AV8B HARRIER ASSAULT - OPERATIONS MANUAL - Part 1
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Typed by SHARD N&B
CONTENTS
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Preface - about the game.
Configuring your system for AV-8B
Section I : Introduction
Section II : Campaign
Section III : Quick Start
Section IV : AV-8B Pilot's Manual
Section V : Ships and men of the task force
Section VI : Aboard the Tarawa
Section VII : Flight Training
Section VIII: Task Force Commander's Manual
Section IX : Intelligence Briefing
Section X : Historical Background:
Development of the Harrier
The rebellion in East Timor
Acknowledgements
AMIGA ADDENDUM
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1 Meg required.
To install on hard disk run INSTALL program on disk 1 (you can only run
from a hard disk if you have more than 1 mb of memory).
To run from floppy double click on AV8B icon on disk 1 and follow
instructions.
When running from floppy you will need a DATA disk. To create one double
click on the CreateDATA icon and insert a blank disk in the drive.
In the case of low memory warning save the game state, re-boot and re-run
and then reload the saved game state.
For more information double click on the README icon on disk 1.
PREFACE - ABOUT THE GAME
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Welcome to the world of interactive simulation, and congratulations on
choosing what we think is one of the best and most accurate flight
simulators currently available. Good flight simulators have been available
for several years, but AV-8B HARRIER ASSAULT extends the concept by asking
the player to play two roles. (1) As Commander of the Rapid Deployment
Force (RDF) you will run the campaign of Operation Ocean Saber, a
UN-authorised invasion of East Timor in Southeast Asia. Tasked with
landing US Marines in hostile terrain held by a well armed and
numerically-superior enemy, you'll make strategic and tactical decisions
for the force as a whole. (2) As a squadron pilot, you`ll fly the AV-8B
Harrier jump jet from the flight deck of the USS Tarawa taking this
revolutionary vertical take-off fighter into combat against the armed
forces of Indonesia, the nation which seized East Timor in 1975.
AV-8B HARRIER ASSAULT will place you in command of a naval task force
consisting amphibious assault ships, an escort of powerfully armed
warships, transport ships, landing craft, eight thousand troops, their
vehicles, stores, helicopters, and a squadron of McDonnell Douglas AV-8B
Harrier II aircraft. Get the feel of what it's like to be in command of a
powerful naval force able to project US military power on distant shores,
then feel the thrill of being the pilot of one of the world's most
effective close air support aircraft. But remember if you fail in either
role, the prisoners of war being herded behind barbed wire to await the
journey home will be wearing US rather than Indonesian uniforms.
If you prchased AV-8B HARRIER ASSAULT expecting it to be a normal flight
simulation, and don`t want to play the role of task force commander, then
don`t worry. Using expert systems technology built into the game, your
computer will be able to run the campaign, selecting the objectives of the
land and sea forces, positioning the ships, and specifying the missions for
the AV-8B Haariers, leaving you free to enjoy flying a simulation whose
flying characteristics and cockpit layout are closely modelled on those of
the real aircraft.
The expert systems also control the actions of the enemy forces, who will
respond to your decisions and tactics. This allows you to play the game
many times, trying different methods of dealing with a large defending
force determined to fight for what it regards as Indonesian territory. It
won't be easy - a decade of struggle against the East Timor resistance has
honed the combat skills of the Indonesian Army.
CONFIGURING YOUR SYSTEM FOR AV-8B
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AV-8B requires a minium of 2 megabytes of RAM to run. It will run with
EMM386.SYS but it will make better use of memory if you do not use it.
Included on disk 2 is a bare bones AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS. To use
these rename your existing files to .OLD and replace them with the ones on
disk 2.
Installing AV-8B
To install AV-8B, at the A: prompt type INSTALL and follow the onscreen
prompts.
Thrustmaster
AV-8B is fully compatible with the thrustmaster range of joystick and
throttle controllers.
SECTION 1 - INTRODUCTION
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AV-8B Harrier Assault is essentially two games in one. The first is an
accurate flight simulation of the McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II
vertical/short take-off and landing fighter. In this part of the
simulation you'll take the role of an AV-8B pilot. The second is a full
simulation of an amphibious landing operation on a hostile shore by a US
Marine Expeditionary Brigade. In this part of the simulation, you`ll play
the task force commander.
The flight simulation
AV-8B Harrier Assault incorporates an extremely accurate simulation of the
AV-8B Harrier. This is based on two sophisticated aerodynamic models. One
is designed to provide as true a representation of the aircrafts
performance as possible, and is one of the most realistic aircraft
simulations ever written for a personal computer. The second model is
simpler, and is designed to help the novice player get into the game as
quickly as possible without having to worry about the complexities of the
full aircraft model. Players are advised to start with the simpler
version, particularly if new to flight-simulation games. Once you've
mastered combat flying using this version, switch to the full simulation to
experience the nearest thing your PC can offer to the sensation of flying
the real aircraft.
As a pilot, you'll fly a series of missions in support of the task force.
Before each mission, you will provided with a pre-flight briefing on your
targets and the likely level of enemy defences you'll encounter. The Nav
(navigation) system of your aircraft will be automatically programmed with
the co-ordinates of these targets, and a suitable weapon load will be
installed. You fly your mission and, if you survive, can return to the
Tarawa. A post-flight debriefing session will report the success or
failure of your mission, results which will have an effect on the overall
state of play. The Marines on shore are relying on you for support. If
you fail, they too may fail in their mission.
The Stategic Simulation
As commander of the task force, you have two objectives. Before the
outbreak of hostilities, you will have to devise an overall plan for the
amphibious landing and the subsequent ground battle with the enemies
forces. You`ll decide where to move the ships under your command, and on
which beaches to send the Marines under your command storming ashore.
Which targets will you "soften up" by air attack? Which are to be
assaulted by helicopter borne special forces? Deciding won't be easy.
Once a plan has been devised, you can start the simulation. The computer
will act as your staff, passing commands to the units tasked with carrying
out the individual parts of your plan. They, in turn, will try to achieve
what you have asked. To provide a challenging and realistic campaign, we
have simulated the entire combat zone and every vechicle in it, both
friendly and hostile. Every unit, vehicle and weapon participating in the
battle is controlled by the simulation software. This will react to your
actions and inputs, creating a simulated battle in which friendly and
hostile forces respond in a realistic manner both to each other and to your
commands.
Multi-layer expert systems are used to control the enemy forces, creating
life-like response in real time. Moving realistically, these enemy units
will fight your forces, providing you with a strategic and tactical
challenge. As the campaign progresses, you'll have to "fine tune" the
battle plan, responding to the movements of the enemy, and the successes or
failures of your own forces. You may have to send out new units or alter
the orders of units in the field in order to reinforce a critical part of
the battlefield, exploit an breakthrough, or stop a retreat.
To win the game, you must play both roles to some extent. You can play (or
replay) the game acting predominantly as a pilot or as overall commander or
attempt to perform both roles to an equal degree. If you`ve played flight
simulations in the past, you will probably start by concentrating on the
pilot's role. If you're a war games player, you may opt to concentrate of
being commander for your first campaign. Eventually you'll want to face
the challenge of handling both functions.
To play predominately as a pilot, all you need do, as commander, is to
select and initiate a battle plan from the Tarawa's Tactical Amphibious
Warfare Data System (TAWADS) computer. AV-8B missions will be generated
automatically, according to the pre-set plan and also as required to meet
changing state of battle. On its own, TAWADS is not a particularly
effective commander; it can only respond in a limited manner to changing
tactical circumstances. If you don't take any decisions in the role of
commander, but leave it all to TAWADS, you will have to be a very
successful pilot to win the campaign!
To play predominately as the task force commander, you must create and
initiate your own battle plan, then monitor the progress of the conflict
and respond tactically by creating more plans. AV-8B missions will be
flown automatically for you by the computer, but be aware that the computer
is much less effective at knocking out targets than all you will be after a
few hours of play. The Marines are outnumbered and out gunned on the
ground by a factor of 4 to 1, so winning air superiority and flying strike
missions is very important. To win by playing purely as commander, you
will have to be a strategic and tactical genius and be prepared to accept
high casualties on the ground as your Marines fight without the massive
level of air superiority and air support which US ground forces have always
had in the wars of the last half century.
The information you need to play the game is contained in the following
sections of the manual:
Campaign Overview
The crisis in East Timor, and why the United Nations has authorised the US
forces to intervene in this long-running conflict.
Quick Start
A walk-through of two typical AV-8B missions. This section will get you
into the air and flying combat missions as quickly as possible. It will
also familiarise you with the general features of the simulation.
AV-8B Pilot's Manual
This describes the AV-8B, its on-board electronic system and its weapons.
You'll learn how to obtain pre-flight briefings and post-flight
debriefings; how to select, weapons, how to control and fly the aircraft;
and how to use the aircraft's electronic systems and sensors to navigate
and attack air and ground targets.
Ships and men of the Task Force
A description of the USS Tarawa, and the other warships, assault ships and
support ships taking part in the operation. This section also describes
the Marine forces under your command, explaining how they are organized
into battalions, companies and platoons, and gives short descriptions of
their weaponry.
