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Post news Report RSS Report 011: Guided bombs in all flavors

This time, the report is one really big one, revealing a lot of the newest bombs and their unique characteristics

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In the last week, following addition of the guided bomb system only a few actual
weapons were made available.
Considering the wide variety of roles and characteristics these weapons can have, that list was too small and limited. Therefore, to offer a wider selection this week was focused on expanding the collection of guided bombs, so that our pilots will be able to choose the best weapon for any particular situation.

Another issue was pointed out from our pilots, was that only a few of the available aircraft could use guided bombs.
Our base already requested a new aircraft and it should be delivered in the next weeks. But before that, to mitigate the issue of few guided bomb users, a solution appeared: a modernization plan for the su-27S.

The Su-27SM:

Although visually very similar to the S version, it can be distinguished by offset IRST ball in front of the cockpit, the addition of the refueling probe and the ECCM in the leading edge of the wings.

But the biggest difference it is in the performance, as it is one of the most technological advanced fighters in the su-27 family and one of the most effective aircrafts in the whole 4th generation of fighter aircrafts.


This modernization improves greatly the avionics and radar performance. Increasing it combat effectiveness it also add the compatibility of high-precision weapons.

In game shot of the Su-27SM:

The MiG-21 will follow this modernization to also support guided bombs.

Before showing the newly added weapons, a simple explanation about the differences in some warheads and guidance systems.

Some types of warheads:


High explosion
The most conventional type of warhead is the high explosive, commonly referred to simply as HE.

Good coverage area
Excellent for carpet bombing
Weak against shelters


Piercing
Armor piercing is a type of warhead made to penetrate hardened targets. In case of bombs they are known as "bunker busters", as they explode below ground destroying the foundations of any structure.

Excellent against high value targets and reinforced structures
Excellent against ships and submarines
Narrow blast range


Thermobaric
Result of a quick disperse an aerosol cloud of fuel which is ignited by an embedded detonator to produce an explosion. The rapidly expanding wave front due to overpressure flattens all objects within close proximity of the epicenter of the aerosol fuel cloud, and produces debilitating damage well beyond the flattened area. The main destructive force of Thermobaric explosion is high overpressure, useful against soft targets such as minefields, armored vehicles, aircraft parked in the open.

Also known as fuel-air bomb and it is the type of warhead used for the two most powerful non-nuclear bombs, the MOAB and FOAB.

Extremely large coverage area
Powerful weapon against soft skin units
Weak against reinforced structures

Incendiary (Note: this type of warhead it is not available yet)
Often referred as Napalm, the incendiary bombs use chemical reactions to spread fires. These bombs, if dropped in the right conditions they can cause a long line of fire

Good against unarmored units or personal
Good against convoys
Causes persistent damage
For maximum efficiency requires to be dropped in certain conditions
Useless against shelters or reinforced structures


Cluster (Note: this type of warhead it is not available yet)
This type of warhead it is unique, it main role it isn't to damage the target, but instead is to spread smaller sub-munitions carried inside of the projectile. Then these sub-munitions will damage targets in a wide area.

Good for bomb saturation
Good against armoured vehicles
Must be dropped from altitude to have good coverage area
Some clusters have random dispersion of sub munitions

(Note: it is possible to mix the characteristics of various warheads)


Some types of guidance system:
TV
The TV guidance system uses the fire-and-forget principle as the weapon guides itself to the target, however to be effective, it must be deployed in daylight and clear conditions.

Can be Remote controlled.
Fire-and-Forget.
Limited to daylight.
Limited to clear weather.

(Note, in the future, the player will have the possibility to remote control some TV guided weapons)


Laser
The Laser guided is the most common and the most versatile guidance system for bombs; it can be deployed day or night. One drawback of this kind of guidance is that the aircraft must continually "paint" the target and therefore to ensure accuracy can't take evasive maneuvers if targeted by enemy fire.
In case of the signal loss, the projectile goes ballistic.

Works in all lighting conditions
Stays effective against stealth units
The aircraft must be able to paint the target avoiding the interference of obstacles
Loses effectiveness in bad weather
Laser illumination can be interrupted by smoke, fog, or clouds
Aircraft venerable when using this weapon

(Note, in the future, tanks can take evasive measures creating a smoke screen in an attempt to disrupt the laser guidance)

(Note 2, in the gameplay perspective, the target must stay locked for the weapon to be able to aim properly)

IIR
The Imaging Infrared, often called as "heat-seekers", is like the TV guidance, it can also maneuver independently to the target without any further input from the aircraft. Unlike laser-guided bombs which can only be employed in clear air-mass conditions, the IIR is able to achieve accuracy in adverse weather.

Fire-and-Forget
Works in all lighting conditions
Usable in all weather
Ineffective against cold bodies
The existence of a variety of infrared countermeasures.

Sat Nav
The Satellite guided weapons are able to operate in all weather and lighting conditions. In comparison with other guidance systems, it has the upper hand against countermeasures.

Fire-and-Forget
Works in all lighting conditions
Immune to countermeasures
Usually fixed positions
Must be able establish connection with a navigation satellite

(Note: an effort is constantly being made for the game to be as accurate as possible in specs, loadouts, etc. However the user is free to change or simplify the configurations as he likes when moding the game)

Now the weapons:


Guidance: TV
Warhead: HE

The GBU-15(V)1/B uses a daylight-only image-contrast seeker. It has the same basting power as the MK 84.

Currently for:
F-15E
B-52


Guidance: IIR
Warhead: HE

The GBU-15(V)2/B it is the same as the 1/B however it is equipped with a IIR guidance unit.

