I spent a couple of hours with the first AWACS CAP mission last night and had a great deal of fun. I wondered initially what it would be like to play the Gods eye view as AWACS Commander and also jump in and out of the conflict, but frankly it really is very cool! (Click any image on this page for a larger shot).

I started the mission by vectoring a pair of JSFs, two F22 CAPS and an F14 CAP toward intercepts. I also moved MAGIC1 (my AWACS control center) slightly further from harms reach. Then I promptly jumped into the northermost F22 CAP to take on a pair of MiG 29s. I've found that mission results are generally better when you fly the mission yourself.

There are a number of reasons for this. First, when you vector an intercept the F22 LEAD may not choose his best stealth options. Second, the AI LEAD does not always position himself as wisely as he could. In fact, having taken note of this I will sometimes vector an intercept in two stages. First I may order a CAP to move their patrol toward the rear aspect of a target. Then when they are in better position I will order the intercept and let them go at it. Perhaps TAW will add more flexibility in the manouvers an AWACS commander can order, like the stern conversion vs the cut off.

In the first shot below (larger shot is about 80K) notice the cloud layers. These are very impressive in adf...The second shot is a no cockpit padlock, the third is an unmanned drone....

The Stern Cut-off The cutoff intercept is defined as the combination of heading and speed that keeps the bearing to the target constant as range decreases. It is the most direct and rapid intercept, but can be applied practically only from a front aspect, usually well ahead of the 3 - 9 line. That's the imaginary line between the 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock positions relative to your aircraft. Think of it as the line that bisects your fuselage from wingtip to wingtip. For more discussion see AWACS.

I began by going to manual EMCON for maximum stealth. Leaving the on board computer to make the EMCON selection means that radar and countermeasures come on line in force at about 25 miles from a bandit in most cases. As for external stores, I was undecided initially whether I should jettison them or not. But since I was almost seventy degrees off the wingtips of my adversaries, I decided to risk closing with a high RCS and see what would happen. I kept my IR signature under control by maintaining just over mach 1. So long as the bandits didn't turn toward me I had a good chance of a sneak attack.

My AIM 120 loadout didn't include any of the extended range R variants, so I had to get within 28 miles at 34,000 feet in order to get a lock. At 40 miles I ordered my wingman to bracket left, putting him closer to harms way by placing him about 40 degrees off the wingtips of the MiGs by the time I was prepared to engage.

At thirty miles the engagement was looking good. I waited until I was at 25 miles and switched to EMCON 3 to launch, then immediately went back to EMCON 1 and reduced my speed even more. The AMRAAM would use the AWACS cueing until it was much closer and then switch to active radar. The MiGs took no notice of the launch.

I prepared to order my wingman to engage if either bandit survived. I would then go to AUTO EMCON so that the surviving bandit would be locked up from two directions and have to decide whom to engage. However, both bandits were hit, one spiralling down out of control and the other fighting for control. I ordered my wing to engage and a moment later he was close enough to launch an AIM9x. With this second hit the MiG disintegrated.

One of the cool features that integrates well into this package is the ability to listen to the voice comms of other flights. Unlike previous incarnations of this feature, the comms you hear are actually representative of the action in the theatre. So, for example, when you travel in Freq Push 2 you will hear the action of other allied flights all around you. This means that when you move from the AWACS position into an F22 cockpit you can continue to monitor the action in real time, even though you no longer have the Gods eye view. Perfect!

After MUMTAZ1 (myself and my wing) took out the MiGs I jumped back to AWACS because I had heard a call from GHOST1 that indicated there were about to engage the Su35s I had vectored them after. I clicked on GHOST1 to see the action first hand and also zoomed in the radar generated map.

GHOST1 (a pair of F14s) looked fine and were engaging with Phoenix missiles from about 45 miles out. However, MUMTAZ2 to the south were closing on another pair of MiGs and it looked like time to jump in again!

This time I didn't fare as well and although we got the kills I took a hit and was losing hydraulic pressure and had lost afterburner and air/ground brakes. I also had a cockpit pressure warnng. Time to head for home so I called AWACS for a vector for recovery. HOME PLATE was ninety miles away so I turned in that direction and descended from 30,000 feet to 10,000.

