DCS Screenshots [2024]

So, the Viggen gave the SwAF two big things in the 70s (ours is a 90s model).

The first was a fast and accurate defensive punch.

The second is a further augmentation and improvement of their dispersed aviation assets.

The first stage of Sweden entering into a conflict would be total road base dispersal; any airframes at major airfields would probably be scrambled to get out of dodge and to a road base where it’d be hidden. We all love these scenes, after all:

The value here isn’t exactly subtle; the doctrine of basing Viggens in such a manner would’ve made Soviets conducting OCAs a very frustrating experience.

From what I can glib, Troll can obviously correct me where I’m wrong, but the first job and most important job falls intelligence and recce. For maritime threats, that’ll be your shore based radar primarily. For ground targets? This is where a Viggen steps in, but not the AJ/AJS. The SF-37:


The pointy nosed Viggen signifies that it holds a camera package instead of the air to ground or air to air radar of the AJ/AJS and JA variants, respectively. It’s going to utilize the Viggen’s outstanding low altitude performance coupled with ECM to take as many pictures of the invading force as possible. So, the wait for film to develop etc. is still there. The pictures it took were REAL clear, too. Saab spared no expense there.

@ 2:46, you see some examples from training exercises.

As soon as that intel is processed and compared to maps, a more complete picture is established. At that point, you’re going to see ammunition stores, tank depots, fuel dumps, and other critical war fighting infrastructure get targeted for immediate strike. You’re looking to leave those Soviet troops without ammunition, food, or fuel. Basically, use the Viggen in the same way the Ukis used the HIMARS.

It’s my belief the Swedes would’ve been extremely aggressive and brazen facing such a threat. The reason being is that the Viggen’s bread and butter are low tech weapons; dumb bombs and rockets. But, the Viggen’s own onboard systems allowed their crews to employ them with remarkable accuracy. These will be weapons easily acquired and produced owing to that simplicity, so they’d probably have plenty to lob at invaders.

Attacking a Soviet fleet would have called for massed volleys of the Rb-04E in order to cripple initial vanguards. The name of the game was to overwhelming their defenses. With only a few vessels crippled, a fleet could be forced into a defensive posture to protect the crew recovery efforts and affording the Viggens time to land, rearm, and head right back out.

Simple, effective arms made accurate by a good aircraft that is being landed on roads to both hide them from prowling Soviet OCA, and also keep them closer to the frontline means that the Swedes would have enjoyed a pretty incredible tempo with the ground and maritime attack Viggens.

So, in short?

The Viggen’s prey are any rear echelon forces, mustering areas, and ships. You can expect to operate from roadbases, landing back there after a first strike to receive a re-arm, then taking off to go do it all over again ASAP.

I don’t have Kola, but I do know that the Finns also exercise road base dispersal of its own air assets, they just didn’t craft perfection for it like the Swedes did with the Viggen.

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Interesting!

That’s very much how the Harrier would have been used in a high threat environment. I don’t have the Viggen, and I never flew the A Harrier, but I think even the A had enterable waypoints. In any case though, in high threat, you’d be dropping lots of dumb bombs on basically waypoints and banking on a good IP to let you tighten up the INS for accuracy.

It’s like my brother from another mother!

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@MiG21bisFishbedL covered all the bases (pun intended :wink: ).
Swedens natural enemy have always been Russia, from way back when wars were fough on horseback.
The main armament for the Viggen was the Rb04 Anti-Ship missile, which was very advanced for its time. It later got the very capable Rb15 missile in the AJS upgrade. So, in the event of war, or Ofred (litterally un-peace or not peace) as the Swedish military likes to call it, the Airforce would disperse to the auxilliary bases and mount anti shipping attacks on an invading enemy. They would shift to attacking landing enemy units and keeping the enemy from gaining a foothold.

The side scanning camera of the SF37 actually synchronized the speed of the film, with the groundspeed of the aircraft so the picture was more or less a scan of the object.

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So would these rear echelon targets be in Finland or Russia itself? When drawing the ruler from what bases and road-bases we have in Sweden over to Russia, I question whether I would have enough fuel to make it back considering the low-level high-fuel-burn flying.

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I’d say Finland and northern Sweden. The idea was to keep stalling the enemy in the north. Swedish defence doctrine was never about winning a war with Russia, but stalling them long enough for the rest of the world to come to our aid or simply make the invasion so costly that it wouldn’t be worth it.

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These’d definitely be targets in Finland or Sweden.

For example, remember that 40+ km long convoy that got stranded on the way to Kyiv in 2022? There were probably AJ jockeys who saw that and had to have their partners calm them down as they had started to rock violently in their seats as they shouted “PUT ME IN, COACH!”

Something like that would’ve been a juicy target for an entire wing.

