5 Likes
I used to drive through there in 2009! It wasnât in great shape even back then. . .
1 Like
Wagsâ repeat comment about the Viper being a ghetto Hornet warmed my heart a bit 
The PDLT is interesting, but seemingly much weaker for maintaining SA than the Hornetâs JHMCS implementation.
4 Likes
1 Like
The Viper, Hornet and Apache - and, I assume, the A-10 as well - are literally screaming for a data transfer cartridge or improved depth of mission planning. The detailed functionality weâre gaining, for me, is not something Iâm interested in plugging in in the jet.
5 Likes
Itâs also a problem for the dynamic missions like Thru the Inferno.
Getting into a bird with the wrong loadout and needing to punch in a ton of info and align 17 different sights and weapons just to finally take off and find out halfway to target some other asset took it outâŠinvalidating your current loadout and needing to fly back to change it out and rinse and repeatâŠugh.
5 Likes
4 Likes
6 Likes
Crus page is nice. About time tbh.
Omfg that map! Want! Nao!
6 Likes
I concur!! Not sure if Youâve had a chance to listen to latest âAir Combat Sim Podcastâ? South Atlantic Map was part of The Great discussion.
https://redcircle.com/shows/air-combat-sim/episodes/d8362bf9-3173-404a-bde0-d47063fbfd77
1 Like
WOW- a nice amount of info.
Also did they just confirm development of the Gr.3 ?!
2 Likes
LolâŠ.Iâm thinking the sameâŠsince a Sea Harrier is on hold for Classified ReasonsâŠ.It âSeemsâ theyâre leaning toward a Gr.3
2 Likes
We need a proper SEAHAR with Blue Fox! 
3 Likes
I caught that myself. This thinking is why we canât have nice things 
Perfect is the enemy of good?
Why kill the entire thing because you had to make a best guess at one part of it?
I love the depth & details - accuracy - but if it is, understandably, classified then use examples from other areas to create a reasonable stand-in.
The EW environment suffers here (among others).
Call it the âSky-Ferretâ RADAR, or âSky-Fox-DCSâ. As a player Iâll learn to use it as it exists (same as I âlearn around itâ for oddities in the flight models), just like Iâd learn it if it was an exact replication.
Map looks great. Hope it performs well.
5 Likes
The South Atlantic map is going to be enormous. From Stanley to that glacier Wags flys over in the video is 700 miles! I think the widest point in the Syria map is maybe 450 miles.
6 Likes
Well said, and heartily agreed! I sometimes feel like thatâs more of an excuse not to model a system, leaving a gaping hole in our game/simulation. It doesnât have to be 100% accurate, but it has to work within the rules established in the game. The closer to 100% the better, but 99.9% of players are never going to know whether or not itâs accurate. Not an excuse to say why bother and make stuff up, but itâs fine to speculate and fill holes in the classified stuff, IMO.
5 Likes
From the Falklands campaign books that @jross and I were reading last year, SHAR pilots didnât actually use the Fox radar often, due to its poor lookdown capability and because the Argis ingressed at low altitude once the shooting began in earnest. The Blue Fox was used briefly early on interception of the B-707 airliner pressed into reconnaissance duty and week 1 against Mirage fighters up high. But the Royal Navy command didnât trust the set as a resource throughout the war, thinking that their shipboard early warning radar better. We know how that went.
So while it would be awesome to get a SHAR, the Gr.3 will probably be a better pick, since it primarily flew the ground attack missions (even though the RAF Harrier squadron CO had trained his pilots vigorously in the conflictâs run-up), and the AV-8B with two heaters does a pretty good SHAR impersonation.
Sources:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CBJXYPG/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08CZVW5NX/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07ZJPQRMN/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title
5 Likes
I hope Sharky Ward never reads this.
There definitely seem to be two schools of thought regarding the Blue Fox radar and itâs performance in the Falklands. One squadron loved them, the other barely used theirs. I have no idea what the real story is, but Sharky makes a pretty compelling (and passionate) advocate for it in his book.
Donât have a dog in the fight myself though.
ETA: I thoroughly enjoyed Harrier 809. I also enjoyed Sharkyâs (obviously self-narrated and self-edited) audiobook on Audible. It does give a different, no holds barred take on the action there, and you have to get past the fighter pilot arrogance and 10-ton ego that occasionally comes to the forefront.
Unfortunately listening to his book ruined Vulcan 607 for me. I couldnât listen to 100âs of repetitions of AAR knowing it was all for two bombs on the runway (according to him, anyway).
5 Likes
Hidden Falklands/Malvinas/Harrier conflict thread hijack.
Agree. Sharkey Ward was probably the Blue Foxâs biggest proponent, and in fact used it on his C-130 kill on 1 Jun '82 locking it at 38 miles. His Pucara kill was the result of being vectored and the Dagger was visual ID during a low level CAP.
I have Wardâs Audible book and will give it a proper listen one day. I admit to false starting it a couple of time due to the poor narration. Not that I could have done better. Paradoxically, he seems very composed and a compelling speaker in the YouTube interviews. Perhaps when RAZBAM releases South Atlantic. What a map it will be!
With regards to 809, there are many mentions of the Fox, both good and not so good. Not criticisms, but more that it didnât live up to its hype. And the radar isnât mentioned in most of the aerial engagements in that book. More vectored by shipboard radar, then visual ID.
Was the SHAR better with the Blue Fox than without? Undoubtedly. Was it a decisive weapon in the air war over the Falklands? I think that honor more appropriately goes to the AIM-9L.
Those Scooters are going to be NOE anyway.
BTW, if you havenât read Jerry Pookâs book, criticized by Ward in a few interviews, itâs probably just as an important read as any other in understanding how the air war was prosecuted. Sadly, not available as an audible book. Is on Kindle though.
How 'bout that DCS Viper? The cruise page appears to be a pretty useful feature. Wish the Hornet had something similar.
6 Likes
Love the CRUS (what does that acronym stand for, anyway?) page. It was my favorite function in that other old sim from 1998 that people keep playing 
(j/k, BMS is amazing, needs VR yesterday!), trying to stretch the legs on the Viper so I could hit my target in at the DMZ and make it back without needing to refuel, since I hadnât learned the ways of AAR yet. (Still struggling with doing it the USAF way, actuallyâŠ)
Iâll check it out, thanks for the recommendation.
(I think I need a badge for thread hijacker 
)
2 Likes