On board Tarawa
How to move around the flagship of your Marine Expeditionary brigade. The
location and purpose of each of the vessel's compartments in described,
plus short-cuts which will take you rapidly from one major location to
another. You'll also learn how to jump from the Tarawa into the cockpit of
any AV-8B currently flying a combat mission, and how to switch to
spectacular outside views of the aircraft.
Flight Training
Aboard Tarawa is a flight simulator which you can use to practice the
flying skills needed in the game, and allows these to be practised. For
players new to the world of flight simulation, a Primary Training section
explains the basics of how to fly an aircraft.
Task Force Commander's Manual
The entire process of creating a battle plan is described, along with
instructions on how to use the Tactical Amphibious Warfare Data System
(TAWADS), the sophisticated command and control system which you`ll use to
create this plan and to pass orders to the forces under your command.
Intelligence Brief
Descriptions of the aircraft and weapons you're up against, and estimates
of the numbers available to the enemy. The intelligence experts also
report how the AV-8B performed during combat missions in the Gulf and how
the Harrier and Sea Harrier performed in the Falklands - this information
should help you visualise V/STOL jet combat and the problems you'll face.
Historical Background
The information in this section is not needed to play the game, but it is
provided as background reading. The first section describes how the AV-8B
Harrier family of V/STOL jets was developed; the second charts the history
of East Timor since that territory was seized by Indonesia in 1975.
Controlling the simulation
AV-8B Harrier Assault is designed to be played using a pointing device
either a joystick or a mouse. You can fly the simulation from the
keyboard, but you'll need a mouse or joystick for full control of TAWADS.
Mouse & Joystick
In the rest of the manual, you'll find reference to "clicking", "double
clicking" , and "dragging". If you've already used a mouse or joystick,
you`re probably familiar with these terms already. If not, heres what they
mean.
Single Click - depress and release pointer button immediately
Double Click - depress and release pointer button twice in quick succession.
Drag - depress button, move pointer and then release button.
Menus
You will also meet several menus. In many cases these will have a title
line, appearing as a box at the top of the menu. In other cases, their
purpose will be self-explanatory when you look at the menu contents. A red
check mark is shown against options which are currently selected.
Several options will be greyed out, indicating that they are not available
under the current circumstances.
Select the option using the up and down arrow keys, then press (space) to
change its state. Press (ESC) to close the menu when you're finished The
menus you'll meet below decks in Tarawa can also be operated by the mouse
or joystick. Clicking on an option will select or de-select it, and close
the menu. If you want to change several options in a menu its easier to
use the keys.
Mouse and joystick control are not available for menus accessed from the
AV-8B cockpit in this case, the mouse or joystick is already being used to
control the aircraft, so these menus must be operated via the keyboard.
Waypoints
An essential concept throughout the simulation is the use of waypoints. If
you`re an experienced war gamer or flight simulator enthusiast, you`re
probably familiar with waypoints. If not, don't worry - waypoint is just
the military jargon for something you've been using for years when giving
directions. A waypoint is a simply a geographic location at which some
sort of action must be taken when you get there.
To see waypoints in action, imagine giving a friend the following
instruction:
"Drive south along Main Street, turn left at the first stop light, carry
stright past the school, turn left at the town hall, and the pizza joint is
on the left, directly opposite the library. Buy six pizzas, then go back
up the street, go left at the town hall, then watch for Joe's Computer
store on the right. Wait in the parking lot behind Joe's until the rest of
us show up with the beer".
The stop light, school, town hall, library and Joe's Computer Store are
waypoints in a plan which will eventually see six pizzas delivered to a
bunch of hungry guys in the parking lot, To fulfil the mission, your friend
had to go from one waypoint to another, changing direction or following
other instructions ("buy pizzas" or "wait") as he reached each one.
In AV-8B Harrier Assault, you`ll use waypoints to navigate ships and
aircraft, and to command the start of different types of military
operation. Instead of sending your hypothetical friend to the pizza joint
waypoint to buy pizza, you might be commanding Tarawa to proceed to
waypoint 3, then launch a Harrier to attack Lore then Tutuala. For the
Harrier, Lore, Tutuala, and Tarawa will be waypoints programmed into its
Nav system.
SECTION II - CAMPAIGN
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Campaign Overview
Five months ago, a hard-line faction in the Indonesian Army seized control
of the country while senior members of the Indonesian Government were
visiting Japan to sign a long-term agreement covering trade and industrial
co-operation between the two nations. Since then, the country has been run
by a military junta.
Following the imposition of press and broadcasting censorship, the new
rulers moved swiftly to silence all civilian opposition to their regime,
imprisoning without trial all major opponents of the junta: Prominent
politicians of all parties and trade union leaders, plus those religious
leaders, journalists, broadcasters and members of the police and judiciary
who spoke out against the coup.
Large-seale pro-democracy demonstrations in the streets of Djakarta and
other major cities were ruthlessly suppressed by armed soldiers. Estimates
of the number of demonstrators killed by troops have ranged from 300 to
over 1,500.
In an attempt create some measure of public support, the new regime has now
promised a speedy end to the long-running rebellion in East Timor a former
Portuguese colony which Indonesia invaded and annexed in 1975. Despite
repeated United Nations resolutions, Indonesia has always refused to grant
independence for what it regards as one of its legitimate provinees. For
more than a decade, repeated reports from East Timor have described
persistent human rights violations of the Timorese people by Indonesia,
including mass arrests, detention camps, executions, and the destruction of
entire villages.
Recent military communiques from the junta talk openly of a "final and
complete military solution" intended to end the rebellion. From its
temporary exile in Japan, the legitimate Government of Indonesia has asked
the United Nations to intervene to prevent the possibility of large-scale
atrocities in the region.
The only military force in the area with the capability to intervene is an
amphibious force of US Marines. Currently at sea and scheduled to begin
Exercise Ocean Guardian, the small force is not a full strength Marine
Expeditionary Brigade, but has only a single vessel equipped with the AV-8B
V/STOL jet fighter. Although some replacement aircraft are present on the
decks of the other assault ships in the fleet, this force must make do with
less than half the number of aircraft which would normally be assigned to a
landing operation, and only a single flight deck from which to operate them
the assault ship USS Tarawa.
As this small force cruises off the southern coast of East Timor the United
Nations discusses the crisis. Following an all-night debate, the UN passes
a resolution authorising the United States to intervene in East Timor.
As the US President signs the orders which will translate the wishes of the
UN into action, in the Timor Sea it's a few hours until dawn. Aboard
Tarawa, technicians give the vessel's AV-8B Harrier II fighters a final
check over while armorers fit fuzes to bombs and missiles. In Tarawa and
the other vessels of the task force, live ammunition is readied, and
landing craft are prepared for action. Aboard the escorting warships, guns
and missile launchers are loaded with live rounds. Ocean Guardian is about
to become Operation Ocean Saber.....
Priority: Flash (transmitted 16.12 EST)
Classification: Top Secret
From: National Security Adviser
To: Commanding Officer, Operation Ocean Saber
In pursuance of last night's United Nations resolution authorising the use
of force to protect the people of East Timor, the President of the United
States issued the following orders at 16:00 Eastern Standard Time today:
1. Using the vessels, aircraft, and personnel currently under your
command, you are ordered to use such force as might be required to
suppress and terminate all operations in the territory of East Timor by
the Indonesian armed forces, and to prevent the arrival of further
Indonesian forces.
2. In a personal phone call to the President, the Secretary General of the
United Nations has made it clear that he views the situation as urgent.
You will not await reinforcements. Operations against the Indonesian
forces on East Timor are to commence immediately using those units
currently under your command.
3. For reasons which will made clear to you in a separate classified
intelligence briefing, the ships of the task force are to remain south
of East Timor at all times. Your naval units must under no
circumstances move north of Ilheu da Jaco - the small island at the
eastern tip of east Timor.
4. You will land your Marine Expeditionary Brigade on the southern coast
of East Timor, then move inland to engage, defeat, and disarm the
Indonesian forces operating there. Your troops will remain to provide
protection and assistance to the local population, until the United
Nations can consult all parties to bring about an end to the long
running conflict.
5. An operational plan "Saber" was despatched last night via
communications satellite and downloaded into the battle management
computers aboard your flagship Tarawa. You are free to modify or adapt
this as you see fit, or to use an alternative plan of your own.
6. You may open fire against the Indonesian forces without further
authorisation from the US Government or the United Nations. If, prior
to the start of hostilities, Indonesian aircraft approach your own
aircraft or fleet in a manner you judge to be a possible threat, you may
treat them as hostile.
While carrying out these orders, you are to keep the following constraint
in mind. Indonesia has for many years been an ally of the US. In the hope
of quickly repairing the damage to relations between the two countries
which Ocean Saber must inevitably cause, the President wishes this campaign
- to be kept "low key" and resolved with the minimum amount of force
necessary to get the job done.
The President has also asked me to convey his concern that you are being
asked to carry out this mission with such limited forces. But even had a
second Marine Expeditionary Brigade been available at short notice, or
guided missile cruisers for extra anti-aircraft protection, both he and
State Department believe that their use would be counter-productive with a
new round of international arms reduction talks due to start within months.
For the US to use the level of military force which the Joint Chiefs of
Staff would have preffered on purely military grounds could also prove an
embarrassment to US foreign policy, allowing unfriendly nations to raise
charges of "Imperialist bullying".
