For the life of me, I cant believe that FLIR targeting capability was not included in this helicopter. Without FLIR, the night fighting capability of this helo is severely diminished.

I was playing a mission last night, and it was a night mission to attack some insurgents held up in a two story house. I was able to see with the aid of NV goggles, but my Shkval targeting was worthless unless the target area was illuminated with flares by a SU-25. The house was targeted no problem while the flares were lit, but if they went out, your SOL in the targeting ability of the Shkval. Try locking up the fleeing car when the flares go out..

Oh by the way, GREAT JOB ED!! this simulation is outstanding..and the fact that such a complex sim was released with so few bugs is very refreshing in the current trend of most of todays games where we consumers double as beta testers.

I hope that after the A-10 goes out the door, that the AH-64 comes next..

hehe , add the stupid flares dispense button that is at the other side of the cockpit , just think of it , you see a missile launched , now you need to maneuver the helicopter good which isn't so easy , and while your at the point of almost breaking the rotors because of extra g's ,you should actually leave one of your hands from the collective/cyclic and reach to the other side of the cockpit just to release those flares .Now really , you engineers couldn't think of something a bit more smart , like ahm , put this so important button on the cyclic/collective?
And there are more of those mistakes.

Of course this doesn't represent anything about the sim itself which is just awesome , just babbling around about nothing

This heli was not intended for night fighting to start with.
It is also an 80's design using technology which was somewhat behind the then competing american technology.

Its purpose was to support the armored assault across the fulda gap - in daylight. At night NATO forces had a sensor advantage.

In the situation you encountered, I suggest the following: Lock up the building and save it as a target in your PVI. Even if the light goes out, you will always be able to target it by selecting that target point.

For the car, switch your gun to boresight mode and forget about the shkval altogether - do a straight up gun strafe with NVG's + boresight reticle with laser.

And thanks for the compliments

Thanks for the great tips GrayGhost! Man, I thought the KA-50 was a more recent design. Thanks for the insight.

No problem

Shnizel, think of the flare dispenser as of an after-market radio with no place to put it in

You don't have to lock a target on the shkval to launch and kill with Vikhrs... simply ground stablize it(press the lock button once) on the object you want to hit and fire away... also works for the gun.

The Ka-50 can be effective at night... as long as you are able to see the targets in the shkval. I recommend increasing the contrast on the cockpit monitor.

Thanks Shepski, I didnt know that. I'm gonna get some more quality time with this sim over Christmas break..I thank you all that replied, and wish you all Happy Holidays and a great New Year!

Night vision didn't really make it into its own until the 1990's for the USA, to be honest - at least for most platforms....and they're just now putting flir stuff into Blackhawks. Early on the Apache relied heavily on night vision goggles for the pilot that he used with the head tracking stuff, IIRC.

In the early nineties, for example, one might find three NVG's in an Infantry squad if one was lucky.

And us FO's had those clunky PVS-5's and were absolutely jealous of the PVS-7's.

The IR sight on the FIST-V was neato but pretty much limited to vehicles.

Heck, we went to Desert Storm with PRC-77's and the whole VIC-12 series of radios (in the 101st!).

Yeah but they (at least the F-16,F-15 etc) already had FLIR, the LANTIRN, TFR and whatnot.

We're discussing attack helos. Does anyone know if the AH-64s currently deployed in Iraq have a FLIR? I believe that I read that the are not using the mast mounted radar due to having no armor to hunt.

Apaches have had an infra red camera from the get-go.

Yes they did. Also of note, only in the last few years have Apache crews begun using night vision goggles routinely. Throughout the 80's and half of the 90's, Apache crews did not use NVG's at all and relied solely on the two FLIR systems on board the aircraft.

OMG, I remember using the PRC-77. When you dived on the ground, the hole thing just came and hit the back of your head. Also remember those big battery pack that you had to carry around... That radio system was so unpractical by today's standards.

The sim is great, but I'm not impressed with the actual design and function of this helicopter at all.
Somehow I wonder if the Hind is more effective than the Blackshark on the battlefield. Russians seem to make aircraft with more bark than bite, but hey I'm biased anyway. lol

More effective than the Ka-50 at doing what?
The Hind's navigation and weapons system is downright primitive, and its maneuverability and TWR are also inferior.

The Black Shark is an excellent example of an 80's technology heli with a lot of automation and focused purpose.

the Hind is a strange jack-of-all-trades: a combat heli that carries six fully-equipped troopers. Strange. - - But maybe not if you only have one heli for the job that needs to be done, boots on the ground and all that.

Yes they do, all Apache AH-64As (first production batch series) and above have what is called the TADS/PNVS sensor system which is coupled with the IHADSS helmet.

The Apaches are built for night fighting. When Eagle Dynamics brings us the Apache AH-64A, we will have a helicopter which will outclass the Black Shark in night operations. Those virtual pilots of the virtual Apache will own the night.

Its fascinating that we can talk with such in depth knowledge about the real world capabilities of a piece of hardware like this. Nice one ED, I can't wait for the further flyables being released, comparisions are going to be interesting.

Which makes we wonder...

How is it that the KA50 was selected over other types for this sim?
(What goes into a decision like this)

I think (and I'm sure EB will jump in here and correct me if I'm wrong) a long time ago ED wanted to do the 'Flanker Attack' series which would have added an advanced su-25 and probably the ka-50.

Instead they ended up working on LOMAC, and at some point the Ka-50 was to be a LOMAC add-on - it was simply 'the next thing to do', and the Ka-50 had gained some popularity in Russia as well, due to a movie.

When work on the Ka-50 began (and I suspect, especially on the A-10C), the simulation was turning into something very different than LOMAC; LOMAC was by no means a study sim.

That is more or less when DCS came to be, and it so happened that the Ka-50 was what was being worked on - a unique and interesting helicopter, entering Russian service (eventually), and Kamov was willing to spare some resources and manuals.

And now you guys have DCS installment one in your hands

It was a big chain of desires and coincidences I think.

Disclaimer: Just what I've pieced together ... someone else might be able to give you a better picture, but we might not hear any additional details at all, either.