F-15E strike mission

 

 

An F-15E is approaching enemy air space. A Mirage 2000 is scrambled to intercept. Initial range is 80nm and the Mirage picks the F-15 up on radar. Its not until the planes reach 60nm the F-15 picks up the Mirage. Both planes are at medium altitude.

 

 

The planes close quickly, and engagement turns (30 second turns) ensure. The F-15 is armed with a Sidewinder AtA missile which has a range of 9.5nm, giving it more reach than the Magic the Mirage is carrying (6nm). The F-15 fires both its Sidewinders at 9nm.

 

6.3.3.2.2 says that 1 in 5 AtA missiles clear the rails but fail to function. Die rolls of 6 and 8 mean both of these AtA missiles have gone live.

 

I didn’t do the math, but I assumed the Sidewinders engaged the Mirage before the Mirage was able to fire at the F-15.

 

The sidewinder has an AtA of 6.5 less 4.5 (Mirage AtA) less 1.5 for 3G ECM vs 3G missle and another – 1.5 for 3G decoys vs 3G missle gives a final result of –1.0 and a 20% chance of each missile finding its target on the Air-to-Air combat table.

 

Die rolls of … (you wont believe this) 16 and 17 mean both hit home.

 

Hmmm I know I read somewhere that a missile hit kills a plane but I cannot find the paragraph any more. So I’m not sure if theres a chance of damaging an aircraft or if its an outright kill. But I’ll assume two hits kill off the Mirage.

 

The F-15E continues into enemy territory now, where it is engaged by the enemys Boffers 40mm/60 anti air guns. There are two guns, each with one barrel. The Boffers system surprises the F-15E (which is also above the Vlow band and slower than 1000kts) so it is non-manouvering and the hit chance is doubled. A hefty penalty, I guess this shows why aircraft go into afterburner or increase there approach speed when over hostile ground, oh, and go Vlow (which I think has flight penalties to avoid crashing).

 

There are no other modifiers that I can see so the Boffers to hit chance is .15 x 2 (non-manouver) = 30% chance of the F-15E being hit (and he notes the position of the previously hidden gun for future reference :-)

 

Die roll is … 05, so the F-15 is hit. But for sake of argument I will rule this an “exercise” and allow the F-15 to continue to target so I can use some more rules for the first time.

 

The F-15 approaches its intended target. I was going to run through a lob-toss bombing run but the F-15 has guided missiles (AGM-65). Sooooooo …..

 

Aircraft bombing tables on page 6-12 are used. Our target is a known Crotale Missle battery (Yes, the “enemy” in this AAR has a decidedly French flavour).

 

The F-15’s AGM-65 is fired from a range of 13nm, and flies off at 791kts, it is IIR. 5.3.10 says LOS must be maintained during flight. I’m not sure how to work out if LOS is maintained or not. The F-15 fires from 13nm away, and radar LOS from a medium height to a small ship (or Crotale missle launcher???) is 106nm so I figure that even after firing the missile and the F-15 peels away, there is LOS.

 

To work out the chance of hitting I use Table 6-12 under precision guided munitions. AGM-65 is 3rd generation infrared but there is no option for that on the table. There is only 2nd Gen EO/IR. I’m not sure which stats to use. Can anyone tell me what the “guidance type” is I should use on table 6-12 for AGM-65?

 

The Crotale missile has a maximum range of 5.5nm and is a 2nd Generation missile. Can it shoot down the incoming AGM-65? I thought maybe 6.4.1.2 SAMs might cover it. But it talks about the missles AtA rating and I don’t think the Crotale has one??? Its getting late so maybe I am missing something obvious.

Hi KC,

 

I plan to step through your example this weekend as time permits, but using the new air rules. Different procedure but should give a similar result.

 

Happy New Year

I found the actual aircraft v aircraft rules pretty simple. It was just the ... engagement between being at a distance to moving into a dog fight. It was just that transition that i found a bit hard. But the actual dogfight rules i found pretty easy. I still need to do some more combat in this area, but its seemed ok so far.

 

But i'm always up for "new" rules.

I found the actual aircraft v aircraft rules pretty simple.

I agree. I believe the intent is to allow for more aircraft to be involved with more simplicity, since the player is supposed to be ahigher level commander, not an individual pilot.

 

There are games for that.