The best intelligence information available from Djakarta and from the East
Timor resistance movement leads the US Government and the UN to believe
that a swift intervention will not only prevent large scale loss of life by
the civilian population of East Timor, but could also bring about a
collapse of the current military dictatorship, and a return to democracy
for all the people of Indonesia.
SECTION III - QUICK START
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When you've just got back from the computer store, ripped the shrink wrap
off the box and unpacked the game, the chances are you don`t want to get
bogged down in reading a manual and mastering all the details of running a
task force - you bought the game in order to fly. AV-8B Harrier Assault is
designed to give you many hours of game play, simulating all aspects of
both V/STOL and carrier flight operations, but for the moment we'll ignore
these and get you into the cockpit and into the air.
Even if you are an experienced flight simulation enthusiast, we recommend
that you fly both of the sample missions detailed below. Flying them will
give you a useful overview of the entire game, including the process of
planning and flying missions. The experience you'll gain on these missions
will help you understand the other sections of this manual.
First you must install the game on to your hard disk and get the simulation
running. The software is not copy protected, so you should have no problem
in getting it installed and started.
Once the game loads, you'll see an introductory sequence showing an AV-8B
rising from the hanger of the amphibious assault ship USS Tarawa to the
flight deck. Tarawa is the flagship of the task force, and once this
animated sequence has ended, you will be placed in the vessel's command
center.
The two AV-8B missions described below will give you a chance to get
airborne and fly a simulated V/STOL fighter.
STARTING A BATTLE PLAN AND FLYING YOUR FIRST MISSION.
Starting the Action
1. Run TAWADS
All battle planning and control of the landing operation is done using the
Tactical Amphibious Warfare Data System (TAWADS) in the Command Center
aboard the Tarawa. Full instructions on how to use this system are given
in the Task Force Commanders Manual, but in this section we'll give you
enough information on TAWADS to get the campaign started and fly your first
missions.
The game will start in the Command Center of Tarawa. To start the action
the commander must instruct the TAWADS battle computer to commence
operations with SABER, the pre-loaded battle plan. Click on the TAWADS
screen (the central monitor showing a map of Timor on screen). This will
open the TAWADS interface.
2. Activate a battle plan.
Your control pointer is limited to the BATTLE PLAN SELECTION window which
will show SABER as the current battle plan. To start this plan running,
click on the GO icon. There will be a short pause as the simulation runs
in fast forward mode, taking the task force from your current position (8am
on day 0, 2 hours sailing time from Timor) to the first waypoint at which
flight operations are scheduled. The fleet will now be off the east tip of
East Timor and the time will be 9:3Oam. Click on the Exit icon (bottom
right of screen) to close TAWADS.
Notice that a light is flashing on the white telephone in the foreground.
This is to tell you that AV-8B missions are available to be flown. If you
don`t go to the Pilots Briefing Room to accept a mission, after a short
delay the mission will be allocated to a Harrier flown by the computer.
Pre-Flight Preparation
1. Go to Pilots' Briefing Room
Clicking on the white phone will take you to the Pilots Briefing Room.
This is dominated by a large whiteboard display, which currently shows the
missions waiting to be flown. Combat Air Patrol is always available if
there is a Harrier on deck. The next mission on the list is an
interdiction (ground attack) sortie to the east tip of East Timor. This
area has only light defenses, so, for your first operational sortie we
suggest that you accept this mission. Click on mission HA\1-1 to accept
it.
2. Intelligence Briefing
The whiteboard will now give you the following information:
The primary and secondary targets for your mission.
The Flight Plan for this mission, including the assigned waypoints.
The defenses you are likely to encounter.
Read this information carefully, then click on ACCEPT to continue.
3. Aircraft Arming
The armorers will already have installed a suitable combination of ordnance
for this mission.
Click on OK to accept this weapon load.
FLYING THE MISSION
1. Takeoff
You are in the cockpit of your aircraft, and the engine is running. Ahead
of you is the flight deck of Tarawa. Press the W key to release the wheel
brakes, then 0 (zero) to run the engine up to full throttle. When you
reach the end of the deck pull up the nose and press the G key to retract
the undercarriage. From now on, the key(s) you are to press will be shown
in brackets.
2. Fly to Target
Your left hand MFD is showing the EHSI navigation display with waypoint 1
selected - this is your target. Press (/) until the scale at the top right
on the EHSI reads "7". Turn the aircraft to keep the line to this waypoint
vertical in the display. When the line shortens and the waypoint - the
small cross at the end of the line - is about half-way between the outer
edge of the EHSI display and the aircraft symbol at the centre of the
display, you are approaching the target and should be able to see it in the
forward view. Don't expect the target to appear directly ahead - the Nav
system is only as good as the data it received from TAWADS. Minor errors
could result in the target appearing to one side or the other of the flight
path.
3. Attacking the Target
You will be using Hydra unguided rockets to attack the target (Read the
weapons section of the "AV-8B Pilot's Manual" if you want to learn more
about these). Press (backspace) until HYD (followed by a number) appears
at the bottom left of HUD. This indicates that the Hydra rockets have been
selected, the number showing how many rounds each of the underwing
launchers can carry. A T-shaped marker in the HUD shows the predicted
impact point of the rockets - fly until these are over the target then
press the fire button or (space) to release the rockets.
4. Return to Tarawa
Cycle through the waypoints on the EHSI display (using the ; key) until a T
is shown at top right of display. This is a TACAN radio navigation beacon
carried by Tarawa as a navigation aid for its aircraft. Either fly back to
Tarawa using the EHSI display to guide you, or select the autopilot (A) and
just sit back and watch it do the work of flying you back and landing the
aircraft. Even if you've flown back manually, we'd recommend that for your
first few flights you turn the autopilot on for the landing.
When you have landed, ask for a debrief by pressing (Ctrl D). This will
take you to the pilots' Briefing Room. A summary of the success of your
mission will be shown on the whiteboard.
If you would like to fly another mission, click on the right hand monitor
in the briefing room to see what's available to be flown.
Time Control
If no AV-8B missions are available to be flown, you can speed up the
simulation, "fast forwarding" to the point where the next batch are
ordered. To do this, go to the command centre, click on the TAWADS
console, then click on the digital clock at the top right of the map
display. A menu will open, offering the following options:
StopTime
This pauses the simulation.
Normal
The simulation runs in real time - this is the normal operating mode when
playing the game.
Fast
The simulation runs at four times normal time. This can be useful while
units are on the move, but little else is happening - for example if
landing craft are heading from the assault ships to the beachhead.
Step 1 Min
This is an alternative method of temporarily speeding up the game.
Step Next Mission
This advances the game to the point where the next mission is about to be
launched. This allows the player to "fast forward" through parts of the
plan in which no operations are to be launched. For example, plan SABER
contains relatively few night missions for the AV-8Bs. If none are
scheduled, selecting "Step next mission" will advance the simulation to
dawn of the next day.
Pausing the Game
You can pause the simulation at any time to cope with phone calls or other
interuptions. When aboard Tarawa, go to the Command Center and click on
its digital clock. If you're in the cockpit flying a mission, press the P
key.
A MORE ADVANCED SESSION
When you`re ready to learn more about the game, the next sortie to be
described will show you how to create an immediate mission (one not
contained in the battle plan), fly it, then save the game state.
This example follows on from the previous one, and assumes that it is has
been flown. If you've flown other sorties in the meantime, you'll have to
quit the game, then reload it, restart plan SABER, and refly that first
mission (or let the computer do it for you).
Checking on Auccess in TAWADS
When you have flown your interdiction mission (if you survived) you will
recieve a pilots' debrief telling you how successful you have been.
However, as the commander you will want more of an overview telling you how
that mission fitted into the "big picture" of the overall campaign. While
you were busy with your own sortie, other military operations have been
under way.
To get this you must run TAWADS again.
1. Run TAWADS
From the command control room click on the TAWADS screen, this will run the
TAWADS computer.
2. Zoom into the Target
Your previous mission was to attack a fixed base on Jaco Island, at the
east end of the main island. Zoom the map view into this island by
clicking with the pointer over the island until the name "Jaco" appears
next to a white square indicating a fixed base or town. You may have to
move your map view to keep Jaco near the center of the screen. This is
done by clicking on the MAP SCROLL icon (four arrows) at the bottom left of
the screen.
3 Open the Intelligence Window
Click on the Intelligence icon (at the top right of the screen). This will
open a window over the top right corner of the map.
4 Select the Base to Get an Intelligence Report.
Click on the white square by Jaco with the left (select) button, the
Intelligence window will show the state of the selected object - in this
case, Jaco. This is an Indonesian military base containing two buildings -
the information window will display the number remaining.
If you have been very successful, this will read 0, but is more likely to
be 1 or even 2! We will assume that one of the targets remains, requiring
the creation of an unplanned mission to send another aircraft back to Jaco
Island to attack the remaining target.
Creating an Immediate Mission in TAWADS
1. Open the AIR PLAN Window
Click on the AIR PLAN mission icon (near top left) - a window will open top
left with the words HARRIER WAYPOINTS in it. You must now enter the
waypoints for the mission.
2. Enter Mission Waypoints
Double click with the pointer over Jaco, a red waypoint icon will appear (a
pyramid with the top cut off) under the pointer. You have now indicated to
TAWADS that Jaco is to be a waypoint for the new mission.