Currently for:
F-15E
B-52


Guidance: TV
Warhead: Piercing

Similar to the 1/B version, the GBU-15(V)21/B is equipped with a TV guidance system, however instead of having a MK84 warhead, this version shares the same penetration-warhead as the BLU-109 bomb (The BLU-109 bomb is not available at the moment)

Currently for:
F-15E
B-52


Guidance: IIR
Warhead: Piercing

The GBU-15(V)22/B is the combination of the BLU-109 warhead with the same infrared seeker of the GBU-15(V)2/B.

Currently for:
F-15E
B-52


Guidance: Laser
Warhead: Piercing

The GBU-24 is an improvement to the GBU-10 making it more accurate and effective. It also works better in adverse conditions

Currently for:
A-10A
F-15E
F-16C


Guidance: Laser
Warhead: Piercing

The GBU-27 is a variation of the GBU-25 modified to fit in the weapons bay of the F-117 stealth fighter.
It may have been tailor made for the F-117, yet it can also be used by the same users of the GBU-24.

Currently for:
A-10A
F-15E
F-16C


Guidance: TV
Warhead: HE

The KAB-500Kr is similar to the GBU-15(V)1/B

Currently for:
Su-27SM
Su-47


Guidance: Laser
Warhead: Piercing

The KAB-500L is designed to engage various stationary ground/surface small-sized hardened targets, such as reinforced concrete shelters, military industrial installations, depots, and seaport terminals.

Currently for:
Su-27SM
Su-47


Guidance: TV
Warhead: Thermobaric

The KAB-500-OD is designed to engage ground targets, such as fire emplacements, and manpower hidden in mountainous terrains. Visually identical to the 500Kr version, it differs in the warhead, the OD version uses a Thermobaric warhead.

Currently for:
Su-27SM
Su-47


Guidance: Sat Nav
Warhead: HE

Smart bomb KAB-500S-E with satellite guidance and HE warhead is a high-precision fire-and-forget aircraft weapon. It is designed for round-the-clock all-weather engagement of ground and water surface targets such as munitions depots, industrial facilities, ships at berths, etc. It destroys predetermined targets and targets whose position is fed into the flight mission during captive flight before the bomb is dropped.

Currently for:
Su-27SM
Su-47


Guidance: TV
Warhead: HE

KAB-1500Kr is a more powerful version of the KAB-500Kr with bigger blast range.

Currently for:
Su-27SM
Su-47


Guidance: Laser
Warhead: Piercing

The KAB-1500L has a piercing warhead and is designed to engage stationary ground/surface small-sized hardened targets, such as reinforced concrete shelters, runways, railway and highway bridges, military industrial installations, warships, and transport vessels.

Currently for:
Su-27SM
Su-47


Guidance: Laser
Warhead: Thermobaric

The KAB-1500LG is an improved seeker model over the KAB-1500L and it features the same round-the-clock capability.

Currently for:
Su-27SM
Su-47


Guidance: Sat Nav
Warhead: HE

The KAB-1500S-E is a satellite aided inertial guided bomb. It to uses the same guidance package as the smaller KAB-500S-E but has more powerful blast.

Currently for:
Su-27SM
Su-47


Guidance: Radar/Sat Nav
Warhead: Thermobaric

The last one it is not a bomb, but instead a missile, created to test the versatility of the warheads in current system.
It is long-range ballistic missile developed to be a multi-purpose weapon, destroying both air and ground units with a huge air Burst.
In theory is a very devastating weapon combining the fuel air explosions with other high explosives, resulting in something similar to a small thermonuclear bomb.
However, to this date there is no actual data of the missile performance, the use of this weapon would draw too much attention from our enemies, so to avoid that it will be stored in a safe place in case of a future use.

Currently for:
None

(Note: By the default this weapon it is not available for any aircraft and is "hidden" in the game data. To be able to use this weapon, the player must include it in an aircraft's default list of weapons.)


With this new pack of weapons, most of the relevant guided bombs are now available. So in the future, the inclusion of other guided bombs will be reduced and upcoming additions will be focused on other types of weapons.

  • Added Speed State animations (now the flaps an trims can move properly and it is also possible to have aircrafts with variable wing geometry)
  • Added velocity dependent animations

  • Added Su-27SM aircraft
  • Added GBU-15(V)/1B weapon
  • Added GBU-15(V)/2B weapon
  • Added GBU-15(V)/21B weapon
  • Added GBU-15(V)/22B weapon
  • Added GBU-24 weapon
  • Added GBU-27 weapon
  • Added KAB-500Kr weapon
  • Added KAB-500L weapon
  • Added KAB-500-OD weapon
  • Added KAB-500S-E weapon
  • Added KAB-1500Kr weapon
  • Added KAB-1500L weapon
  • Added KAB-1500LG weapon
  • Added KAB-1500S-E weapon
  • Added MPBM weapon

Stay tuned, more reports will follow.

Post comment Comments
Bakelit
Bakelit

so much detail! love it!

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Wolf0x
Wolf0x

Agreed it's great when it's this type of update

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capybara17
capybara17

rainbow puke*

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CloneWarrior85
CloneWarrior85

omggggggggg soo much bombing run fun :D

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Crystan
Crystan

So many bombs :o

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AirborneSn1p3r
AirborneSn1p3r

what about chocolate flavor?

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timeSymmetry Author
timeSymmetry

Aww forgot that one.

Reply Good karma+1 vote
Phenixtri
Phenixtri

Aww its missing the lil anime version of the jet :( Was having fun collecting those xD Awesome report as usual tho keep up the great work.

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timeSymmetry Author
timeSymmetry

She took the week off this time, because it was only a simple variation. But don’t worry she will come back. ;)

Reply Good karma+1 vote
Pra3t0r5
Pra3t0r5

OMG SO MUCH EXPLOSIONS =D

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