Foster

Uh.....

Ohai.

Good to be back!

*Shrugging intensifies*

Thunderbolt Black (Fighter Pilot Mercenaries)

...So how are you all doing?

@ShiningSector

How Foster is doing: See "status".

Thunderbolt Black (Fighter Pilot Mercenaries)

<Snipped quote>

That's pretty interesting, and kind of useful. I did read a couple of years ago that the Sidewinder had been tested as an air-to-ground missile around the same time, but I never read any follow-up news on it. I guess the PL-9 shows that it can be done.

@Silverwind Blade

Well, the SA-6 and RIM-7 Sea Sparrow also have land-attack modes.

AGM-87 'Focus' was the IR-homing version designed to home-in on trucks moving at night.

AGM-122 were passive radar-guided, often also fitted with parachutes that would allow them to 'loiter' over suspected radar-stations, and you could carry A LOT of them.

MIM-72 was the ground-launched version that remained popular until '98 since it was WAY more effective than the redeye.

Thunderbolt Black (Fighter Pilot Mercenaries)

I might entertain the idea of people having 'back up' planes some time in the future, but not right now. There'd also be the logistics to consider of getting twice as many planes to wherever we'd be based for each mission, which is a headache - for example, it would mean we'd have twice as many pilots... so in which case, if they can fly the planes to the base we're at... why aren't they flying the missions? xD
We'll see about it some other time. But right now, I wouldn't worry about the Su-25, you won't need it, I promise.

@Silverwind Blade

Actually the plan was to hot-bunk planes in the event a pilot is incapacitated*, as right now we have a perfectly fine A-10 without a pilot assigned, but there is no plane ready to fly with it if we hot-bunked just the one.

But I do see the issue of actually moving these planes between theaters, unless they always returned to the same carrier.

*Aside from illness, rearm/refuel and in-air-refueling is usually quick enough that pilot-fatigue from sustained operations to be an issue.
Battle-Damage-Repair is also a timely-thing.

Anyways, I've still got nails, nape, and guns to go-go.
-that, and a pair of Fox-Two/Rifles. (odd thing, the Chinese PL-9 has an Air-Ground mode)

Thunderbolt Black (Fighter Pilot Mercenaries)

I would have suggested erecting a giant wood/cardboard force-field around your valuables that also served to organize them neatly for display-purposes.

In the meantime, fix them wounded models.

Thunderbolt Black (Fighter Pilot Mercenaries)

No JP233 on the Tornado F3/ADV though, as it's an interceptor and not a ground attack aircraft.

@Silverwind Blade

Operationally, no.

But the ADV could carry the same air-to-ground ordnance as its dedicated strike-cousins, but it was designed mostly for patrol-duty and carries the same ten hardpoints with a max-rated capacity of nine metric tons. It would just be a waste of a good radar-platform and suffer from poor(er) downward-visibility in the same way as using a MiG-23 like it were a MiG-27k.

Is moot point though, for some reason due to lack of sleep I perpetually thought the Tornado was one of the ground-pounders on this flight.
-Or at least I was really hoping for it.

Side-note: would it be alright if Short-Round 'rents to own' one of the local Su-25Ks? Assuming she can get them to load one up and park it on the taxiway, she could cut-down her turnaround-time in hopes to make-up for the team not having an A-10 pilot handy.
-Won't be calling-in a Chinese strike plane because those are either 2-seaters or totally made of suck.

Although in this case it will be a 2-seat UBK model, with a dead-head observer trying to teach/learn/sell the plane.

ALSO:
Technically, any guided air-to-grounds are called "Rifle" in brevity. Fox-One is for Semi-active radar air-to-air, such as AIM-7 and AIM-120.
-This can be particularily jarring to anyone waiting to hear "Fox [number]!" before anything is fired
(The reason why AGMs have a brevity at all [unlike iron-bombs, although even then it's a good thing to note ingress/egress from the kill-box] is to inform other planes that your pilot will have a mild case of target-fixation)

I also noticed I may have swooped the GM's targets.

Thunderbolt Black (Fighter Pilot Mercenaries)

U can haz cheeseburger.

Thunderbolt Black (Fighter Pilot Mercenaries)

Historical (sub)munitions of choice for the Panvia Tornado.
-Right now I'm imagining a wicked grin on Urukai's face as I try to place bets on what is going into the post.

I predict toast.
-So much toast.

Thunderbolt Black (Fighter Pilot Mercenaries)

Will def have post up tonight

@urukhai

JP233 or MW-1?