3. Change the Waypoint Type
Click on the background of the HARRIER WAYPOINTS window to open its
sub-menu. Click on PRIMARY TARGET. This action tells TAWADS that Jaco is
not a navigational waypoint, but a target to be attacked.
4. Finish the Mission Entry
Click on the EXIT icon in the HARRIER WAYPOINTS window to finish the entry
of the mission - this window will close.
5. Exit TAWADS
Clicking on the TAWADS exit icon to exits the TAWADS system.
Selecting and Flying the Mission
The red light on the Pilots' briefing Room telephone will be flashing.
Click on the phone to go directly to the briefing room. Your new mission
will be shown as the second on the whiteboard. It will be named:
INTERDICTION H\0-0
PRIMARY TARGET JACO
Follow the instructions in earlier PRE-FLIGHT and FLY MISSION sections to
fly mission. As you fly combat missions, you will hear the sound of
explosions. These are the result of ground-based combat between the
marines and the Indonesian defenders. When the mission is completed you
will be returned to the Pilots briefing Room. Clicking on the telephone
will take you back to Command Center.
Flying an Air Combat Mission
To get your first experience of air-to-air combat, go to the Command
Centre, and use TAWADS to create an Immediate Mission with one of the
airstrips on the south coast of East Timor specified as the primary target.
Go to the Pilots' Briefing Room and accept the newly created mission. As
you approach the airstrip, defending fighters should try to intercept you.
Once you're familiar with the landscape of East Timor, you can simply go to
the Pilots' briefing Room, accept the Air Combat Mission which is normally
available, then head for an enemy air base.
SAVING GAME STATE
Assuming that you have been fairly successful in your attacks on Jaco
Island, we will now save the state of the game, so that you can return to
it in the future.
1 Click on SAVE icon in the Command Center (a diskette on the table). This
will open the SAVE/LOAD screen.
2 Click on one of the 10 available slots. It will become highlighted.
3 Click onto the Save Game icon (an arrow pointing at a disk).
The current game state will be saved to the hard disk, and the selected
slot will now contain the name of your saved state. It should read
something like SABER 0/9:50. The name is made up to the name of the plan
currently being run, plus the current date and time. The example shown
contains Plan SABER at the state it had reached by 9:50 am on day 0 of the
campaign.
4 Click on the exit icon to return to the command center.
This saved game can be retrieved at any time by re-entering the SAVE/LOAD
screen, clicking on the slot which contains the saved game, then clicking
on the Load Game icon (an arrow pointing away from a disk).
Full details of-the SAVE/LOAD facility are provided in Section 7 of the
manual "Aboard the Tarawa".
KEYBOARD CONTROLS
-----------------
Engine & nozzles
Engine thrust: 1 to 0 (0% to 100% in 10% increments)
or
Increase thrust: =
Decrease thrust: -
Nozzle position: SHIFT 1 to SHIFT 0
(0 deg to 100 deg in 10 degree steps)
or
Raise nozzles: SHIFT -
Lower nozzles: SHIFT +
Engine on/off: E
Flight Controls
Roll Left: LEFT ARROW or Joystick or Mouse
Roll Right: RIGHT ARROW or Joystick or Mouse
Pitch Up: DOWN ARROW or Joystick or Mouse
Pitch Down: UP ARROW or Joystick or Mouse
Rudder left: <
Rudder right: >
Pitch trim +: PAD +
Pitch trim -: PAD -
Remove Pitch trim: PAD *
Calibrate joystick: Z
Autopilot off/on: A
Airbrakes: B
Wheelbrakes: W
Landing Gear up/down: G
Eject: Ctrl-E
Weapons & Nav system
Drop flare: F
Drop chaff: C
Radar altimeter on/off: R
Next weapon: BACKSPACE
Weapons in salvo: N
Change bomb aiming mode:`
Cycle left MFD: [
Cycle right MFD: ]
EHSI range: /
Next waypoint: ;
FLIR on/off: I
Fire weapon: Space, Joystick 1, Mouse Left
Mark ground target: Enter, Joystick 2, Mouse Right
Jettison all unused weapons: Ctrl-R
Views
Cockpit view
Look up/down: F1
Forward view: F2
Left 60 deg: F3
Right 60 deg: F4
Left 120 deg: F5
Right 120 deg: F6
Zoom in: PAGE UP (If NUM LOCK is off)
Zoom out: PAGE DOWN (If NUM LOCK os off)
Outside Views
Missile View: M
Enemy View: J
Outside view: V
Camera view: O
Rotate left: F7
Rotate right: F8
Rotate up: F9
Rotate down: F10
Time control
Fast time: X
Pause: P
Single Step: S (when paused)
Game configuration
Mouse: Ctrl-M
Joystick: Ctrl-J
Keyboard: Ctrl-K
Advanced Model: Ctrl-A
Simple model: Ctrl-S
Menus: ESCAPE
Return to Command Center: Alt-X
TSR keys on: Alt-K
(This opens a window which allows you to give keyboard commands to any
Terminate and Stay Resident routines you may have in your computer. Most
players will never need to use this facility).
Engine noise on/off: Q
All sounds on/off: Ctrl-Q
End Of Part 1
-------------
AV8B HARRIER ASSAULT - OPERATIONS MANUAL - Part 2
-------------------------------------------------
SECTION IV - AV-8B PILOTS MANUAL
--------------------------------
The McDonnell-Douglas/British Aerospace AV-8B Harrier II is the latest
member of a unique family of vertical/short take-off fighter aircraft.
Originally designed in Britain, and taken into service by that nation's
Royal Air Force, Harrier was later adopted by the US Marine Corps as the
AV-8A. A collaborative effort involving the US and UK finally resulted in
today's much-improved AV-8B.
Only 46ft 4in long and 30ft 4in in wingspan, Harrier is smaller than many
present-day fighters, and closer in size to the General Dynamics F-16
Fighting Falcon than aircraft such as the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle and
F/A-18 Hornet. The factor which makes the Harrier family unique is that
the thrust of its engine can be deflected from rearward to downward,
allowing the aircraft to take off and land vertically, and to hover.
Harrier may not qualify for the adjective "beautiful" but its curved lines
are evidence of its ancestry from the classic British Hawker fighter design
team - an organisation which firmly believed that if an aircraft looked
right, it was right. Like another famous British export, the Rolls Royce
automobile, the AV-8B has its own very distinctive appearance.
Its most distinctive feature is that its single engine does not have a
single jetpipe in the rear fuselage, but a total of four - two on either
side of the center fuselage. A single cockpit control allows the pilot to
move all four in unison through an angle of more than 90 degrees. Known as
"thrust vectoring" this technique is used for vertical takeoff and landing,
and hovering. It can also be used in combat to increase the aircraft
agility - this is known as "viffing" (Vectoring In Forward Flight), and
you'll learn how to do this later in this section of the manual.
Vertical take-off and landing is only possible if the engine thrust is
greater than the total weight of the aircraft. This is usually the case
when landing, since most of the fuel will have been used, but can be a
problem at takeoff if the aircraft is carrying a heavy weapon load. In
such cases, deflecting the nozzles downward by 30 - 40 degrees allows the
aircraft to get airborne after a very short run. This procedure is widely
used, so Harrier can be thought of as a Vertical/Short Take-Off and Landing
(V/STOL) or even a Short Take-Off/Vertical Landing (STOVL) aircraft.
The use of afterburning would turn the four nozzles into runway destroying
blowtorches, so Harrier does not use this technique. All the thrust must
be provided by normal engine power. The sheer size of the engine needed to
provide the required amount of thrust gives the aircraft its relatively
wide center fuselage and huge "elephant ears" air inlets, while the absence
of an afterburner limits the aircraft to subsonic speeds. Maximum speed at
sea level is around 575kts (Mach 0.87), rising to Mach O.91 at altitude.
Tactical range - the distance the aircraft can fly loiter for long enough
to perform a useful military mission, then fly back to base depends on the
height at which you fly and the weight of weapons carried. A typical
figure with a good bomb load would be around 480nm.
A full history and description of the Harrier family up to and even beyond
todays AV-8B is provided at the rear of this manual, but this information
is not needed in order to fly the aircraft.
YOUR WEAPONS
The AV-8B can carry five types of ordnance guided missiles, "dumb" bombs",
laser-guided bombs, cluster munitions, and unguided rockets. It is also
equipped with two 25mm cannon.
Two types of guided missile are available. Both are homing missiles, and
must be locked onto the chosen target before being fired. (You'll learn
how to do this when flying the Part Task Trainer missions described later
in this section of the manual). Once fired, the missile will home
automatically with no further action needed on your part.
AIM-9M Sidewinder
The AV-8B would normally carry four AIM-9M when deployed in the air-to-air
role, or two (one on each outboard wing pylon) for self defense when on
strike missions. The AIM-9 flies at a speed of around Mach 2.5, and uses a
nose-mounted infra-seeker seeker to home onto an aircraft target. The
seeker responds to heat. Early-model AIM-9s could only home on the hot
engine exhaust of the target, but the -9M model is sensitive enough to home
onto the aircraft from any direction. Maximum range is around 19,000 yards
when fired against an approaching aircraft, but falls sharply when fired
against a retreating target. If you find yourself on the tail of an enemy
aircraft, close the range to a few thousand yards before firing.
