Putting my (Pilot) Act Together: Instruments Landing

As I mentioned in a previous entry, the flight instructors over at the ECV 56 Condor (a virtual squadron headquartered in Argentina) are holding training sessions on instrument landings with the DCS Black Shark.

Is in times like this that it becomes clear how good pilots they are. Is in times like this that I feel like I'm crashing a party. :) So, time to learn those things I never did and to re-learn those things that I gave little attention in my past short virtual pilot career.

How to land by instruments is a thing I never understood completely back in my combat flight simulator days. In perspective, I pretty much got shot down during most missions. So my landings were always few and very happy occassions.

For being such a lousy virtual pilot, I deserve to be punished and learn instrument landings in X-Plane's Cessna. But instead I treated myself to the virtual cockpit of an F-16 in Falcon 4 Allied Force (F4AF). This is a bit like learning to drive a car in a Ferrari.

My excuse is that F4AF's manual is very well written and detailed. Given the age of this simulator, there is also plenty of material online.

I finally could understand what the fuzz is all about instrument landings.

After "tuning in" to an airport TACAN station, the horizontal situation indication (HSI, inside the red square) graphically represents my aircraft's position relative to the runway. Click the image to enlarge.

Once moderatly aligned with the cues in the HSI, is time to use the ILS vertical and horizontal bars (inside the red square) to catch a ride on an optimal glideslope (not the case here, but close enough). Click the image to enlarge.

I landed pretty but with too much forward airspeed. This particular runway (16L, Kunsan, South Korea) is very short and breaking without eating the airbase fence is quite a thrill. Click the image to enlarge.

Cheers,

Squad Battles Games Reviewed in Training and Simulation Journal

Two HPS Games from the Squad Battles Series have been reviewed by Michel Peck in the printed version of the Training and Simulation Journal (TSJ). For some reason, TSJ has not posted the current issue in their website, so I can't link you to the article.

The article is titled "Discovering forgotten battles" and it reviews both Squad Battles Soviet: Afghan War and Squad Battles: Dien Bien Phu. Mr. Peck emphasizes the importance of games like these to get less known/popular conflicts to be appreciated, specially in these times where we are fightin insurgencies. He also laments the game mechanics of the Squad Battles series is starting to show their age.

An scenario of Squad Battles: Soviet Afghan War. Click the image to expand it.

In a journal that is usually chock-full of articles about multi-million dollar simulations, it is always refreshing to see reviews and articles by Michael Peck about off-the-shelf war games . He strucks me as a sort of TSJ's "resident gamer". Indeed, there is also another article in the same issue by Mr. Peck about the use of the console games in the US Army for training and physical rehabilitation.

Cheers,

You Are Not Hardcore Until You Fly the Falcon

Any serious simulation website, blog or community forum should have at least a word about Falcon 4.0 or any of its re-incarnations like Falcon 4.0 Allied Force.

To correct this blog's glaring omission, this is just a quick note on a simulator that is already 10 years old and still has lots to give.

I picked up my Falcon 4.0 at a ToysRUs (a big toy store chain in the US) sometime during 1999. It was more out of curiosity than anything else because I was not at all into flight simulators (or anything else interesting for that matter).

Many computers have sited on my desk and a variety of interests have come and gone through me since that time. But one thing was constant: a copy of Falcon in the hard drive.

This is the most complete simulation of the F-16 avionics to ever reach the civilian market. I once read that a lucky fan of Falcon 4.0 got to sit in a military grade F-16 simulator thanks to a fighter-pilot friend and that everybody was astonished on how much the civilian enthusiast knew about the avionics.

Falcon 4's uniqueness doesn't end in the detailed avionics. The simulation includes a rich, complex virtual war being waged around the virtual F-16 Falcon. It is almost embarrassing that no flight simulator released in the last ten years has not come even close to match the massive scope of this simulation.

Chances are you already know about this simulator. If don't, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy from any game store. It's the best 20 bucks you will ever spend.

As for myself, I'm back to flight school taking a refresher course.


