News 13/02 – WEZ, Timelines, Heatblur Discord, Videos

WEZ model

Post new Phoenix (not really “new” anymore), I moved towards updating the Simplified Timeline first, and then the slightly more complex approaches. This path was actually selected by you guys, via Discord and my YouTube channel. The alternative was working on the Intercept Geometry from the USAF perspective, which is really not that different from the US Navy, given the elementary level of the material we all have access to. Who could have guessed that more complex (and interesting) stuff is not freely accessible, right? 🙂

Back to the Timeline, I realised my WEZ data is 4 years old, and they really need a solid refresh. Albeit very simplistic, the Simplified Timeline still uses the MAR. The Minimum Abort Range does not have to be too precise, as safety comes first, but we need a general understanding of how new missiles work. And with new, I mean all sorts of upadated missiles, from the SD-10 to the AIM-120C-5, to the R27ER and the 530 in different flavours. This is where things get interesting, as DCS is a videogame and can be interpreted in innumerable ways.

The following chart represents the speed at impact of a few missiles (the full model will include more) when launched at different ranges at a certain altitude, hot. Thus, this not represents a single missile envelope, rather a series of launches. This is why we can observe interesting properties already: the AIM-54, for example, performs worse between the moment the rocket motor stops thrusting the Phoenix, and the moment the loft trajectory is automatically adopted.

The list of missiles I intend to study includes:

* I’ve heard all sorts of dates on this. To be verified.

I have most of the values ready for this mini-WEZ model, I need time to digest it and work on the MAR. Once the MAR is done, it will be used for the Simplified Timeline and others.
As mentioned already on Discord and YouTube, I intend to use an “era cutoff” set around 1997: I don’t see the point of using a weapon introduced in 70s against something 30+ years newer. Although many do not agree, including people well-known in the community, the geopolitical scenario drastically changed as the Soviet Union fell. Otherwise, by mid-90s, we probably may have had the AIM-152 (cancelled in 1992) and perhaps later even the AIM-120 in some sort of upgraded Super Tomcat. For the same reason, I wouldn’t use the Phoenix against fighters in pre mid-80s scenarios, as this was still the realm of the AIM-7 Sparrow (unless the scenario is set in the Iran versus Iraq war, for obvious reasons).

AJS-37 Viggen

Viggen, I’m halfway through the manual, I’m honestly struggling to find time to study it. In fact, all you have read so far, is part of my backlog. Hopefully, the Phantom II won’t be released for another couple of years, so I have time to properly study the Viggen 😛

So far, I have managed to depart and land without issues at my first attempt. The Viggen is really a forgiving and stable platform. How love how the rudder works, how much authority it has, although apparently it should not be used nearly as much as I do. I blame the fact that my signature aircraft in Il2 in the early 2000s was the Bf-110 Zerstörer, and kicking the rudder allowed it to do some real neat stuff.

Heatblur New Discord

Heatblur has launched yesterday their new official Discord server. You can join via this link.

Random Videos

Between the work on Timeline and WEZ, I made a couple of short videos, just to change topic.
The first video is hopefully useful to players looking to play less predictable scenarios whist training. There are missions and scripts that achieve the same effect, but I prefer the customisability of this approach:

The second video is… how can I put it? A Joke?
It shows how a target can be intercepted using only the F/A-18C Hornet’s RWR and its incredible precision.

I have shown it to a few SMEs, and they had a “concerned laugh”: a laugh because this capability does not exist at all (perhaps in the F-22/35, by mixing multiple sensors together, I wonder?), and a bit of concern as people may take a game as realism. But hey, we all know that Tom Cruise flew the Hornet and the Tomcat himself, right? 😉