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#1652508 - 08/23/05 10:19 PM EECH Training Mission Report #3  
Joined: Jan 2001
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BeachAV8R Offline
Lifer
BeachAV8R  Offline
Lifer

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KCLT


Now that we’ve learned how to fly and how to use our sensors, it’s time to start blowing things up! The Comanche offers various weapons and methods to accomplish our mission goals while increasing our survivability on the battlefield. Generally the type of target will dictate the loadout that you will take with you on your mission. Nothing is worse that finding something worthwhile to destroy only to realize you aren’t carrying the proper weapon to do the job.

We’ll start out with a reminder that by loading external weapons pylons on your Comanche you will be incurring a large stealth penalty due to the increased radar reflectivity. As mentioned by Richard “Flexman” Hawley in his very valuable EECH Strategy Guide, by loading external pylons on your Comanche you effectively reduce your stealth characteristics to zero. Having the weapons bay doors open, gear down and other factors also greatly increase your visibility to enemy units. For more detailed information on these factors I highly suggest reading Chapter 4 in Flexman’s Strategy Guide.

Flexman’s EECH Strategy Guide: http://www.razorworks.com/enemyengaged/chguide/

Here we are preparing for the morning training sortie with an internal weapons load and externally mounted rockets.



After taking off we take up a course for the training area. As mentioned in a previous training lesson I like to trim the helicopter to maintain “hands off” flying when I’m in cruise mode. This I accomplish by mapping the trim function (T and Shift-T) to a hat on the cyclic (stick) so that I can easily engage and disengage the trim hold. By properly setting the trim you can avoid having to constantly apply forward pressure to the cyclic to keep the nose down and can instead just make small corrections with the cyclic or gradual climbs and descents with the collective (throttle). Here we are trimmed out for level flight at 87% torque at 150 knots.





One thing to remember is that when you trim the helicopter for forward flight it will maintain that forward flight attitude even when you are maintaining a hover (a nose down attitude). This can be problematic since the targeting sensors have upward gimble limits and the weapons could also strike the ground after launching. Here you can see the helicopter in a hover with the trim setting still set for cruise; the pronounced nose down deck angle is readily apparent.





Hitting the trim reset on the cyclic (Shift-T) puts the helicopter back in a level hover attitude. Personally, I like to add in a few degrees of nose up pitch while in hover hold to allow for extra weapons clearance after launch.



Generally it is a good idea to keep your weapons stowed (and sensors off) until you are in an ideal position to locate and engage the enemy. Here you can see the canon storage bay open as the canon rotates forward. In addition, the internal storage bay doors open revealing the internal weapons bays that hold Hellfire and Stinger missiles.



Cont…



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#1652509 - 08/23/05 10:19 PM Re: EECH Training Mission Report #3  
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BeachAV8R Offline
Lifer
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Lifer

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The first weapon we will look at today will be the AIM-92 Stinger air-to-air missile. The Stinger is a heat seeking missile with a maximum range of 5km and is your primary air-to-air weapon. It cannot be fired against ground targets. The Stinger is susceptible to enemy counter-measures in the form of IR jammers and flares and you will often see your missiles spoofed in EECH. I’ve found that I have better success against the enemy when I launch multiple Stingers in quick succession at each target. Due to the small size of the Stinger up to 28 missiles can be carried at once within the internal bays and on the stub wings.





Use of the Stinger does not require activation of the air-to-air radar since air targets can also be targeted with other sensors but you’ll find that the air-to-air radar is the most effective (read: quickest) method of designating targets. Unfortunately, by activating your air-to-air radar you will be ringing the dinner bell for all attack helicopters and fighter aircraft in your vicinity so weigh carefully your mission objectives versus shooting down enemy air units before deciding to engage.

Here we’ve turned on our air-to-air radar and detected a pair of Mi-17 Hips at about 4km. We can also have the FLIR page up at the same time to give us a closer look on the FLIR MFD.



Launching our first missile against the lead Mi-17 we can see it take evasive maneuvers and attempt to decoy the inbound missile with a flare.





Since the Stinger carries a relatively small warhead (3kg) targets often require more than one hit for a kill, particularly larger helicopters and transport aircraft. Here I’ve launched two Stingers in quick succession against an Mi-6 Hook, a target that will likely require at least two Stingers to destroy.



More aggressive enemy attack helicopters will tend to turn into you and engage you rather than run. Here an Mi-28 Havoc is just outside of maximum engagement range (5km). Since the contact is hollow he is not in line-of-sight (LOS) but no doubt our radar emissions have alerted him to our presence. Since attack helicopters also have air-to-air missiles it is wise to get the first shot off and put them on the defensive. Here our Stinger comes into view in the bottom of the FLIR as it races toward the onrushing Havoc.