Landing without brakes is an interesting affair in the F22. Be certain you line up for the runway well in advance and call for a direct approach. Once you have clearance and are lined up, call FINALS, get your speed below 250 knots and drop your landing gear. The goal is to touch down as near to the close end of the runway as possible, and at as low a speed as possible. I managed to touch down close to the near end at about 145 knots.

Unfortunately, at this point there is no way to jettison fuel, so you will likely be landing with 50% or better fuel load. Jettison any remaining stores to lighten your aircraft.

As soon as you touch down kill both engines, and then wiggle your rudder back and forth to increase the drag on your aircraft. You should be down to about twenty knots by the time you hit the far end of the runway. At the moment you won't automatically rearmed and refueled once you come to a full stop as you will be in the Tours and single missions, maybe this ability will be added in the Red Sea Tour add on.

All shots taken at 800x600 under Glide, maximum detail (almost double the resolution of ef2000).

Late Changes in the ADF Beta Auto Target Cycling: Auto target cycling can be toggled on and off by using 'Shift-C'. Shoot List: The shoot list can be cleared with the 'U' key. This is useful in situations where you build an automatic shoot list and then need to clear to build a manual shoot list. Kill Boxes: Kill Boxes are shown as red boxes on the 'Situation' and 'Attack' MFD's. Any ground based unit (tanks and SAMS etc.) contained by the box are to be regarded as the enemy. The box is also shown on the briefing map and on the in game map (accessed using the 'del' key on the numeric keypad). Mission Targets information in the HUD: When playing a given mission, targets that are required to be destroyed in order to complete the mission are now shown with the letter 'T' adjacent to them in the HUD display. The 'T' cue is only shown in the HUD on the Easy and Medium difficulty levels and is not present when playing at the Hard difficulty level setting. Mission objectives can also be viewed from the in-game map by pushing the 'Del' key on the numeric keypad. Landing at Friendly airfields to rearm and refuel: You can land at friendly airfields to rearm and refuel your plane. Land as normal on the runway, bring your plane to a halt and you will be rearmed and refuelled. Mission Target information in the Defense, Situation and Attack displays: On Easy and Medium levels in the game the targets that are required to be destroyed are shown with the letter 'T' in the target information. The target information is shown when you position the mouse cursor over an aircraft symbol in the Situation, Defense or Attack displays. The flight call sign is also shown. This is the same call sign that is shown in the mission objectives. Pilot Aids: Pilot aids overlays the Situation and Defense displays in the bottom corners of the screen. The pilot aids default to on in the 'Full HUD' view and their settings can be adjusted by pushing 'Alt-G'. The three settings are: * Full HUD pilot aids (Default) * Full HUD and virtual cockpit pilot aids * Pilot aids off Removing HUD Clutter with the 'J' key: The 'J' key can now be used for removing clutter from the HUD to allow you to concentrate on the target at the head of your shoot list. The 'de-clutter' is a toggle on/off function and when toggled on turns off the following symbology in the air-to-ground and air-to-air HUD modes: * Velocity vector * The HUD Terrain following box * Targets that are not currently at the head of the shoot list * The radio frequency indicator * The EMCON indicator © 1997 - 2000 COMBATSIM.COM, Inc. All Rights Reserved.   Last Updated November 25th, 1997 Sponsor Recent Posts ICBM: Escalation Out Now War Thunder Visuals are Moving to a New Level Scramble: Battle of Britain - Roadmap and Beta Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 Takes Flight Armored Brigade II Released Hearts of Iron IV Götterdämmerung Expansion Now Available MicroProse Launches Sea Power: Naval Combat in the Missile Age on Steam Early Access Broken Arrow - The Multiplayer Open Beta is Now Available Rising Storm 2: Vietnam Update 1.6.2 Released Six Days in Fallujah Command and Control Update now Available Categories Action/Strategy Armor Combat News Battle Royale MMO Combat Flight Sim Destroyer: The U-Boat Hunter First-Person Shooters Flight Simulation Games Gaming Hardware Mavericks Proving Grounds Military History MMFPS Naval Combat Over The Top: WWI RPG Security Software Strategy and Wargaming Tactical Shooters Third-Person Shooters Time Management Uncategorized