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Shooting cont...
Shooting with the Hokum
The Hokum has six ways to fight back and return the favor of handing out bad days:
- 2A42 30mm Cannon
This big gun has a selectable ammo function so that you always have the right load for the job at hand. You can choose from the 230 HE or the 240 AP, again the HE is for the soft targets and aircraft while the AP will take on the armored targets. It doesn't have the range of motion that the 20mm of the Comanche has, it only moves -2.5 to 9 degrees sideways and +13 to -40 degrees up and down. This makes gun kills much harder in the Hokum since your helicopters nose must be lined up with the target to score hits.
Fig. 9. Hokum showering lead- Igla-V
This is a short range fire and forget heat-seeking missile, again they are easy to spoof but the Igla-V has the advantage over the Stinger in that it is faster at mach 2.5. It is also only good against air targets.
- Vikhr (whirlwind)
This is the Hokum's anti-tank missile, it is a laser guided missile so you must have a lock for the entire flight time. It is designed for armored targets but also does a good job at hitting other slow moving air targets. It is about the same weight as the hellfire but travels slower with a top speed of mach 1.1.
- S-8 Rockets
These rockets are for hitting soft structures and ground targets at up to 4kms away.
- S-13 Rockets
These are good for 6km giving a much better stand off ability then the S-8 and they even give a better range then the Hydra 70mm rockets on the Comanche. Remember though that these are unguided and need a clear line of sight to the target. On all rockets in the sim you can set salvo sizes for added damage since many targets will take more then one rocket to destroy.
Fig. 10. Rocket fire from the Hokum- GSh-23L 23mm Cannon Pods
These pods are carried aligned with the helicopter body and do not move to aim for targets leaving the pilot with job of aiming the helo to the target. They each carry 250 rounds of ammo that is meant to attack soft ground and air targets. These little guys are very nice for cleaning up the vehicles that sit around at an enemy FARP.
Overall the weapons selection is well done in EECH; the weapons and effects on armor are well done also. Shooting rockets at the front side armor of a tank will not get you very far here. You will have to use your optical systems to get a good shot off when using any of the weaker weapons. I was a little sad to see that some very nice weapons were missing from each helicopters arsenal, it would have done more to show the separate ideals that are taken on helicopter use by the different sides. I would have been happy to see the Starstreak air-to-air missile in the Comanches arsenal; this is a mach 4.0 killer that is planned for use.
On the Hokum I would fit a pair of FAB-250 250kg bombs or a single FAB-500 500kg bomb for ending the use of an enemy FARP. I think this would have added a bit more thought for what you were going to bring for the mission at hand, as it is now I think most guys will get a favorite load and stick to it for all missions. I normally take all hellfires on the Comanche since the Stinger is pretty easy to spoof, for long missions where I want to save weight I take rockets instead. It would be nice to bring a lightweight ATA missile that has some use.