You’d also be surprised the kind of range the Viggen can get if you use the burner sparingly. Admittedly, the engine is a bit slapdash. The RM8A is just a Pratty JT8D with a fairly basic afterburner set up attached. It’s pretty wasteful even for an afterburner. So, with that in mind, I like to examine where opfor is and find landmarks nearby. Those landmarks are my reminder that I’m entering hostile territory. But, I’m still in dry thrust. No sense in making myself a bigger IR target inbound.

The earliest time I want to start considering hitting the afterburner stages are when I start my attack run or pop up attack. Once that’s done? I’m heading back to previously mentioned landmark at full afterburner and once I’m past that? I like to count about 7 seconds. Mach 1 or a little more, you cover about 2 miles or a bit over 3km and at your altitude? That puts a lot of terrain between you and ground based defenses. By the time the anxiety factory that is the AJS’s RWR calms down, you’re out of AB, ducking and weaving between cover at high trans-sonic speeds, and considering a climb out to start conserving fuel on your way back home.

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Flying the Pony on the PO server

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And, a hit from my teen years, Get Low.

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One Viggen RTB’d with a phone wire wedged between the fuselage and the external tank… :wink:

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that last one is low even for a viggen :scream:

Somebody call Lil Jon, he aint ever gettin as low as this!

So what would Finland do? Just let the Russians roll on through? If they had similar doctrine to the Swedes I image the rest of the world would get to the party before the Russians even made it into Sweden.

Hardly! They would fight til the end, and Sweden would help.
But that’s the route they would have to take, to get to Sweden, on land. And during the cold war nobody in Sweden were prepared to bet that The Soviet forces could be stopped in Finland.

Edit. And nobody were prepared to bet on external aid either…

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It’s also worth to mention that Finland’s defensive planning didn’t focus so much on the sort of clever tech wizardry we saw in Sweden but rather establishing an artillery arsenal that’d make Texans weep tears of joy.

Finland could have met a Soviet force, pound for pound, in the artillery department. Couple that with Swedish involvement and even foreign assistance? These defensive doctrines accomplished what exactly they needed to do and that was deter Russian/Soviet aggression on the basis of how costly the invasion would be, even if total victory were to be achieved. This is an outcome most doubt would ever be a realistic one.

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With the mobile nature of these targets for the Viggen, then, I suppose the radar-ranged weapons (ANF mode?) would have been preferred over the QFE-calculated deliveries (NAV)? I’m really fuzzy on that part with the Viggen because some sources indicate QFE is needed for everything, other sources indicate certain weapons require QFE and others don’t, and yet other sources indicate that all weapons can be delivered either through QFE or radar-ranging.

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I always keep QFE handy and set it regardless if whether or not the weapons system I’m employing relies on it. Set a WP on the intended target and you should get an accurate QFE in the kneeboard. The real benefit of setting the QFE is more or less for dumb munitions. You’re really adjusting your HUD to better reflect where things will land. I’ll list 'em out for quick reference, according to my own opinions.

Do not need QFE:
Rb-05E - It’s a Bullpup made by Ikea, you’re playing with MCLOS here, so no need to worry.

Rb-04E - As a guided antiship weapon, it’ll probably not surprise you that the coolest looking tool in Viggen’s set doesn’t require a QFE setting.

Rb-15F - Same as above, the Rb-15 is a much more advanced missile with a lot more going on in terms of guidance.

Mavericks - TV Guidance renders QFE useless here.

Benefits from QFE:
ARAK Rockets - The QFE won’t break you, necessarily, but it will land more of your rockets on target if set correctly. You can also set up for longer range shots with the ARAKs relying on QFE.

AKAN Gunpods - Same as above.

Requires QFE set:
ARAK rockets at long range - While you can happily use ARAKs without accurate QFE, you can get some insane range out of them if you set the QFE correctly.

Bombs, both high and low drag - Bombs are slow and clumsy things, so that gives them plenty of time in the air, plenty of time traveling through the air column, thus plenty of time for that mass of air to have variations that can impact the flight of those weapons and decrease accuracy. So, setting a correct QFE is must. I feel it becomes especially acute with the high drag bombs.

Bk.90s - These heavily rely on correct pressure altitude since it’s a glide dispenser. If it’s off even by a little, it can hamper range.

Basically, if your weapon has a means to propel AND be guided, you don’t have to worry much about QFE. If it’s unguided, it can help. If you want to launch ARAKs from distance, Bk90s, or drop any kind of bomb? That’s where you need it.

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sand storm in syria





looks damn good, and didnt seem to hurt fps, this was down to about 1000ft visibility

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Goshdarnit it looks SO GOOD - if only there was a Dynamic Campaign…
A Co-op MP Dynamic Campaign…
Soon.
Soon!

Watching Coming Soon GIF

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