DCS:A-10C Warthog - Sturmovik Campaign Mission 05: Landing Force in Achigvara (Trimmed Walkthrough)

This campaign revolves around two A-10C stolen by the Russians, and is used for testing, evaluation, and later in combat. Originally made for Russian local language, but is subtitled for English. This is a trimmed playthrough, and will only show key events, mission dialogues, aircraft systems setups, and particular tasks for the missions.
Russian-acquired sturmoviks finally see their baptism of fire! This mission is pretty intense with lots of combat time, so the playthrough is longer than usual. Comms are pretty lively too, lots of radio chatter from supporting friendly units. In summary, we are tasked with protecting the town of Achigvara from assaulting Georgian forces, concentrated to the South-Southeast. We are supported by two Mi-24s [11:52] in the AO while other air assets do their work elsewhere. Later at [16:20] a couple of F-16s are scrambled to interdict, but is promptly intercepted and destroyed by a flight of Su-27. By the end of the mission 3 vehicle groups were destroyed, as well as an AH-1W that decided to hang around too long inside our border [30:05].
Some tips for this mission:
- reference bearing from BULLSEYE (waypoint 4) to locate assigned targets
- CBU-87 setting: HOF 1200, RPM 0
- Drop CBU-87s early to shed weight
- As before, rockets best used with ripple setting
- Drop Mk82s from direction parallel to the wind
- Cannon is very versatile, use it sparingly
- Use Markpoint Z as reference to last ordinance release point
- Don't trust your AI wingman, lol
There is alot to go through, so I'll give a detailed explanation of each point below.
As with every other mission, I'm running the CDU Wind Briefing mod:
www.digitalcombatsimulator.co...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When target is called out by the ground observer, refer to BULLSEYE (waypoint 4) by flying towards it. When you're close enough, use the HSI and given bearing to reference relative target location via clock positions. Fly down the heading and locate the targets visually.
As of 2.5.4, CBU-87s are still very ineffective, with only 50 bomblets being modeled instead of actual 202. Combined with the bomb weighing almost 1,000 lb each, I got rid of both bombs early to recover some turn and climb performance. Should you want to use them though, a Height-of-Function (HOF) 1,200 ft avoids wind drift of submunitions, while sufficiently high to arm the bomblets and provide a tight enough spread to make up for its lackluster performance.
Like before, I decided to use RPL SGL of 7 rockets. This provides a decent rate of fire that is effective against soft vehicles like HMMWVs and M113s, as evident in the attack on first vehicle group. Don't bother using them against armor though.
Mk82s are best used against stationary armored targets; often a near-miss is enough to take them out, so pinpoint accuracy is not necessary. Mk82s are quite heavy however (~550 lb), so use them when opportunity arises. Dumb bombs are most accurately employed in a steep attack (more than 45 degree dive), so take the time to climb up to 9,000 ft or more. Make your attack heading parallel to the wind direction, observe the smoke from burning wrecks to show wind direction. This negates the effects of lateral wind drift and makes for a more accurate CCIP calculation. Again, keep wings as level as possible with minimal bank corrections.
Use your cannon sparingly as it is your most versatile weapon available in this mission. It will chew through anything short of an MBT, so a short 1-second burst is often sufficient. Don't waste ammo by strafing down the entire convoy length, use it to pick off stationary stragglers after the initial attack.
Markpoint Z is a 'hidden' waypoint stored when a SPI is set by a SOI. Without the TGP however, the HUD is SOI and thus the last employed munition impact point (gun, bombs, rockets, whatever) is SPI and thus saved. This is very handy when trying to locate the area you previously attacked, as seen after the brief CAP interruption. Mark Z is accessed via the "MARK" dial, and cycling to it. Note however that Mark Z will change position if a new weapon release is initiated.
From my experience the AI wingman is underwhelming when using anything but guided munitions. You're far better off completing the mission on your own. The only time AI is useful is when using them to suppress air defences, or as missile bait.

[@goofeyfoot7276]

We would like to hear your narrative, not just watch you play.

[@piketchupwarthog3574]

I prefer no-commentary playthroughs more, as I find narration to be distracting at times