F15 Index and Links

Janes F15 is an incredible military flight simulation. It takes the art to new heights in at least two areas: flight modelling and wingmen command and control. In a third it goes beyond anything else yet seen: an incredibly deep and flexible mission builder. I could go on, but this update is only to point you to the potential of the mission builder.

Cowboy Bill Wilson has already been busy delving into the intricacies of the Mission Builder. His efforts on our behalf have resulted in a challenging and fun mission that takes us into the heart of Downtown Baghdad. The real challenge is in surviving long enough to hit the bridge!

Since Cowboy has been good enough to post this experience at his site for all to sample, and since its a great example of the potential of the mission builder in action, I thought I would give it a good run through and tell the story. YES.. I lived to tell about it! Ok.. actually, I bailed the first time but managed to hit the bridge the second. The rest is... history! Here is the first shot:

When you enter the mission you will find yourself at around 19,000 feet in a flight of eight, approximately 70 miles from downtown. At almost 600 knots true air speed, you will be over Baghdad in a few minutes; that is, if you survive the gauntlet!

No worries, you have superior technology, superior skills, and this briefing to get you in! Er.. you DO have superior skills, don't you?? Well, no matter, you can keep trying til you get it right!

First, ignore everything Bill tells you about this mission. Its hard. Drop that center tank while you have the time to think. Ok. Switch to A2A mode and extend your radar to eighty miles. You don't have AWACS eyes and you are sticking out like a sore thumb anyway so this way you can at least see what is coming. Set your TEWS to SEMI so that your jammer will come on when needed.

In the shot above I have taken out my second bandit and am turning toward the target. But don't worry about that yet. Lets talk about the mission in general.

What amazes me about this mission creation ability, and its not just true of F15 but of any good mission builder, is how the AI comes along for the ride. YOu set the parameters, and everything else should fall into place, just like in the real world. That is, your wingmen will still react in accord with good A2A doctrine. SO will the enemy. You issue your orders and the Universe unfolds as it should. Let me qualify that.. you may still die, but only if you screw up!

Its amazing. Really. Your wingmen make the calls, they warn each other, they sort bandits, they report when they are hit or when they hit something, they even radio you when they are down safely if they bail! Dang! Its too good!

Enough slobbering, on with the show. SO ... you are about 70 miles from downtown and your radar shows a buy sky out ahead. What are ya gonna do? Set up an intercept of course! Sure, you could just call engage when you are in range, and this might go okay, but you will do better if you divide your forces. So... hit the radio (TAB) and issue some orders to aircraft 5-8 (choose DIVISION). Tell those guys to bracket right. They will acknowledge and spin off to the right.

Give em a minute to move wide and then call the DIVISION to SORT bandits. They will call out their targets so you know which ones are taken. Then hit your radio again and this time order aircraft THREE and FOUR to engage. YOu can do this in a number of ways. Try a DRAG manouver or something else just to see how they respond. If the DRAG works call your wingman to COVER and follow those bandits as they follow THREE and FOUR. When you and your wing are on their tail you can pick em off.

Alternatively, you can tell the ELEMENT to SORT then engage, or to SPLIT LO then engage. Each manouver has its own strengths and with time you will learn when to choose which one. In the meantime, for some advice, have a peek at Dan Crenshaws A2A Wingman Tactics discussion.

Things will get pretty hairy once the missiles start flying. It also gets pretty impressive! Voices are crackling, bandits are locking you up, smoke trails curl across the sky, occasional flashes and explosions light up the canopy in the distance. You may even hear some coarse language out there! The breadth of vocabulary is not in any way inferior to F22 ADF. Wow!

Where were we? Oh yeah, Cowboys designer furball.. er, mission. Watch these Iranians, they ain't no slouches when they get on your tail! If you get into a knife fight jettison your A2G stores or you will be riding the silk in short order. When a MiG is on your tail its a bridge too far.

Ok, you've run the gauntlet and you're still in one piece, shaken but okay. Most likely you still have three or four team mates still in the air also. Call em into line and call up your ground attack menu. Choose 4 for FLIGHT and 6 for GROUND and send em after their targets.