Cheers,

Getting Ready for Combat in Built Up Areas (ArmA 2)

One small step for man, one giant leap for the enemy

Imagine the following situation: a urban battle is raging and you and your fire team are moving down a very narrow alley. You are enjoying cover and concealment almost 360 degrees around you. You and your team's only worries are covering the front and the rear of the formation. For the hundred steps of the alley crossing, it's always the same: cover the front and the rear. Once you arrive to the exit of the alley, a single step into the street will expose you to thousands of potential enemy fields of fire. One hundred steps of relative safety blown away by just one single step.

The paragraph above is an example of the typical and sudden tactical environment changes that happen during fights in urban areas. Some people call these type of events "compression to expansion" tactical situation changes . Compression meaning both that you are constricted in a small physical space and that very few tactical options are available for the potential enemies around you. Expansion meaning both a bigger physical space around you and increased tactical options for the enemy to shoot you.

Sudden tactical environment changes like the one above can cause sensory overload, a disease for which the only known cure is training.

There are literally thousands of pages about urban warfare available in the net. The scope of this humble blog is just too small to cover even one of those to a decent extent. So please bear with me with this short and disjointed note about the topic.

Balancing your tactical checkbook and herding cats at the same time

Besides the tactical challenges of the realistically simulated urban combat, the ArmA 2 player is up for another one: commanding the AI bots assigned to him. Lines of sight are fragmented in built-up areas and keeping all your virtual subordinates out of danger zones or in a formation that allows mutual overwatch requires skill and quick thinking.

The first thing that I found useful while advancing in built up areas is to rely on the compact column formation. Any formation that puts any of your virtual men at a significant distance from your axis of advance will result in an AI subordinate wandering off into or around a building and straight into an enemy line of fire.

This ain't Fallujah, but still it gives me the creeps. #2 and #3 have been ordered to move to opposite sides of the street and provide cover.

The second thing I like is to issue the "move there" order to individual soldiers or teams. The nice thing about this order is that your subordinate/s go/es exactly where you ordered them and, most importantly, they stay there until you issue a new order.

#2 and #3 in the background are providing overwatch for #4 and me. Note how #2 and #3 stay behind (their icons show "ready" status) and how #4 moves along behind me (column formation) watching my left flank.

A typical "compression to expansion" is when you and your team arrive to a corner. I usually take up the task of peeking around corners myself (can't get the AI to do that without getting killed). When just a peek is not enough and a more prolongued observation around the corner is needed, I'm growing fond of doing it by lying prone. I don't know if this is how it is done in real combat, but peeking around corners lying prone is still being teached by some Marine instructors.
In ArmA 2 at least it helps a bit with not exposing so much of your body to the enemy. But it also has the caveat that it takes a fraction of more time to get back to cover if you are spotted.

If you peek around a corner lying prone, it is advisable to move slowly. Just in case the enemy is a few meters away.

That's it for now. How long until we get into moving like this diagram below?


: )


Cheers,

Pattern Approaches with the (DCS) Black Shark

With the release of the DCS Black Shark extended manual, it was just a question of time until seeing the flight instructors of the Virtual Combat Squadron 56 Condor (ECV56 Condor) raise the bar for the squadron's pilots. The veterans among the virtual pilot cadre of the ECV56 are the real deal: they squeeze every single drop of simulation juice out of the DCS Black Shark. There is a sense of airmen pride in this virtual unit, which is great. Sometimes my piloting skills and knowlege are so sub-par that I feel like a party crasher. :)

Right now, the instructors of the virtual unit are focusing on pattern landing approaches. They have posted a couple of mini-missions for practice, one with clear weather and the other one with weather that is poor to even drive a car. (The ECV56 Condor is headquartered in Argentina and the website is in Spanish)

A great evening for flying around the airbase

Turning for yet another approach leg

It's getting late, let's land this thing and have some vodka

The images above from the clear weather mini-mission. Take a look below for the second mission in poor weather.

Somebody please tell me why I signed up for this?

Nothing else to trust but your instruments

I couldn't believe I made it in one piece

I have a lot of things to cover yet. All the flying above done with the help of the ABRIS and tuning into the airport's non-directional beacons (NDB). My approach slope was a living joke.

