Alright, something that I've noticed and I have experience with in Rotary Aviation is what to do when under attack by heat seeking missiles: MANPADS, Trip A, and higher performance missiles, i.e. the sidewinders launched by the Chaparral.
(Actually given the amount I have written, I seem to know a bit more then I thought)

From my experience in Falcon and LOMAC with the A-10, the SA-7/SA-16 (Igla)/Stinger isn't that big of a danger if you have High E and are able to detect it. As missiles go, MANPADS are very low powered, and are only truly effective at short ranges.

Most fixed wing aircraft have significant advantages over rotary aviation:

1. They are faster, more maneuverable, better visibility, better electronics suites (In the case of radar missiles)

2. They can fly higher, avoiding Low E missiles, and triple A, however the trade off is they are in the engagement envelope of higher E missiles, SA-2, SA-6, Hawk, Patriot, SA-10, etc


However, in the KA-50, you've lost most of those advantages. What I would like to do is with input from other users compile a guide in what to do if under attack by dedicated anti air systems. I would like to only include systems such as short range batteries only, given the lack of a RWR, defense against radar SAMS and AAMs seems largly up to situational awareness and luck.

Situational awareness:
If you detect the enemy before they do, they can be avoided! This is much more important if you are not using labels, the Shkval can scan out to 12k?, but further then the naked eye, and much better then you monitor!

Avoiding known enemy locations: now of course given that this is an attack helicopter, your CO will get pretty pissed if you avoid the enemy for fear of contact. However, it is much easier to circumvent a 23mm then fly over it.

If you detect enemy threats at range the KA-50 is more than capable of dealing with stationary targets at standoff range, at altitude, your 30mm cannon can outshoot smaller AAA batteries, the paradox is the higher altitude puts you at risk for radar SAMS and fighters if they are in the area.
Likewise, the AT-16 can easily take out threats, however, whether or not you should waste one of your Vhikhr missiles on a stationary battery when a platoon of Abrams MBTs are breaking through the lines is up to you…

- Sun Tzu
The clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy's will to be imposed on him.

In essence, being aware of your surroundings at all times allows you the freedom to act with initiative. Ideally you should never find out the enemy is at 3:00 by hearing the dings of rounds hitting your canopy. Your field of options will suddenly become quite limited, because you have no idea if its just a guy with a .50 or a guy with a .50 with a pair of Avengers waiting for you to pop up.


MANPADS:
If you are fired upon by a short range SAM, do not panic. First of all, despite what seems to be an enormous performance advantage over your aircraft they are not nearly as effective as their larger brethren. They are strictly defensive weapons.
Even though the SA-16 and Stinger are all aspect missiles, if your nose is facing the missile in flight will decrease the chances of a successful impact. Modern attack helicopters are designed to dampen the IR signature produced by their turbines, facing the threat will provide much less IR signature then giving it a clear view of your exhaust ports.

The KA-50 is equipped with a flare launcher. MANPADS do not have a high resistance to countermeasures as larger SAMs and AA missiles do.

Depending on the situation, you may be able to use the terrain to your advantage, placing obstacles and or terrain features between yourself and the missile. The same hills which may have hidden the enemy battery from visual view may also hide your aircraft from the incoming missile.


A missile flying at mach 2.3 at a low altitude will have a speed of 2510 feet per second. If that missile is fired at the maximum range of 4.3 nm, it will take a hair over nine seconds to reach you. As you read this, count to 9 Mississippi, as you count, calm down. A missile is inbound at 11’0clock, you clearly see the smoke trail. Pop flares, and begin to evade. Check your surroundings, are there any buildings you can hide behind, hills, fog, turn towards the missile, speed up, begin evasive maneuvers, pop more flares.

A handy trick once you have eyeballed a missile is to note whether it is moving across your canopy or seems to remain stationary. If it is crossing your canopy, that is a good indication that it is not tracking you, either it failed to lock, broke lock, or was even fired at someone else! You can proceed to give it less thought, locate the firing point, watch for a second smoke trail, and decide whether to break contact or if you can engage the battery with hope of destroying any further launch capabilities.

If the missile is not moving across your canopy, then you have a problem. This means that it is tracking you. Deploy flares, and take evasive maneuvers. Just because you can’t seem to shake the missile off does not mean all is lost though. It is worth noting that both the SA-7 and SA-16 have contact/grazing warheads. This means that the missile must physically touch your aircraft in order to detonate. The FIM-92 stinger has a proximity warhead however. Even so, all three missiles have relatively small warheads, and depending on where they impact/detonate is not necessarily a death sentence. If you are hit, analyze your damage. If the aircraft is salvageable, extinguish fires, pop more flares and disengage, and see if you can limp home. If not, punch out and hope that you didn’t piss off the enemy troopers too much that they wouldn’t consider not taking you prisoner.

The following information was taken from TAC REF Falcon 4.0

The SA-7 Strela Range 3.2 nm, mach 2.

SA-16 (Igla) Range 4.5nm*, speed mach 2.8, much more effective then the SA-7, and comparable to the FIM-92 Stinger.

Stinger: 4.3 nm*, mach 2.2

*Note, that Range is the max range under ideal circumstances, which for MANPADS are clear weather, daylight hours. A missile fired from 1km away is a much greater threat then one fired at max range as it will have much more potential energy.

**I have not included info on max altitude, because it is doubtful you will be above the maximum engagement envelope.

Speed too is under ideal circumstances, however you can rest assured that even under non-ideal firing conditions, the SAM can still outperform your Kamov 

Triple A:

Evasive Maneuvers: Or how I remembered that I cannot pull 9g’s in the Black Shark and fell in love with the fact that I just hacked my rotors off!

I will get to this later. If other users wish to add to any of the sections, please do so!

By all means, if any of the information i have stated is incorrect or additional information can be added, by all means call me out on it or post the correct information


Last edited by Robdcamp; 12/07/09 07:35 PM.