Command Interaction and Control With the recent retirement of the FB-111, the F-15E has become the USAF's premier deep strike/interdiction aircraft. While the USAF's new F-22 will be able to carry A/G ordinance internally and externally, the F-15E will still continue to serve as the principle A/G weapons delivery platform until a new design is approved. Due to the recent budget crisis that the US military have been experiencing, this could be some time to come. The original F-15 design has come a long way from its role as an interceptor. While externally it may look similar to a mere two-seat Eagle, The F-15E is very much its own aircraft. Born of a desire to replace the F-111, the US Air Force looked to a private venture created by McDonnell Douglas to create a strike version of their F-15 Eagle air superiority fighter. The idea was to create a fighter-bomber which could conduct its strike mission with a minimum of support and without the need for accompaniment by escort fighters. While the original prototype, dubbed the "Strike Eagle" was a modified F-15B, today's F-15E is a different aircraft both inside and out. While essentially retaining the same dimensions of a two-seat Eagle, The F-15E's structure has been redesigned and strengthened, increasing its takeoff weight from 68,000 to 81,000 pounds. Giving the F-15E a beefier appearance are two Conformal Fuel Tanks (CFTs) which attach to either side of the fuselage, serving a dual role. Each CFT is capable of carrying 723 US gallons of fuel with less drag than would be present using standard external tanks. Each CFT also features six stub-pylons for the mounting of ordinance. The stubs are placed tangentially, causing less drag than would be present with the use of the standard Multiple Ejection Racks mounted to the wing stations. This new placement arranges the bombs in two rows along the sides of the aircraft. This reduction in drag translates into slightly higher speeds and increased range. The F-15E still retains the ability to mount standard MERs on the wing and centerline pylons in order to carry additional ordinance. Ensuring accurate delivery of this ordinance is the APG-70 radar and the Lockheed-Martin LANTIRN (Low-Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infra-Red for Night) system. The APG-70 is based on an improved F-15C's APG-63 pulse-doppler radar. The most notable feature of the APG-70 is its ability to produce photo-realistic patch maps of a given area down to the 8.5 foot (2.6 m) resolution at 10 nautical miles from the target. Resolution diminishes to a maximum of 127 feet (38.7 m) at 160 nautical miles. The LANTIRN system is made up of two separate pods, one mounted under each air-intake of the F-15E. One pod is primarily for low-level navigation in poor weather conditions while the other pod performs targeting roles. The AAQ-13 navigation pod under the right intake features a Texas Instruments terrain following radar. This radar has been coupled with the flight controls and throttle to provide a hands-off terrain-following course while maintaining a constant altitude down to a minimum of 200 feet. Mounted above the TFR pod is the Forward Looking Infra-Red (FLIR). Through a small window at the front of the unit, the FLIR provides the pilot with a 1:1 IR image of the world which is superimposed on the aircraft's Heads Up Display, allowing the pilot see at night. Beneath the left intake, the AAQ-14 targeting pod is made up of a separate attack FLIR and laser designator/range-finder housed inside a small aerodynamic turret at the front of the cylindrical pod. This FLIR offers several levels of magnification to allow for identification of targets from considerable distance. The laser designator/range-finder is correlated with the attack FLIR and can provide accurate ranges to designated objects. In addition, it is capable of sending specially-coded bursts of laser for the guidance of laser-guided bombs. Controlling this avionics package is a crew of two who occupy a cockpit optimised for the strike role and designed to ensure an efficient division of labour. The pilot is seated in the front while the Weapons System Operator (WSO) is seated directly behind the pilot. Both cockpits feature flight controls though the WSO is typically not a qualified pilot. The pilot's station features a Kaiser ID2349/A wide-angled HUD below which is mounted the Up-Front Controller which is used to select radio channels and to enter in navigational data.

You are going to want to stay low as you swing toward your target. Basically, you have to deal with AAA and SAMs, but they will have a more difficult time seeing you and locking you if you stay low. What you want to do is cruise in around 400 feet and then pop up to about 1500 to drop your cargo, then duck down into the weeds again. Likely you will have to be dropping flares, your WSO will take care of chaff. Listen carefully to that man in the back seat; if he tells you to break left do it!

Yes, this level of AI interaction places more demands on you. Cowboy commented in the F15 mailing list:

The "setup" of the engagement once you have detected your enemy at long range (you had better see them first) by positioning your wingman/element/ division or flight properly will usually count the most to determine the outcome of the engagement... you are not alone up there and you better learn how to work as a team or you will not get far... I assure you of this point. By the same token you cannot "hide" and send your men to deal with the threat alone all of the time either or they will die and not gain vital experience you need them to which enables them to help you later in the campaign. The information above also applies to enemy SAMs and AAAs as well.

If you need some Thrustmaster files for your F22 and TQS to start you out click HERE. Note: this file includes a .ini file that must be placed in your F15 directory since it replaces the default EXPERT key configuration by adding three more commands.

Got a mission to share? Send it my way!