AGM-65E Maverick
On strike missions, the AV-8B can carry up to four AGM-65E Maverick
missiles. These have a maximum range of up to 26,000 yards, so can be
fired from outside the range of light SAMs and AAA defending the target.
The AGM-65E version of Maverick was specifically designed for close support
of Marine operations. It homes not against heat but a bright spot of laser
light. When a target needs to be attacked using Maverick, the Marines in
the front line will use a man-portable laser designator to shine laser
light onto the target. The small amount of laser light reflected by the
target will be detected by the seeker head of the AGM-65E, which will home
onto the illuminated target. The warhead weighs 300lb, so a single round
should be enough to destroy a tank, bunker or artillery position.
AGM-88 HARM
The High Speed Anti-Radiation Missile is a specialized weapon developed to
destroy enemy radars. Its sophisticated seeker head is designed to detect
and lock onto radar signals, guiding the weapon to a direct hit on the
radar. The only counter available to an enemy is to turn off the radar as
soon as the Harm is launched. If he turns off too late, Harm will continue
its Night by "dead-reckoning", landing as close as possible to the radar.
Maximum range of Harm is about 10 miles.
GENERAL PURPOSE BOMBS
Often referred to as "iron" bombs, these simple but effective weapons have
been used in combat since the First World War. They take the form of
streamlined metal casings packed with explosives, and fitted with fuzes and
stabilising fins. For low-level strikes, retarded bombs are used. These
incorporate a drag-producing device such as pop-out fins or a tail-mounted
parachute. These slow the weapon after release, so that the aircraft will
be a safe distance away by the time the bombs hit their target. Bombs
range in weight from 250lb to 2,000lb. The AV-8B can carry up to 16 of the
smaller sizes, but only a few of the largest.
"Iron" bombs are a relatively inexpensive weapon, but are only as effective
as the pilot who aims them. A bomb which misses the target is a bomb
wasted. During the Vietnam war half the bombs released by US pilots landed
within 150 - 200ft of the target. During Desert Storm in 1991, better
training and improved aircraft had but this figure to around 30-40ft.
Despite this small distance, the success rate of "iron bomb" attacks
against Iraqi targets was around 30 per cent. Tanks, bunkers, and troops
who have time to "dig in" are heavily protected, so only a direct or near
direct hit will be effective.
Laser Guided Bombs (LGBs)
First used during the Vietnam War LGBs (often known as "smart" bombs")
combine the body of a general purpose bomb with an add-on laser seeker and
control fins. Like the AGM-65E Maverick, these rely on laser designation
by friendly ground forces. They need to be locked on to a target before
being released, then home automatically against targets. LGBs combine the
explosive power of a bomb with the precision of a guided missile.
The most common US patterns are the GBU-10 (based on the Mk 84 2,000lb
bomb) the GBU-12 (based on the Mk 82 500lb bomb), and the GBU-16 (based on
the Mk 83 1,000lb bomb). During Desert Storm, US LGBs had a success rate
of around 90 per cent.
Cluster Munitions
These are the pilot's equivalent of a blast from a shotgun. Like a general
purpose bomb, cluster munitions are unguided, and thus relatively
inaccurate, The explosive payload consists not on a single large explosive
charge, but of hundreds of small bomblets. Just before impact, a cluster
munition bursts open, scattering these over the target area. Cluster
Munitions are highly effective when used against tanks, soft-skinned
vehicles such as trucks, and troops caught in open terrain. Several types
are in US service. The Rockeye Mk20 Mod 0 is designed for use against
tanks, and contains 247 anti-tank bomblets, each weighing just under 2lb.
Unguided Rockets
Carried in underwing launch pods holding between six and 18 rounds Hydra
2.75" rockets fly an unguided course to the target. In the hands of a
pilot with a steady aim, unguided rockets can be used against the same
sorts of targets as cluster munitions. (When flying your first combat
sorties, you'll find the Hydra rocket an effective and easily aimed weapon.
Equip your aircraft with two or more 18 round launchers, and select a four
or eight-round salvo size).
25mm Cannon
Like most fighters, the AV-8B is fitted with a gun. The GAU-12/U Equaliser
is a five-barrelled rotary cannon based on the configuration of the
legendary Gatling. Driven by pneumatics, the weapon has a maximum rate of
fire of 60 rounds per second. The 25mm ammunition comes in three varieties
- Armor Piercing Incendiary (API), High Explosive Incendiary (HEI), and
Tactical Personnel (TP), and has a muzzle velocity of 3,500ft/sec.
The cannon is not mounted within the fuselage, but in one of two fairings
on either side of the lower fuselage. The port-side fairing contains the
gun, the starboard fairing the weapon's 300 rounds of ammunition. Rounds
pass from the magazine to the gun via a linkless feed.
Each pod incorporates a flat surface known as a strake. When the
undercarriage is lowered, the gear door is positioned across the fuselage
just behind the strakes, while a retractable fence is extended in front of
them. The resulting "box" traps the cushion of air created by the engine
exhaust gases bouncing from the ground as the aircraft hovers at low
altitude, creating extra lift.
THE AV-8B COCKPIT
The cockpit display in this simulation is a close replica of that in the
real aircraft. The game designers have made some minor modifications in
order to improve the player's forward view but apart from that, the basic
layout of the cockpit would be familiar to any AV-8B pilot. The only AV-8B
pilots who might find it unfamiliar are those of Britain's Royal Airforce,
which has fitted an extra display screen in the cockpit.
Like the simulation model itself the cockpit is as realistic as possible
while still being able to run on a personal computer. There are more
accurate simulators, but they're classified, your annual salary wouldn't
match th price tag, and you'd have to undergo a long interview at your
nearest USMC recruiting office, the rigors of "boot camp", then a long
training course before getting your hands on them.
If you`ve used other flight simulators, you may find this one a little
difficult at first. The aircraft simulation is based on a sophisticated
aerodynamic model is designed to provide as true a representation of the
aircrafts performance as possible. Although this makes AV-8B Harrier
Assault one of the most realistic simulators ever written for a personal
computer, it makes the aircraft quite sensitive to control inputs giving it
a more "live" feel than on many other products. The novice player will
find that it's easy to overcorrect with the controls.
If this is the case, pressing Ctrl S will switch in a simpler model, with
smoother and more easily controlled responses. This may be closer in
"feel" to the flight simulator software you're used to, and will help you
get into the game as quickly as possible, without having to worry about the
complexities of the full aircraft model.
When you`re ready for a greater challenge, pressing Ctrl A will return you
to the advanced model, giving you a more accurate simulation of the real
aircraft and making greater demands on your piloting skill. Once you`ve
become used to this more accurate simulation, you're unlikely to return to
the simple model. The advanced model has a fascination of its own.
Flight Information.
The pilot has six basic sources of information - the view through the
canopy, the Head-Up Display (HUD), two Multi-Function Displays (MFDs) and a
single Up Front Control Panel (UFCP). All of the above data is duplicated
on conventional instruments mounted on the aircraft control panel. These
will allow the aircraft to keep flying if the HUD fails due to combat
damage. These reversionary instruments are mounted in two rows at the
center of the instrument panel:
ASI Attitude Altitude AOA
AOA
Each will be described after the HUD or MFD function it duplicates.
Looking Aronnd
The normal view in flight is forward. Pressing the F1 key lets you look
up. F3 and F4 look 60 degrees to the left and right respectively, while F5
and F6 allow you to look 120 degrees backward over your left and right
shoulders. F2 returns your view to the normal forward direction.
The Head-Up Display (HUD)
The primary source of information for the pilot is the Head-Up-Display
(HUD), a reflective surface mounted ahead of the pilot's eyes. Projected
onto this is all the flight, navigation, target and weapon aiming
information needed to carry out a combat mission.
The main symbols visible in the HUD are used for navigation:
LFD
Directly in the center of the HUD, the Longitudinal Fuselage Datum (LFD)
shows the direction in which the aircraft nose is pointing. This is a
fixed mark. If the HUD fails during a combat mission, the LFD could be
used as a simple sight for the cannon or unguided rockets, but the pilot
will have to aim high to compensate for the ballistic drop of the
projectiles caused by gravity and off to one side or another to compensate
for the turn rate on his aircraft.
Velocity Vector
This moving marker shows the direction in which the aircraft is currently
flying. In normal flight, this will be close to the horizon. If it's
above the horizon, you're gaining height; if it's below the horizon, you're
losing height. If the aircraft is in a dive, it will be pointing at the
ground, showing the point where the aircraft will crash if it remains on
this course and speed.
V/STOL Velocity Vector
The normal Velocity Vector cannot cope with the slow speeds associated with
nozzle borne and hovering flight. At speeds of less than 100kts (knots), a
V/STOL velocity vector mark automatically appears in the HUD. This will
give some indication of where the aircraft is currently headed, but as the
airspeed slows to a hover even this marker will not be reliable. When the
predicted touchdown point falls below the aircraft nose it can no longer be
seen in the HUD, so the marker falls to the bottom of the HUD field of view
and stays there.
Pitch Bars
A series of vertical pitch bars indicate the amount by which the nose is
above or below the horizon. These bars remain parallel to the horizon at
all times, so can be used to keep the wings level when the horizon is not
visible in a steep climb or dive. The bars are at 10 degree intervals,
with 90 degrees being represented by a cross. If one of these cross
markers is in the center of the HUD, the aircraft is either climbing
vertically or is in a vertical dive.
