If you are lined up on a target runway, ready to drop Durandals at 500 ft, and you start spotting tracers from ground units, what should you do? Should you continue to burn along, hoping it misses you? Should you do some vertical jinking, like you would with AAA?

I am used to flying the A-10C, which can take a few hits from ground fire on an approach, but the F-16 often disintegrates when clipped. Perhaps it's par for the course that you may get clipped by ground units on a low-altitude approach if they happen to be in your path and there is nothing you can do about it? But then again, maybe there is a technique that you use that keeps you alive longer and still allows you to bomb that runway?

Well it's a bit since I did Deep Strikes but I can still remember a few things.

First: if the problem is just point defence AAA (middle to small caliber cannons/machine guns) simply go faster than 530 knots.
Add to that a little "porpoising", if that's even a word, and try to keep it steady only the few seconds before the drop. CCIP is your friend in this.

I usually bombed along the airstrip main heading, minus a few degrees.
A string of 6 Durandals should come out evenly spaced and deliver enough pain to put that thing out of order for a day or two.

Lemme think a bit more. But I think it's mostly that.

Good tip - going fast and porpoising makes perfect sense. I'll try it out and see if my survivability improves! Thanks!

No problems. Let me know how it goes!

For all that matters, it took me a bit to get comfortable with all that together.
Many times I even forgot to flip Master Arm on!

A little tip I can give you is to work out a standard procedure to follow every time.
Starting with accurate study of the target in the briefing to working out a sequence of steps that allow you to go through all the switches to go from "safe" to "weapons ready".

I don't know how long you played so maybe I'm just redundant... :P
But really, any questions... fire away.

I love doing these missions and only really went down from an IR missile fired at me just as I passed the front end of the runway. AAA has never been a problem.

500-800 feet, 450-500 knots. I usually work out the runway length, then do some maths to work out the spacing, that way all I do is come in, determine where my "chain" starts, drop the first Durandal, drop countermeasures, then just concentrate on my egress. The flight computer will drop my bombs at proper spacing for me and I also have a countermeasures program that lasts about 12 seconds so I just start it and forget about it.

If you record your mission and watch the replay on TacView, you will see that the AAA rounds don't really come near you.

I usually orbit the target at around 22-25K from 20-25 miles out to get lined up for my run, asses the area for air defenses, terrain masking options and landmarks to help me navigate when I get down & dirty. Then I dive down low (around 200ft) and come in fast (usually around 450kts). About a mile from the runway I'll pull up to 2k and dump my bombs in spacing w/ CCIP, drop countermeasures and get back down to 200ft and get the hell out of there.

Note: Durandals worked for me in F4AF @ 500ft, but after switching to BMS I found that this is too low for the chute to open, rockets to fire, and warhead to detonate. This is why I do the pop up before the runway.

My biggest problem was always the egress. I always want to do that "airshow" type maneuver where you pull out of a low level bomb run with a banked turn & high AoA, thus putting myself in the envelope of those man pads or other IR's that Ice spoke of. It took some self training to get me to hit the deck after dropping Durandals and stay there 'till I got out of range of the air defenses. Once out of the air defense bubble you can get back to altitude safely.

As for the small arms fire and AA guns, I've been nicked a few times but always make it home. Some of my most satisfying missions have been bringing home a wounded bird. It does the ego good to know you can fly home and safely land a plane with the HUD knocked out and the control surfaces trimmed to max just so you can fly a straight line!




BTW, dont do this against SA-17...50ft min. firing alt.

There's a good reason AFs stop doing the 500' OCA strike. The expected loss rate is higher than most other mission types. Bring a big package of which of runway destroyers are only a small part. Don't fly in straight lines. Don't fly down the runway axis.

I do my scouting on the recon screen, and usually edit my waypoints so that they "guide" me in. I also tend to be in the weeds a good few miles out so as not to alert the ground forces around the airfield* (I'm not sure if this is modeled or not, but just helps me with the immersion factor).

On the egress, I don't pull up straight away, but I do jinks as soon as I know the last bomb is off. Maybe climb a few feet but still generally stay low.

Dangerous? Yes. Realistic? Maybe. Fun? Yep!

Sometimes AI what they do is to get to a point of the rwy from one side, left or right, instead of aligning with rwy center line and they drop all the Durandal together with a pair drop.

This can be a good attack profile in case there is some AAA present close to the rwy.

OCA strikes are the most dangerous mission and Royal Air Force Tornado experienced the highest lost rate during Desert Storm when they flew this kind of missions.

So, I suggest to fly the attack run close to this weapon limits. If I am not wrong you can drop the Durandal lower as 250ft AGL and at a speed of 650kts. I suggest to make any kind of attack run at a speed between 550KTS to 650 KTS and use 250ft , pair drop, with a "come in" from one side of the airport in case there is an AAA battalion close to the rwy.

Even more, if there is a SAM battalion, I have noticed the first to be targeted are the formation leaders, in many cases are number "1" and number "3". So if you are one of those be ready to receive a gift if you are in range.

While possible in real life, IIRC the BMS Durandals have a problem when released lower than 500 feet. Haven't tested with the current Update.

I've released at the specified height/TAS restrictions (250' / 550 knots I think) and been fine with them. I use 1500ms for my AD based on what I read and that seems to agree well with that limit.

Oooo... sweet! I'll need to try that out!

"Porpoising" is a word- I first read it in Jack Broughton's "Thud Ridge" which was published in the 70s. Plus, Window's spell check recognizes it.

While possible in real life, IIRC the BMS Durandals have a problem when released lower than 500 feet. Haven't tested with the current Update.

May be you are right but I have never noticed it. Probably when I missed the runway I simply judged as a personal mistake or improper release or planification when in reality there was another reason.

I was using those data given in the F4TacRef Handbook but I never thought there was an issue.

In any case, when I do an OCA I am not concerned too much about AAA but by SAMs, especially if I am number one or three. If they are active and they lock you, it is inevitable to get a shot. I tried one day to fly as number two and to bomb an airport with a SA-2 not so far away. AAA fired but didn't get us while number 1 and later number 3 where engaged by the SAM. Finally as number 2, I was the first to get over the rwy and release. It is true that I dropped at 500 ft but just to have a better visual sight of the area. AI where staying at 1.000 ft even if I planned the waypoints to push them down at 500ft.