Cheers,

"Combat Mission Shock Force: British Forces", Review at Out of Eight

James Allen has a new review of "Combat Mission Shock Force: British Forces" in his fantastic "Out of Eight PC Games Reviews" blog.

His verdict is not very encouraging on the basis of the low new content vs price ratio. James even says that "you could interchange the British units with American ones and most people won't notice any alteration in performance or capabilities". I have a different opinion on this and perhaps I should have said it in a bit different way. But I see what he is trying to convey in that passage.

The review is spot on when it comes on problems that haven't been fixed, like path finding and others. Unfortunately, it looks like Battlefront is not going to make any significant changes on the engine.

Great review, James.

Cheers,

Pinned Under Heavy Suppressive Fire, But Still in the Fight !

This week has been atrocious at my full-time work. For extra fun, this week I started a new part-time gig.

Fear not, I'm not going to blog about my life. The two sentences above just to let you know why I haven't updated this blog for a whole week. :)

Let's continue the fun!

Thank you for checking out the blog despite the lack of updates.

Cheers,

Rear Area Security with Light Armored Vehicles: After Action Report (Steel Beasts ProPE)

Continued from here.

I'm in command of 2nd Platoon, the one taking the west approach and attempting to get really close to the enemy BMP-2s.

Tactical Plan from the previous entry. Click the image to expand it.

And to re-phrase why both 2nd and 3rd Platoons are tanking such convoluted routes to get into firing range, this nugget of wisdom puts it very eloquently:

A 4,000-metre line of sight allows the enemy to shoot you 2,000 m before you can shoot him.

Rule #9 out of "Nine Rules to help you stay alive with the LAV III"
Canadian Army Field Manual

So we march ...

First nasty surprise of the mission: the route I choose for 2nd Platoon was not 100% covered. In the screen above, an AT-5 missile fired from a BMP-2 just splashed on the opposite side slope of the hill we were skirting. We just pushed pedal to the metal and continued forward. Click the image to expand it.

Our right flank continued to be our upmost worry. Click the image to expand it.

Luckily, the last leg of our approach had a dirt road that that allowed us to march faster. Click the image to expand it.

Last hundred meters of our march. We are moving north now and the enemy is on the reverse slope of this hill. We can hear the firefight between the BMP-2s and the 3rd Platoon in SBF 1 position. It's good that the BMP-2s are busy so we can ambush them from behind. Click the image to expand it.

We sneaked on the rear of the enemy position successfully, but as soon as our first rounds were fired, the BMP-2s turned on us. Under the cover of smoke, I could maintain my position and destroy this vehicle. Click the image to expand it.

I've had a terrible time with the laser range-finder and the ballistic computer for this point-blank engagement. I had to lase something some 400 meters behind the BMP-2 to get the gun elevation of my ASLAV-25 for firing onto targets that close.

While my smoke curtain was still up, this BMP-2 charged on us. It took the combined fire of two ASLAV-25s to stop it. Click the image to expand it.

This is after the smoke washed off. Close combat doesn't get more close than this. Click the image to expand it.

The remaining enemy infantry threat was no slouch. Remember the thin armor of the ASLAV-25 can be taken out by an RPG and that we are in very close terrain. We pulled a bit back and shelled the infantry with HEAT and 7.62 mm rounds. Click the image to expand it.

With the target area finally clear, we can relax a bit with sightseeing. This is 3rd Platoon on SBF1 position. Click the image to expand it.

Cheers,

Rear Area Security with Light Armored Vehicles (Steel Beasts ProPE)

This tactical vignette is about the use of the light armored vehicles, specifically the ASLAV-25 featured in Steel Beasts ProPE.

Given the high tempo of modern armored/mechanized operations, rear area security is always challenging and a major concern of operation planners. In this user-made Steel Beasts mission, I wanted to see how well a couple of ASLAV-25 platoons would cope with bypassed mechanized units threatening the rear area of an advancing NATO column.

Five minutes before the mission start, NATO supply trains moving east through main supply route "Key" (MSR Key) received enemy direct fire coming from the south. At least two Russian BMP-2s have been spotted 3 km south of MSR Key. These enemy vehicles are probably part of a unit bypassed by an earlier NATO attack.