Cont…



#1652510 - 08/23/05 10:20 PM Re: EECH Training Mission Report #3  
Joined: Jan 2001
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BeachAV8R Offline
Lifer
BeachAV8R  Offline
Lifer

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Posts: 24,314
KCLT
The biggest threat to helicopters in EECH is, without question, enemy fighters. Fighters are fast, appear on the scene without warning, can evade your missiles easily and are difficult to track and engage. Missiles launched from enemy fighters are much more powerful than your Stingers and can result in instant death if you are hit by one. For instance, an AA-11 Archer is nearly 2.5 times more powerful than a Stinger. The best advice regarding enemy fighters is to avoid them altogether, hunker down and call for friendly air support to deal with them.

If you do elect to take on enemy fighters with Stingers you will have to use unconventional methods to kill them (including one technique we will mention in a subsequent training mission). The most difficult aspect of killing fighters is getting them within the relatively limited engagement range of your Stinger. With a maximum 5km engagement range fighters that are traveling away from you will more often than not outrun your Stinger so the highest percentile shot will be against a fighter that is closing on your position instead of heading away.





The next consideration is that fighters fly high above the battlefield while helicopters are safest at low altitudes in concealed positions. In order for your Stinger seeker to see and lock on to a high altitude fighter you will likely have to pitch your nose radically above the horizon. Once your seeker locks on I would advise firing a minimum of two (probably more) Stingers then dumping your nose and returning to low level in case enemy surface anti-air units are in the vicinity.





Your Stingers are fire and forget, so as soon as you fire start heading for cover and anticipate the fighter coming back for a missile shot on you if your missiles don’t find their mark. If your luck holds your missiles won’t fall for his counter-measures and you’ll be rewarded with the sight of an enemy fighter going down in flames.





The next weapon we will look at is the Hydra 70mm folding-fin aerial rockets. Hydra rockets are carried in pods that can only be mounted on the stub wings. They are unguided and basically require you to aim the helicopter toward the target prior to launching. The Hydra rockets come in two different varieties: the M255 high explosive (HE) and M261 multi-purpose sub-munition (MPSM). The M255(HE) is used primarily against soft targets such as parked helicopters, aircraft, tents and base infrastructure. The M261(MPSM) is most effective against lightly armored vehicles.



Although the rocket pods on the wings cannot move in azimuth (left to right) for targeting they will elevate from about 5 degrees up to -15 degrees down. With this capability it is only necessary to line up the target in the middle of the targeting “I-bar” and the targeting computer will automatically adjust the elevation of the pod to put the rockets on target.

Here you can see we’ve targeted a building. The fact that we’ve centered the target in our HIDSS (helmet targeting) doesn’t mean that our rockets will hit the target since the HIDSS targeting provides for off-axis targeting. The fact that we are not in a position to hit the target is reflected by the fact that targeting “I-beam” is comprised of dashed lines.



Cont..



#1652511 - 08/23/05 10:20 PM Re: EECH Training Mission Report #3  
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BeachAV8R Offline
Lifer
BeachAV8R  Offline
Lifer

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In order to assure a hit we need to pedal turn the helicopter to the right to bring the “I-beam” into alignment with the longitudinal axis of our helicopter. This can be somewhat awkward to do when using TrackIR as a true HIDSS but with practice it becomes second nature. Once you’ve aligned the helicopter properly with the target the “I-beam” will turn from dashed lines to solid lines indicating you are correctly positioned.



Merely looking away from the target with the HIDSS will not disturb the firing solution since the axis of the helicopter is still aligned with the target, so if you happen to glance away you will still see the solid “I-beam” indicating that you are still in good firing alignment.



Here you can see the Hydra pod has depressed downward to make the vertical alignment with the target.



After several rocket hits the structure is destroyed leaving only a smoking shell.



Rockets can be fired individually or you can set a salvo size (S and Shift-S) so that multiple rockets are fired for each trigger press.





Cont…



#1652512 - 08/23/05 10:20 PM Re: EECH Training Mission Report #3  
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BeachAV8R Offline
Lifer
BeachAV8R  Offline
Lifer

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Rockets are useful against large factory complexes provided that you have eliminated the air defenses around the facility. Since using rockets requires a fairly stable platform and engagement ranges are at such close ranges, rockets should usually only be used in fairly benign environments.





The M261(MPSM) is effective against softer armored targets such as troop transports and SAM vehicles, but you will require several direct hits to kill a heavily armored enemy tank. In the big scheme of things rockets aren’t the preferred weapons of choice since they don’t offer much in the way of stand-off engagement range and they require precise targeting and multiple hits to achieve the desired results.

