The terrain masking would not impact the AEGIS ships because the enemy air would need to be at higher altitudes for launch. The SPY-1 radars looking up against the sky is no problem; the missile seekers looking down against the ground clutter of the Lofotens would be the issue for the Soviets.
That said, the idea would be to put the E-2 over the water up northwest-ish where it can get a good picture and put the F-14 CAPSTAs out a couple hundred miles or so where they can intercept the BACKFIRE regiments before they get in range. I was in an F-14 squadron in the mid-to-late 1980s. Our doctrine was âShoot the archer, not the arrow.ââŚshoot down the launch platform before they launch their missiles. Any leakers were up to the AEGIS bubbas.
BTW, the F-14A could cary 6 x AIM-54 Phoenix but could not trap back aboard the ship with 6 x Phoenix. (a weight thing) Thus 6 x Phoenix was called âThe Doomsday Loadâ.
The A-6Es would do similar with long distance war at sea strike against the Soviet SAGs. Lots of HARM and HARPOONsâŚoh what fun.
Just a friendly reminderâŚthe pre-purchase sale ends soonâŚnow is the time to get it at a $20 discountâŚI donât know if youâll be able to resist it when we all start Yapping and Posting Screenshots? edit speaking of The Phantom here*
I had my doubts about Kola but I already like it a lot.
If they can iron out the kinks and donât take a year to deliver updates (looking at Sinai which is an awesome map btw, just more desertâŚ) it will become one of the most popular DCS maps, I am absolutely convinced of that. Rovaniemi looks incredible, though there are some weird performance problems in VR after long flights or when landing multiple times at the airbase. Not sure what that is about, but if that is the quality we can expect for the high detailed areas then itâs going to absoletely incredible.
Iâve always wondered if the idea of depleting the AIM-54s and AEGIS systems with decoys came from Clancyâs imagination, his âresearchâ, or was a wide-spread concern at the Pentagon. No matter, it was a brilliant chapter in a genre defining novel.
Here is a youtube video of Clancy giving a presentation at the NSA, where he mentioned that he spiked their interest and had to explain how he reached his conclusions from putting 2&2 together, using only open sources.
I flew him on two occasions when I was flying a Citation II. He was obviously a very intelligent guyâŚ. Somewhat aloof though. I did get to chat with him for a few minutes about his books.
IIRC Larry Bond worked with Clancy on RSR, and considering he was active Navy prior to that I wouldnât be surprised if that informed a lot of the naval action.
It always struck me as surprising that the USN would trust land based TACAIR to protect their carriers. Especially with how the eastern approaches to the Vestfjord offers great cover for low altitude ingress almost on top of the carriers. This seems a pretty challenging flank to defend, especially at night when a lot of the period fighters could not operate (no F-16). Generally I would assume that a carrier is easier to defend against aircraft in open water/terrain.
Would it be fair to say that the Vestfjord tactic was mostly driven by the upcoming new Oscar SSGN? The Soviet surface units donât seem to me to have been such a big threat other than for the Battle of the First Salvo (ships in launch positions at start of hostilities). I just donât see how a Soviet SAG would approach to within 500 NM of a carrier without getting anihilated by carrier air power or SSN. The Backfires seemed to be a bigger threat, but would be relative straightforward to defend against with a well established threat axis. The Oscar on the other hand could launch a very dangerous massive SS-N-19 strike from 360° which must have been very difficult to plan an effective defense around. I can well imagine how the Vestfjord tactic would limit the potential SSGN launch positions that need to be sanitized.
If I hadnât already pre-ordered the Phantom I would have waited. But my mind has been filled with so many âwhat ifâ cold war scenarios.
From Luftwaffe F-4âs and RAN A-4âs operating from Norway, F-14 carrier ops from the Vestfjord to Finland âdefectingâ and flying âfriendlyâ Mig-21âs against the Soviets⌠Finally getting to fly the Viggen in itâs natural environment!
Exactly! In terms of what if scenarios matching DCS modules, this is the best map since the Persian Gulf. Which also didnât look great on release, but is a lovely terrain now.
Even down low, the sense of speed is just somehow different compared to other maps. At altitude too, the mountains are shaped and textured so well I really feel like Iâm moving past a massive object.
