I am not well versed in helicopter ASW operations. I am interested in learning more about how to implement such things in H4.1. So, I have a few questions if anyone knows the answers.

1) During a Tactical Turn, are sonobuoys dropped before or after the helo moves? Although it is not usable for another Tac Turn, the location may be important if the helo and sub are moving in opposite directions. Every inch might count.

2) Are sonobuoys sensitive enough to classify targets?

3) I saw some good info in the HCE forum covering aircraft ASW ops, but I don't know if it's the same for helos. Does anyone know about standard search patterns for helos? With the limited number of sonobuoys on a helo I can imagine the tactics might be different.

Any other info you guys want to offer would be appreciated.

I'm not a paper rules player, but as a former ASAC I'll share what I can about helo ops in ASW. I'll date myself here and say that I controlled SH-2 LAMPS and SH-3 dipping helos, along with S-3s, P-3s, and JMSDF P-2s.

 

One thing to remember is that an ASW helo is not a search platform. It's a localization/attack platform used once a target has been detected by other means. Once a sub threat was detected, the LAMPS or Dipper would be vectored in to pinpoint the target's location and also try to identify it. With a LAMPS, I'd order buoy drops around the suspected location, normally a pattern of 4 passive buoys. If an SH-3 was available, I'd have a dipping sonar available as well. MAD detection was available from both types of helos as well.

 

Once a contact is firm enough and rules of engagement are met, a torpedo drop can be made. My own preference during ASW exercises was to vector the helo over the contacts track stern to bow and release the weapon when the MAD needle swung. This places the weapon ahead of the target due to balistic travel after release and in an optimum position to aquire.

 

Hope this helps. If not, it was fun thinking about those days again.

Thank you for the information. I am wondering, of the 4 buoys dropped around the suspected location, would 2 be above the layer and 2 below? According to the paper rules, any sub that is at least one half the passive detection distance would be detected no matter what the depth. I suppose if the buoys were all at the same depth it would not matter as long as they were dropped close enough to the sub.