BeachAV8R

Alienware P4 3.4 Ghz
2 GB DDR2 RAM
NVidia GeForce BFG 6800 PCIe (256MB)
Saitex X52
CH Pro Pedals
TrackIR2



#1652513 - 08/24/05 01:37 AM Re: EECH Training Mission Report #3  
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Muttley Offline
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Montreal, Canada
Great as usual, Beach! Thanks!
And how about that techie demo video of yours... is it coming or what?!?! ;-)


FlyHigh and CheckSix!
Muttley out.
#1652514 - 08/24/05 02:51 AM Re: EECH Training Mission Report #3  
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K6_Scorpion Offline
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Nice Job Beach, as always!


------------
<Uh... put signature here... and stuff>
#1652515 - 08/24/05 03:03 AM Re: EECH Training Mission Report #3  
Joined: Sep 2002
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Birdbrain Offline
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Yes, blowing things up, the meat and potatoes of it all! I am still fooling around with EECH's ancestor, Hind. I just finished training with 57mm and 80mm rocket pods, and I can't wait to try the FAE-500 fuel air bomb. I am saving all these reports for when I "graduate" to EECH. Thanks.


As ever,
Birdbrain
#1652516 - 08/24/05 04:59 AM Re: EECH Training Mission Report #3  
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Smokin256 Offline
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Sandy, Or. USA
Great stuff, love it as always!


Cheers.......Smokin256
#1652517 - 08/25/05 12:40 AM Re: EECH Training Mission Report #3  
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Sierra Hotel

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Tucson AZ
Very good read, almost goes without saying.

Flexman's Strategy Guide is a must read for EECH pilots. It looks like it's been updated since I last went there (although I can't recall how long ago that was--probably last year sometime). Anyways, it is an excellent resource. His campaign tips are priceless.

Certainly your primary A2A weapon against helos is the Stinger, but Hellfires are very effective as well, and there's always the gun if things get a little "up close and personal"!

I like the idea of hiding from fighter a/c, if possible. It really is a tough fight for the helo. You have to stay off the nose 120 degrees of so of the fighter and use your cover. Fast movers only have a few brief moments to locate you in the ground clutter, lock up and take the shot. Another good idea is when your leaving an area, if you think there may be a few of those bad boys hanging back, turn on your A2A radar, narrow the scan to cover your back as you beat feet for home.

Wow, those screenshots just look terrific! Is that 1.6.2W2? Can't wait to see what Yemen terrain and Lebanon water looks like on your Alien machine! That shot of the Sue with the Singers on it's tail, really sweet.

I just cannot believe how good this sim looks, and plays, after all this time and with all the great work of the modders. We're really a fortunate community to be able to benefit from their labors.

Super report Beach, I'm learning as we go.


Pat Tillman (1976-2004):
4 years Arizona State University, graduated with high honors.
5 seasons National Football League player, Arizona Cardinals.
Forever United States Army Ranger.
#1652518 - 08/25/05 01:40 AM Re: EECH Training Mission Report #3  
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Whammo Offline
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Whammo  Offline
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You know Beach, companies should hire you to peddle their games and do reports before release.

I can guarantee that sales would go through the roof.

Thanks

#1652519 - 08/25/05 06:20 PM Re: EECH Training Mission Report #3  
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BeachAV8R Offline
Lifer
BeachAV8R  Offline
Lifer

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Posts: 24,314
KCLT
Thanks guys. Flexman's guide is awesome...I read it long ago when EECH/AH came out and it is still a great read today.

Hiding from the fighters is a good technique if you have the terrain or buildings around to do it. Ducking down behind buildings is a great way to shield yourself from missiles.

Those screen-shots are still the older version 162W1T7 so even though they are good..they are still a generation behind the newest executable. I'll be switching after the next training AAR.

Your comment about the Su-33 is right on 20mm...a lot of the 3D models in this sim are really top notch...all the more amazing looking at the age of this sim.

Regards...

BeachAV8R



#1652520 - 08/25/05 06:22 PM Re: EECH Training Mission Report #3  
Joined: Jan 2001
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BeachAV8R Offline
Lifer
BeachAV8R  Offline
Lifer

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Posts: 24,314
KCLT
Quote:
Originally posted by Gus:
You know Beach, companies should hire you to peddle their games and do reports before release.
I agree.. \:D Wouldn't it be great to be paid for doing something you love to do? Errr...oh..wait..I'm a pilot! I DO get paid to do what I love...!



BeachAV8R



#2382720 - 11/20/07 01:21 PM Re: EECH Training Mission Report #3 [Re: BeachAV8R]  
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ColinC Offline
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Great stuff Beach. Is there a #4?

#2391064 - 11/30/07 11:52 PM Re: EECH Training Mission Report #3 [Re: ColinC]  
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BeachAV8R Offline
Lifer
BeachAV8R  Offline
Lifer

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Posts: 24,314
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 Originally Posted By: ColinC
Great stuff Beach. Is there a #4?

Not in the near future.. \:\( Got a few too many projects going on right now unfortunately.. \:\(

BeachAV8R




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