowerPoint, said Don Toliver, operations director at the National Simulation Center (NSC) at the Army Combined Arms Center and Training at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

Cheers,

DCS Black Shark: Tactical Landing ... Sorta

1.5 km away from the runway

Runway is getting closer ...

Gear down!

The runway gets buried under the nose. Thank Lord for TrackIR!

The dive ...

From the cockpit, closely watching the airspeed ...

Pulling the cyclic like there was no tomorrow

Finally level flight

Touchdown!

Cheers,