A2A Missiles

"Archer Inbou . . ." Blam! The entire arsenal of A2A missiles employed against us are IR. That means big trouble. Know that the only way to avoid a heat seeker behind your wing is to not put yourself in that situation in the first place.

Two things here: querie AWACS frequently and have your wingmen clear your six when you're unsure what's back there. It is a big mistake to let our wingmen move out of protective formation, leaving our butt uncovered. More on that in a moment. Second, you have to do radar sweeps periodically to prevent being snuck up on during ingress and egress. In addition, you must be very alert to not fly directly into the same kind of air traps as the ground traps described above.

Early on, don't be afraid to use labels to recognize these situations. When you begin to see large packages of enemy aircraft, and these begin to close in on you, it's time to get the hell out of Dodge. Never mind that BARCAP tasks you with keeping all enemies out of your corridor. Do you want to be a dead hero? They don't get any credit in this man's war! Be alert to large packages of the enemy closing in on you -- frequently more than one aircraft, and from different directions at the same time!

[One caution about using labels when the sky gets really crowded. They can lead to more confusion than clarification. In that case, it's usually better to take your time and do radar sweeps while directing wingmen to defend.]

Evade the Hornet's Nest

You will see things like both enemy bomber and fighter missions converging with flights of allied aircraft. Get too close to these insect hordes and the bomber escorts will break off and attack you, (hmm... probably a bug), precisely at the same time you're dealing with some other problem. The result is the fog of war and a horrific air battle in which there are no clear winners. Stay out of these things!

With closure rates in excess of 1000 knots it's very easy to let your guard down and suddenly discover that they've closed in on you from two sides, just like our SAM traps. It's never a good day to die. Regardless of how you are tasked, the thing to do is to stay away. Don't press your luck, and don't try to beat the odds: they are stacked against you.

Instead, do what the Red Baron did: On a CAP, back off, patrol the perimeter of the air battle, and be content to pick off the wayward sheep if that is the best you can do. He became an Ace by choosing when to fight and when to flee! With weapons like the AMRAAM you can engage and then turn away and run while the missile takes the risks.

Reign your wingmen in with the "weapons safe" and "rejoin" commands when they're inclined to heroics. Don't sacrifice wingmen until you are threatened. If you get an unexpected, "One, major pucker factor here," calls, know that you've failed to control your wingies. Resolve not to let it happen again. Decline AWACS commands that would have them divert from the mission, no matter how desperate the plea.

Also decline AWACS commands that would have you charging into the fray. "I need help now! I need help now!" You'll hear it over and over. "Chuck you Farley. I got my own problems." Good samaritans die young in this man's war.

RTB or Die

In judging how to stay out of trouble, try to never let the red guys get behind your wings. If they start to migrate behind your 3-6 line, double back. If necessary, abort the mission and RTB. Dead heroes don't fly.

Remember that when you encounter these situations, as you often will early on, it is very unlikely that you will be able to complete your assigned mission. Your package has been broken up, you may have lost your escort, you have shot off A2A missiles, a wingman or two are dead, and your defenses are so weakened that you'll be lucky to get back to base. And you want to finish a deep strike under these conditions? Yeah, you and the tooth fairy.

This leads to one final point. When you do get in trouble with enemy fighters, be sure to use your wingmen. The best way to defend yourself is to get your wingies on the attack. Once they are on the tail of the bandit he will be thinking about other things than ruining your day.

Whenever possible, get your wingmen engaged first, saving your missiles to defend yourself. Lock up the bad guys to make them think twice. If you haven't yet applied the 1.04 patch, do it, because wingman performance is much improved.

As you can see here, I've stressed that knowing when to fight, and when to tuck tail and flee is a critical skill. This is solid tactical thinking. Unfortunately, simulations work against us in this regard. It's too easy to be killed and come back to try again. Survival depends on your taking even simulated death seriously.

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The other critical key to success is getting rid of air defenses. Recall how establishing air superiority was the number one priority in Desert Storm. Never lose sight of the fact that you will never become so good at missile avoidance as to survive very long against bad odds. Don't fight until the odds are on your side. This principle cannot be overstated.

We do not know how the AI intends to play the war out. In the meantime you will constantly be presented with the siren song that your side is in dire straits, that your grunts on the ground and in the air need your help. This lures you into playing Rambo and trying to become the hero. Don't buy in.

If your troops are being creamed on the battlefront, the implication is that you can single handedly bail them out. Nonsense. If the brass have screwed up the frag order, don't become the victim. Stay alive, minimize frustration, nibble around the edges and see how things play out. There is no sense in taking on a deep strike or BAI if you have no hope of getting there with your package intact.

What we've discussed here are the basic methods to avoid certain defeat. To avoid missiles, we first have to avoid impossible situations. We first have to learn to recognize when more missiles are going to be fired at us than we could possibly hope to evade.

There are those of you out there with far greater skills than mine. But this piece should at least offer newbies a place to start with some basic principles on survival, and how to keep frustration levels below the point of tearing your hair out with this amazingly realistic sim, perhaps surreal !

Summary of Air Defenses in Falcon 4

This is only a summary. The Tactical Reference section of Falcon 4 contains detailed information on virtually every weapons system and platform modeled in the simulation. Spend time learning the strengths and weaknesses of these systems and your success rate, as well as your survival rate, will improve!

SA2 Very old large Russian radar missile designed to take out high altitude bombers. Very poor performance against fighters. Range 23 mi,. huge warhead. Transportable but not mobile. Easily avoided.

SA3 Also very old, large, radar, range 15 nm, burn time 23 seconds. Moderately easy to evade with chaffe and maneuvering.

SA4 Late model, semi-passive radar, mobile, fast (Mach 4) and deadly above low alt. 22 nm range and up to angels 80!

SA5 Similar to SA2. Fast but poor maneuverability. Range 9 mi.

SA6 Tracked vehicle, medium sized radar missile with 16 mile range. Avoidable. Moderate threat.

SA7 Portable rear aspect only, shoulder fired with 3 mi max range. Small warhead usually won't bring a fighter down.

SA8 Radar, quad, mobile, range 9 mile. Moderately good turn radius. Moderate to high threat. SA13 Late model, mobile, big, bad and deadly. Combined radar/IR tracking. Turns on a dime. Range 3 mi. Major low alt threat to strike missions.

SA15 Radar, range 5 mi, ceiling angels 19. Very nimble, major low altitude threat. Burn time only 12 seconds. Last minute maneuvers work best to defeat this one.

ZSU-53-2 Old AA guns but can be very effective when arrayed with SAMS. Range 1 mile. Low threat.

ZSU-53-7 Modern version of 53-2. Moderate to high threat.

ZSU-23 Very old towed AA guns. Low threat.