Not only do I have a problem seeing tracer bullets but my bombs do not explode. I have tried the various weapon graphics settings of realistic, enhanced and exaggerated and none of these make any difference.

Actually out of about 25 bombs I have dropped (and checked each) only two exploded.

I am dropping MK 82 parachute bombs using CCIP.

Looks like the supplier is producing to many duds.

You're not getting a "LOW" warning in HUD prior to release?
(less likely using such bombs but..)

That could be ---I will check

No --my HUD does not show a low warning or anything unusual.

I also tried a regular MK-84 dumb bomb. I dropped one on a building and it exploded. I dropped another one on an empty field and it did not explode.

This is the same thing that I have been seeing with all my other bombs --- a structure will explode but an open field will not. I would guess that bombing troops would be a waste of time.

And --- tracers show up nicely against ground targets with the surface as a background but when I pull the nose up and shoot into the sky there are no sign of tracers.

Could be arming delay settings.
Got to CNTL page in SMS, set AD to 0.0l and try if it explodes on the empty fields.

Flight time of the bomb has to exceed time set for arming delay and is used for safety purpose IIRC.

I need to check that---

But so far I'm doing ok now with the regular MK-82's and 84's --it just seems tp be a problem with the MK-82 parachute bombs.

Thanks

Arming Delay Settings ---- This appears to be my major problem. The AD values are set to high for the release altitudes I use. I can change them but every time I re-enter the mission they are defaulted back to the original values.

Is there any way to make the changes permanent ????

No.

The first thing you should probably do however, is not drop bombs from low enough altitudes that arming delay matters, unless you are specifically dropping BLU-107s.

If I were you, I'd consider 14k AGL as the point that you better start pulling up. Crossing under 12-13k is asking to die.

Techniques my man ---techniques

You can easily drop standard MK-82's ---singles or pairs ---at 500 feet and 550 kts. This is useful when bombing something like a narrow bridge. It allows accuracy that will get a kill on the first pass and if the target is defended there will be no need to do a second one.

The high speed allows you to drop at a further distance from the target and have plenty of time to quickly climb out well above 1,000 feet. Low altitude bombing like this is very accurate against small targets.

But this 6 second arming delay is messing me up. I guess I am going to have to spend time fiddling around resetting this thing on these types of missions.

With respect, low altitude bombing is asking to take a MANPAD, or some other form of SAM up the tailpipe.

I'm well aware of different mission profiles and what works and what does not. Going low-altitude when you don't need to - NEED to, mind you - is risking the jet and your 'life' for no good reason.

If you're under 13k AGL, you're in range of most IR SAMs.

That's my advice on the matter. You're free to take it or leave it, but if you ask around, I think you'll find my advice would be considered standard.

No question about it ---your advice is standard --- and thanks.

But I am only doing it the way I have done it since 1998 and I have not been shot down like that once. Low and fast has a quality of its own.

13 years of flying unnecessarily low and you've never been shot down by SHORADs, MANPADs, or small arms/AAA.

uh huh.

Sorry to disappoint you but the answer is no.

I have slightly over 1,800 air to ground kills and most of them at low level and I have not been shot down doing that. However I do pick my targets carefully and create steerpoints that allow me the safest ingress/egress.

AAA is not hard to avoid when low and fast if you bomb and make hard turns after the release.

I deliberately avoid ground troops and SAM sites (unless I am on a SEAD mission)--including manpads on most bombing missions. I have no interest in killing troops and headquarters stuff. I mostly bomb airbases, bridges and large concentrations of convoys.

Of course bombing airbases usually involves avoiding low altitude AAA.

And BTW --- I just flew a low altitude mission about 30 minutes ago and had 4 manpads ---or SA7's fired at me on a bombing run at a bridge and all 4 missed.

I´m with George here.

Low enough and fast enough are a good insurance against most odds. And Manpads have not much range either.

Not so hard to believe George statistics, as I have similiar ones...

+1

hey George1, could you tell me a little about your chaff/flare program and how you implement it for your low level attacks. thanks.

Well I guess Allied Force was totally different in that flying low could be done - but not in the 2005 /2010 scenarios where the newer model MANPADs were used - they didnt miss and overflying an airbase regardless of speed or altitude was pretty stupid - forget expendables helping you out either.

IMO a poor tactic for many reasons......

I rarely use chaff and flares.

To each his own. Everyone has their favorite methods and maneuvers. To argue about it is non-productive. I didn't program the sim --- just fly it and do what works for me.

I never flew Allied Force. I have it but did not like a few things about it and spent the last couple of years flying Lockon. Lockon combat is inferior in many ways so I came back to F4.

I will give a small piece of advice to F4 pilots --from an old vet. Think outside the box ---try the unorthodox ---use some imagination. You might be surprised what happens.

I love to see the fear in their eyes, and the tracers,,, I love to watch

I'm also with George. Medium and high altitude ingress is MUCH more dangerous due to AAA in most Falcon versions than manpads are down low.

The key is low. Like...fly uncomfortably low...then go lower.

If your air intake isn't hoovering up dog crap, you're too high.

For the majority of targets (certainly not applicable to everything!) I prefer lofting my ballistic weapons on target.

But then, when I flew Falcon regularly I was a SEAD/DEAD junkie, so learning to handle SAMs and manpads was kinda a prerequisite.

I don't fly Falcon nearly often enough anymore.