Aircraft altitude is also displayed on the artificial horizon, the central
instrument on the top row of three circular dials. The single bar on this
instrument is the equivalent of the zero-degree pitch bar in the HUD. It
remains parallel to the horizon, and moves up or down to indicate aircraft
pitch.
VSI (Vertical Speed Indicator)
A vertical bar at the right hand side of the HUD indicates the speed at
which the aircraft is gaining or losing height, a small horizontal marker
protruding to the left of the line indicating the center point - zero rate
of climb. The further the VSI line stretches above this zero point, the
faster you're climbing; the further it stretches down, the faster you`re
losing height. A second marker below the center point shows the maximum
descent speed which the aircraft undercarriage can withstand. VSI
information is also displayed on the right hand analog instrument of the
bottom row of three.
Altitude
A box at the upper right of the HUD shows the aircraft height in feet The
aircraft has two altimeters - the radar altimeter indicates height above
the terrain, while the barometric altimeter shows height above sea level.
You can switch from one to the other using the R key; when the radar
altimeter is in use, an "R" symbol will be displayed in the HUD just to the
left of the altitude box. The radar altimeter is useful in low-level
flight, since it shows your height above the ground. It only operates at
heights of below 5,000ft. Above that height, you`ll need to use the
barometric altimeter. An analog altimeter is also provided at the top left
of the array of six round-dial cockpit instruments. the large pointer
makes one complete revolution per 1,000ft, while the smaller advances by
one "hour mark".
Airspeed
A second box at the upper left of the HUD shows airspeed in knots (nautical
miles per hour). This information is shown in analog form on the air speed
indicator (ASI) at the top left of the bank of six cockpit instruments.
Heading
A horizontal band running across the top of the HUD shows the current
heading in tens of degrees. 00 is north, 09 is east, 18 is south and 27 is
west. The direction in which you're flying is indicated by a small
vertical tick below the heading display. A V-shaped steering cue visible
above the heading display is linked to the aircraft Nav system. It
indicates the direction you must steer to reach the next navigation
waypoint or target. This gives no indication of range, and can only
indicate angles within the HUD field of view if the steering cue is at one
end of the heading indicator turning in that direction will eventually
bring it moving toward the center of the heading indicator. (Target and
waypoint bearings, along with distance to be flown to reach them, are shown
in the EHSI display which is described later in this section).
A second compass if provided in the form of an analog horizontal situation
indicator (HSI) at the center of the bottom row of instruments.
Nozzle Angle
The AV-8B Harrier II obtains its hovering and VTOL capability from the fact
that the four nozzles of its Rolls-Royce Pegasus engine can be moved from
the full aft position to vertically downwards. The topmost of the two
numbers visible directly below the VSI indicator shows the angle to which
the nozzles are currently set. This varies from 0 (fully aft) to 110 (110
degrees). Nozzle angle is also shown in analog form on an instrument at
the top right of the instrument panel. A small mark on the edge of this
instrument shows the correct nozzle angle for hovering. This is not 90
degrees, but 80 degrees - Harrier sits on its undercarriage with a
pronounced nose high stance.
There are two ways of moving the nozzles. Shift = and Shift - swing the
nozzles downward and rearward respectivcly, while Shift 1 to Shift 0 select
the nozzle position in ten degree steps between 0 degrees and 100 degrees.
Engine RPM
The number directly below the Nozzle Angle shows engine RPM. Full thrust
responds to a figure of around 98 per cent, pre take off idle is around
30-40 per cent. RPM is also shown on numerically on the instrument panel.
AOA (Angle of Attack)
This shows the angle between the fore-and-aft axis of the wing (an
imaginary line drawn between the wing leading and trailing edges) and
airflow across the wing caused by the aircraft's forward velocity.
Increasing the AOA by a small amount increases the amount of lift generated
by the wing. Take this process too far, and the wing stalls (typically at
an AOA of around 20 degrees).
When the wing stalls, the airflow across its surfaces is disturbed, and the
lift falls off dramatically. In a conventional aircraft, control of the
aircraft is momentarily lost, the nose falling until the AOA is low enough
to restore normal lift. By swivelling its engine nozzles, an AV- 8B can
substitute engine thrust for lift, so will remain controllable beyond the
stall, and even down to the hover. An analog AOA indicator is available at
the bottom left hand of the six cockpit instruments.
G Force
This shows the G force currently being experienced by the aircraft and its
pilot. The airframe can accept more G force than the pilot. At G levels
of more than around 9 g, he will begin to "grey out" as the G force drains
blood from his head and upper torso to the lower torso and legs. This
causes a dimming of vision, or if the G load is high enough, loss of
consciousness. Pushing the control column sharply forward can have the
opposite effect, the resulting negative G forces pushing blood from the
pilot's torso to his head. This will create "red out."
Forward-Looking Infra Red (FLIR) System
The version of Harrier you are flying is equipped for night attacks. The
time of day is reflected by changing light level in the external view seen
through the canopy. This will dim during dawn and dusk, and darken further
at night. For night flying you must use the FLIR night vision system.
This is turned on by pressing the I (capital i) key, and will project a
full-sized green thermal image of the outside world into the HUD,
superimposing this on the external scene.
Multi-Function Displays
The cockpit also includes two Multi-Function Displays - the screens which
can be configured to one of four modes. Use the [ key to cycle the left
MFD through its available modes, and the ] key to cycle the right hand MFD.
In this way you can set the MFDs to the configuration with which you feel
most comfortable. The same display cannot be selected on both MFDs at the
same time, so a little manipulation may be needed to get the displays into
the configuration you prefer.
STORES DISPLAY - This shows the number and type of weapon available on each
of the aircraft's underwing pylons, also the number of rounds of cannon
ammunition, chaff cartridges and flares available for use. It also
indicates which type of weapon is currently selected, and in the case of
bombs, laser-guided bombs or unguided rockets, the number of weapons which
will be released when the fire button is pressed.
EHSI - Electronic Horizontal Situation Indicator (EHSI) mode shows the
aircraft in symbolic form, surrounded by a compass rose. This display is
centered about the aircraft. The top of the screen always represents the
direction directly ahead of the aircraft. As the aircraft turns, the
compass rose moves to the correct orientation. When a waypoint is
selected, the EHSI displays this as a small cross, and draws a steering
line whose angle indicates the direct to steer and whose length indicates
the distance to be flown.
The steering information is echoed by the steering cue at the top of the
HUD. The scale of the EHSI display can be toggled by the / (slash) key, so
that the distance from the center of the display to the compass rose is 7,
15, 30 or 60 nautical miles. The other type of marker seen on the ESHI is
a cluster of three dots. These show all the other waypoints currently with
the range setting of the EHSI.
Before takeoff a series of waypoints is automatically stored in the
aircrafts Nav system, and you'll be given details of these when you're
assigned a mission in the Pilots Briefing Room. The system can store up to
eight waypoints (numbered 1-8), also a waypoint T (the TACAN beacon on
Tarawa), and a waypoint zero. The Nav system can be switched from one
waypoint to another by pressing the ; (semicolon) key. The waypoint in use
is indicated at the top right-hand corner of the EHSI, and on a readout at
the foot of the instrument panel.
Waypoint T - the TACAN radio-navigation beacon carried by Tarawa - is an
important feature of the Nav system. Selecting waypoint T at the end of a
mission allows the pilot to find his way back to the ship. If Tarawa is
sunk, TACAN will no longer be available, but in practise this will not be a
problem. Lose Tarawa, and you've lost the game.
You can set waypoint zero in flight to mark a target of opportunity - a
target you have not been briefed on, but noticed on your journey to the
target you're scheduled to attack. A target of opportunity can be inserted
into the Nav system by pointing the HUD LFD at it and pressing the Enter
key if you have unexpended weapons left after knocking out your assigned
target, you can get the Nav system to fly you back to waypoint 0 so that
you can use the remaining weapons on this target. To help you re-acquire a
target of opportunity, its position on the ground is marked by a cross in
the HUD field of view.
If the MFDs fail in flight, the analog HSI in the center of the bottom row
of instruments will provide you with the navigation information needed to
find the carrier. This is always set to follow the TACAN beacon on Tarawa.
Like the EHSI, the analog HSI is stabilised with respect to the aircraft.
The green end of the moving indicator shows the bearing of Tarawa.
Radar Warning - Like the EHSI, the Radar Warning display is aircraft
stabilised, with the direction of forward flight corresponding to the top
of the display. Any spoke-like lines appearing from the centre towards the
circular outer indicate that a sensitive receiver within the aircraft has
detected a radar transmission on that bearing. The length of the line
gives an indication of the strength of the detected signal. The more
powerful the signal, the closer the threat radar is likely to be.
Concentric circles on the this display help the pilot judge the relative
strength of any signals detected. A Missile Launch Warning detector will
sound a warbling alarm tone whenever a SAM or air to air missile is
launched against your aircraft.
ARBS - The final MFD mode is linked to the aircraft's nose mounted Angle
Rate Bombing System. This consists of a laser spot tracker linked with an
imager. This is used for Automatic Bombing, and is described later in this
section.