Two reconnaissance platoons (4 ASLAV-25s each) of Company A were tasked to destroy the enemy vehicles in order to allow the flow of supplies along MSR Key. On order, the two platoons are to secure the area where enemy forces are located until more forces are assembled to screen MSR Key.

I introduced the ASLAV-25 in a previous blog entry. Essentially a reconnaissance vehicle, the ASLAV-25's agility and speed will take you out of bad places very fast. Unfortunately if driven by the tactically impaired like me, the vehicle will get into a hot zone as equally as fast. Compared to an infantry fighting vehicle, the ASLAV-25 is under-armored and under-gunned. The main 25 mm autocannon can fire both sabot and HEAT rounds up to a range of ~2,500 m. It should be noted though that the tracers for the 25 mm cannon rounds appear to almost burn out after ~1,800 m and checking where your rounds are hitting beyond that range is very challenging. The ASLAV-25 has also a ballistic computer and a powerful thermal imaging system.

The ASLAV-25, looking good before the mission. Expand the image by clicking it.

In a nutshell, the LAV reconnaissance line of vehicles is designed more for mobility and stealthy observation of the enemy rather than fighting. This doesn't mean that LAV can't be used to fight. For more details, I recommend the wonderful short book whose cover is shown below.

This is one of the best books out there about the use of LAVs in reconnaissance and security missions.

Coming back to the mission, here is the view from the ambushed supply vehicles in MSR Key towards the hilly-wooded terrain south where the enemy BMP-2s are located.

Looking south from the main supply route "Key". The enemy is in the hilly-wooded terrain in the background. Expand the image by clicking it.

The enemy is protected by 3,000 m of distance and out of reach for the ASLAV-25's autocannons. Any ASLAV-25s putting their tires through MSR Key or the terrain south of it would be in open terrain and defenseless against the long range AT-5 missiles fired from the BMP-2s.

To close with the enemy within the range of our weapons, the two platoons will approach by separate and covered routes. 3nd Platoon will approach from the west of the enemy position and occupy a support by fire position (SBF 1 in the map, a saddle that hopefully offers both good cover and observation) in order to suppress/harass the BMP-2s and allow 2nd Platoon's approach for a close-range kill from the east.

Plan of attack. MSR Key is the dotted line winding northeast. The box labelled "Kill Zone" is the region where most of the enemy fire landed so far. The suspected position of the enemy is labelled with a red ambush tactical symbol. See text for more details. Expand the image by clicking it.

If anything goes wrong with 2nd Platoon's approach, 3rd Platoon will move to an alternate attack by fire position (ABF 2 in the map) in a last attempt to destroy the enemy.

That's the plan.

Continues here.

Cheers,

Free Tree Removal Service, Courtesy of the British Army (CMSF-British Forces)

As I mentioned in a previous entry, I'm having a CMSF-British-Forces PBEM match with my friend Olav.

After 10 minutes of unbearable battlefield silence (briefly interrupted by Syrian indirect fire) things are picking up.

Olav is defending as the Syrians and has placed a well-concealed, stationary T-55 tank in the outer perimeter of what I am guessing will be a defense in depth.

Contact, tank, front!

A Challenger British tank chickened out at the sight of the Syrian T-55 and reversed under the cover of smoke. A minute later or so, the British tank crew gained back enough composure to try again. A firefight between both tanks is still raging after some long 25 seconds. In tank warfare, 25 seconds is a very long time ...

A stationary Syrian T-55 under fire from a British Challenger. Expand the image by clicking on it.

Note the relatively big explosion in the picture above.

Does it mean that the British Challenger tank is using HEAT (High explosive anti-tank) instead of sabot rounds?

Same as above from another angle. Note how the explosion blew out the foliage of the tree in front of the tank. Expand the image by clicking on it.

The explosion was big enough to de-foliate a tree in front of the tank. Very likely a HEAT round would do.

Damn it, I never payed attention to tank ammo selection in CMSF. Is it automatically done by the AI?

That's great landscaping, lads! Would you fancy focusing in the tank now? :)

Cheers,