Up-Front Control Panel
The complex electronic warfare (EW) systems aboard Tarawa and the other
ships of the task force will monitor Indonesian tactical communications, so
will be able to tell if fighters are likely to intercept your mission. The
airspace above East Timor is being continuously monitored by Boeing E-3
Sentry Airborne Early Warning and Control (AWACS) aircraft operating from
the US base at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean so an E-3 will always be on
hand to warn of any enemy fighters if these are operating in your patrol
area.
These warnings will appear on the Up-Front Control Panel. Threat bearing
will be shown in terms of the clock face, with 12 o`clock being straight
ahead, 3 o`clock directly to the right. 9 o'clock directly to the left,
and 6 o`clock directly to the rear. Targets marked H are above your
altitude, so will probably be fighters. Those marked L are below you, so
are probably helicopters. Those marked C-130 are Hercules transports AWACS
data is updated every five seconds.
Autopilot
Pressing the A key will toggle the autopilot off or on. When engaged, the
autopilot will fly you to the currently selected waypoint, and if you dont
switch it off through all subsequent waypoints. During this time, the
normal flying controls will have no effect. When the autopilot is engaged
an AUTO indication will appear in the HUD. An indication will also be
presented at the left hand side of the instrument panel.
The autopilot can be used to fly the aircraft while the pilot is busy
selecting armament or changing MFD modes, or as a convenient way of flying
from one waypoint to another. If the Nav system is set to waypoint T (the
TACAN beacon on Tarawa), and the autopilot is engaged it will fly the
aircraft back to the ship, and even carry out the landing. Landing aboard
Tarawa can be difficult, so beginners will find this facility useful.
The aircraft also incorporates a Stability Augmentation and Attitude Hold
System (SAAHS) designed to tame the natural instability which results from
flying partly or totally supported by engine thrust. The aircraft can be
flown without SAAHS, but one pilot has described the experience as being
"like trying to balance an egg on a knife edge". In this simulation, the
SAAHS is always activated, so you should`nt have too much trouble when
trying to hover. To show the capability of the system to journalists taken
for demonstration flights in the two-seat trainer version of the aircraft,
pilots have been known to take both hands off the controls while the
aircraft is hovering.
Fuel
The amount of fuel left in the tanks is shown on an instrument panel
indicator. Multiply this figure by 10 to get the amount of remaining fuel
in pounds. Judging what will be the "Bingo" fuel state for the mission -
the amount needed to get you back to the ship - is not easy. When you get
to the combat zone over East Timor. check the amount of fuel you`ve used.
Two, three or even four times that amount might be a reasonable "Bingo"
value, leaving you a good margin for emergencies.
Several circumstances could see you running low on fuel during the return
trip. Tarawa will have moved since you left her, and could now be further
away. Minor battle damage may be causing you to lose fuel at an
uncomfortably high rate. If enemy fighters catch you on the return trip,
you'd better have enough fuel for a session of dogfighting at full thrust.
When the Fuel state drops to "Bingo" level, head for Tarawa without further
delay. Unlike a full size aircraft carrier, Tarawa has no tanker aircraft
able to top up your tanks. Get this one wrong, and you`ll be examining the
Timor Sea in close up from the comfort of an inflatable dinghy.
Jet-Pipe Temperature
A sensor in the aft section of the engine measures the temperature within
the aft nozzles of the Pegasus turbofan, and the result is displayed on the
instrument panel. If this rises above normal you could have an engine
problem. If you've taken combat damage, keep a watch on jet pipe
temperature. An abnormally high value could be the first indication of a
possible engine fire. If the jet pipe temperature misbehaves, head back to
Tarawa. The maintenance technicians can change an engine in a few hours,
but they can't build you a new Harrier if you crash en route due to an
engine problem which you`ve ignored.
Fuel Flow
Mounted to the right of the Jet-Pipe Temperature indicator, this shows the
rate at which fuel is being used by the engine.
Undercarriage
Harrier has a novel undercarriage of bicycle form. The main gears are in
the lower fuselage. Forward and aft of the engine, while two outriggers -
one about mid span on each wing provide the stability needed to prevent the
aircraft tipping over if the ship rolls heavily, or you make a bad landing.
Use the G key to raise and lower the undercarriage. It should be raised
after take off to reduce drag. Failing to lower it on landing will send
your aircraft to the hanger for extensive maintenance. Undercarriage
position is shown on the Indicator Strip (see below).
Wheel Brakes
Undercarriage wheel brakes are controlled by the W key. Attempting the
rolling takeoff without removing the brake is bad for the tyres, and could
see you crashing to the sea. If the take off roll seems slow, hit W then
shift 5. The thrust from the downward tilted engine nozzles will probably
compensate for your low forward speed. The state of the brakes shown on
the Indicator Strip (see below).
Air Brake
A large air brake is positioned under the fuselage, just aft of the main
landing gear. Extending the air brake increases drag, slowing the
aircraft. This can be useful in combat, where it can reduce your speed -
and thus your turning circle in a dogfight, or in a diving attack. The air
brake is controlled by the B key and its position is shown on the Indicator
Strip (see below). Just remember to retract it when it's no longer needed!
Indicator Strips
A vertical column of five lamps are mounted to the left of the Up Front
Display. These show the status of several important sub systems:
Unused Undercarriage Wheel Brakes Air Brake
Unused
Warnings
A vertical column of warning lamps is mounted to the right of the Up-Front
Display. The large FIRE indicator will light in the event of an engine
fire. The others will illuminate if any of the following system fail:
Hydraulics HUD Nav system Multi-Function Display
Unused
If the hydraulic system fails, your undercarriage and air brakes will be
unable to move from their current positions. Break off the mission return
to Tarawa, and make the best landing you can. HUD, Nav system and MFD
failures will make effective attacks near impossible, although the LFD in
the HUD can be used as an impromptu sight for the cannon and unguided
rockets. Use the reversionary instruments to fly back to Tarawa for
repairs.
Further malfunction indications are provided by a vertical row of
indicators at the far right hand side of the instrument panel. These warn
of sub-system failures, and in practice are of no direct concern to the
pilot. If any light, one of the main warning lamps will also be lit,
identifying the major system which has been affected.
Ejection Seat
If battle damage causes you to lose control of the aircraft or if you run
out of fuel and are about to crash, press Control E to eject from the
aircraft. If you survive ejection, you will be picked up either from the
sea or East Timorese territory, and returned to Tarawa for a post-flight
debriefing.
FLIGHT CONTROLS
The main flight control of any modern fixed-wing aircraft is the control
column or "joystick", so the easiest way to control the AV-8B simulation is
with an analog joystick. Just as in a real aircraft, forward movement of
the joystick moves the nose of the aircraft down, putting the aircraft into
a dive, while backward movement raises the nose, putting the aircraft into
a climb. Moving the joystick to the right rolls the aircraft to the right,
while movement to the left rolls the aircraft left.
If your joystick is spring loaded, the spring force will help you fly by
automatically centering the control stick after each maneuver. The force
of the springs will also provide a crude representation of the stick forces
felt by the pilot.
A joystick needs to be calibrated before playing the game. This can be
done in two ways, both of which are available from the aircraft cockpit.
Both are described in the Pre-Flight Customisation section below.
The next best control method is to use a mouse. You should visualise the
mouse as being the top of an imaginary control stick, moving it forward to
push the nose of the aircraft down, pulling it back to lift the nose, and
moving it right and left to command the aircraft to roll. Unfortunatley
the mouse will do nothing to help you return the imaginary control stick to
the central position. To get around this problem, pressing the Z key with
mouse control selected will re-center the aircrafts flying controls at the
current position of the mouse.
The final method of simulating a control column is to use the arrow keys on
the keyboard. Once again, the trick is to imagine these as moving the tip
on an imaginary control column. The Up Arrow will push the aircraft nose
down, while the Down Arrow pulls it up. The Right and Left Arrows command
the aircraft to roll. Like a mouse, the Arrow keys can do nothing to help
you center the controls. A flight simulation really needs a good joystick.
If you don't own one, the advanced aircraft model contained in the AV-8B
Harrier Assault software is the best excuse we can think for investing in
one.
The other significant flight controls are the rudder and trim. Rudder
control is via the < and > keys. In flight, it can be used to make small
horizontal aiming corrections, or to final heading corrections when
landing. In the hover it turns the aircraft by operating the yaw reaction
jets, while on the ground, it steers the aircraft via its nosewheel.
Pitch trim can be inserted using the + and - keys on the keypad, and
removed using the * on the keypad. The + key raises the nose; the - key
lowers it.
If you`ve never used a flight simulator and are unfamiliar with the
controls of an aircraft, we strongly recommend that you read the Primary
Training section of part 8 "Flight Training" of this manual.
THE USE OF VECTORED THRUST
Until now there has been no true PC based simulation of a vectored - thrust
jet fighter. Whether this is your first flight-simulation purchase or the
latest of many you must learn to cope with the aircrafts unique system of
vectored nozzles. To help you, the following flight procedures describe
how to use this capability. Most are based on flight procedures contained
in the official Harrier manual. The fact that they work on this simulation
is testimony to the accuracy with which the aircraft has been modelled by
the software.
Vertical Take-Off
This can only be flown with light weapon loads. Maximum take-off weight
(shown on the right center of the Weapon Loading Screen) must not exceed
the maximum engine thrust of 23,800lb
1. Set the nozzles to 80 degrees, then select full engine power.
2. At a height of 50ft, move the nozzles slowly backwards.
3. At a forward speed of around 180kts, the wings will generate enough
lift to support the aircraft.
Rolling Take-Off
1. Set the engine nozzles to between 40 and 50 degrees, depending on
aircraft weight. The heavier the aircraft, the greater the angle should
be.
2. Remove the wheelbrakes, and select full engine power.
3. Apply a slight back pressure on the controls as the aircraft leaves the
flight deck, then hold the nose just above the horizontal.
4. When the aircraft reaches a forward speed of more than 180kts, raise
the undercarriage and the engine nozzles.
Tarawas flight deck is long enough to allow a take-off with the nozzles
left fully aft. You will lose around 20ft of height in the first few
seconds of flight, so keep the nose above the horizontal until the aircraft
has regained height.
Short Rolling Take-Off
This is the procedure used to minimise takeoff run when operating out of
very short land strips. You won't need to use it in the game; it has been
included here for your interest. Try to get airborne in the shortest
possible distance while carrying a heavy weapon load.
1. Remove the wheelbrakes, and select full engine power.
2. As the aircraft approaches the end of the flight deck, hit (Shift 5) to
set the nozzles to 50 degrees.
3. When clear of the ground, hold the nose just above the horizontal.
4. At a height of 50ft, move the nozzles slowly backwards.
5. At a forward speed of around 180kts, the wings will generate enough
lift to support the aircraft.
Returning to the Hover
1. Jettison all unused weapons (Ctrl-R)
2. Set the nozzles to 20 degrees.
3. Increase the nozzle angle to 40 degrees as you approach the ship.
4. At an altitude of around 100ft, and about 1,200 yards from the ship,
move the nozzles to 90 degrees.
Control in the Hover
Once the aircraft is stabilized in the hover, you'll probably find that it
is not over the intended landing spot. To move the aircraft in the desired
direction, the line of the vectored engine thrust must be moved from the
vertical. There are two ways of doing this:
1. Slightly decreasing the nozzle angle will direct the thrust backward,
giving a small forward velocity to the aircraft. Increasing the nozzle
angle will move the thrust forward, resulting in a small rearward
velocity.
2. Pushing the nose downward slightly will deflect the thrust line enough
to move the aircraft forward, while pulling it up will move the aircraft
rearward. Using sideways movements of the control column will roll the
aircraft slightly in the direction of control column movement.
In both cases, the rudder can be used to turn the aircraft horizontally.
Vertical Landing from the Hover
1. Apply power as needed to maintain your height and use the control
column to position the aircraft for landing.
2. Once in position, reduce the engine rpm by a few per cent.
3. At touchdown, close the throttle to idle.
4. Move the nozzles to 0 degrees, then apply the wheelbrakes and shut down
the engine.
VIFFING (Vectoring in Forward Flight)
The AV-8B has a relatively low top speed and effective ceiling compared to
most fighters, but the high level of installed thrust gives it a phenomenal
acceleration in flight, while rotating the nozzles forward provides equally
impressive amounts of braking. The aircraft is at its best when flying
below 10,000ft; tactics are more important than brute power maneuvers. In
air combat, the Harrier pilot can use the vectoring nozzles to out-maneuver
a conventional fighter. The following techniques may be worth trying:
1. By lowering the nozzles, the pilot can increase the turn rate of his
aircraft, trading speed for turn rate.
2. If the Harrier is being pursued by an enemy fighter, moving the nozzles
to 100 degrees will sharply reduce forward speed, forcing a pursuer to
overshoot, perhaps to the point where he becomes the pursued.
3. Lowering the nozzles at the top of a loop will pitch the aircraft
quickly into a dive, allowing the pilot to quickly line up his gun or
missile.
4. Set to 100 degrees or more, the nozzles can act as an brake, allowing
the aircraft to dive steeply without a rapid build-up of speed.
5. If a fast dive is needed, this can be done at full power. Instead of
reducing power for the pull-out, the pilot can lower the nozzles, turn
at the maximum G possible, yet still have full power available after the
pullout to ensure fast acceleration.
PRE-FLIGHT CUSTOMISATION
The first time you enter the cockpit in a game-playing session, you may
wish to customise some of the features of this simulation. Pressing ESC
will open a menu with the following options:
Controls
Aboard Tarawa, the game can be controlled by the keyboard, mouse, or
joystick, but in the air only one method of command can be active. The
options for aircraft control are - Joystick, Mouse, or Keyboard. Selecting
joystick will open a further menu offering Calibrate, and Save as Default.
After selecting calibrate, move the joystick to each of its four corners in
turn. Once you've done that, press either button to end the calibration
process. To make a permanent record of this calibration which will
automatically load every time you start the game, around its limits. press
ESC to re-open the control menu, then select Joystick, and Save as Default.
The joystick can be recalibrated at any time by pressing the Z key, moving
the stick around its limits and pressing either of its keys.
Display
If you find that the game does not run smoothly the two options offered in
this menu will help reduce the demands it is making on your computer. As
its name suggests, cancelling the Horizon Shading options will remove the
simulated atmospheric effects which reduce visibility near the horizon.
Selecting Fast Cockpit Draw will replace the normal cockpit display with an
alternative version which presents the same displays and information in
slightly simpler form.
Simulation
The default conditions here are for the effects of G Grey Out to be
simulated, and for the game to use the Advanced flight model. The latter
menu item is also controlled by the Ctrl-S and Ctrl-A keys.
Sounds
Default is All sounds, but you can opt to remove the Engine Noise, while
retaining the others.
Commander
This option returns you to the Command Center on Tarawa.
Exit to DOS
This allows you the end the game session. Repeatedly pressing ESC from any
point in the game will eventually allow you to exit to DOS.
The choices you make will remain in effect for the rest of the current
game-playing session. If you want to make these changes permanent, a
similar menu can be found in the Save/Restore game screen. This will save
the changes to the hard disk, so that they can be automatically loaded each
time you play the game.
PRE-FLIGHT OPERATING PROCEDURE
Details of missions to be flown are given during briefing sessions in the
Pilots Briefing Room.
Central item in this compartment is a large whiteboard used to display
information to pilots. On either side are monitor screens which are used
to call up further information. Clicking on these selects the type of data
displayed on the whiteboard.
When you enter the room from the corridor or directly from the Command
Center the whiteboard will show the new missions waiting to be flown. If
you want to see this at any other time, click on the right hand monitor
screen.
The currently available missions are shown on the whiteboard in two- line
summary form:
<mission type>
Primary Target <type> at <name>
End Of Part 2
-------------
AV8B HARRIER ASSAULT - OPERATIONS MANUAL - Part 3
-------------------------------------------------
CLOSE AIR SUPPORT
Primary Target fuel dumps at DILI
As an AV-8B pilot, you can be tasked with five types of mission during
Operation Ocean Saber.
Combat Air Control
Objective: To fly top cover for the fleet or ground forces, engaging any
destroying any Indonesian aircraft found the in air. At least one Harrier
will always be available to fly CAP missions.
Waypoints: No waypoints will be programmed into the aircraft's Nav system.
Default weapons: Sidewinder; cannon.
Reconnaissance
Objective: To observe the battle area, and to relay intelligence back to
TAWADS in order to provide a more compete tactical picture of the current
state of the campaign.
Waypoints: Automatically programmed into the aircraft`s Nav system using
TAWADS data.
Default weapons: ALQ-164 jamming pod (Its electronic systems will observe
and record Indonesian radar and radio signals); cannon.
Close Air Suppport
Objective: To provide fire support for US forces in direct conflict with
Indonesian units. Some targets will be laser designated by the ground
forces, allowing pilot to use Maverick missiles and laser guided bombs.
Waypoints: Automatically programmed into the aircrafts Nav system.
Targets will be described in the mission briefing, and TAWADS will
automatically set waypoints over the targets to be attacked.
Default weapons: Laser guided bombs; Maverick; cannon.
Interdiction
Objective: The destruction of one or more targets well behind enemy lines.
Targets will not be laser designated, so must be attacked using unguided
bombs and rockets.
Waypoints: Automatically programmed into the aircrafts Nav system.
Targets will be described in the mission briefing, and TAWADS will
automatically set waypoints over the targets to be attacked.
Default weapons: Unguided rockets; unguided bombs; Sidewinder; cannon.
Air interception
Objective: Engage and destroy enemy aircraft.
Waypoints: Automatically programmed into the aircrafts Nav system by
TAWADS. Waypoints will be placed at last known location of enemy planes.
Default weapons: Sidewinder; cannon; countermeasures.
To start on one of the missions waiting to be flown, click on that mission
on the whiteboard. If you don't accept one of the waiting missions, the
computer will assign a computer-controlled AV-8B to fly that sortie.
Clicking on an available mission will display on the whiteboard a full
briefing for that mission. This will list the primary target, any
secondary target, and the programmed waypoints for both. An intelligence
briefing will also be given, listing the anti-aircraft ground defences at
these targets, and the risk to being intercepted by enemy fighters.
The aircrafts Nav system has pre-set uses for several waypoints.
T The TACAN radio-navigation beacon on Tarawa.
O Any target of opportunity marked by the pilot during the flight.
From: Squadron Commander VMA-513
To: All pilots
Subject: Nav waypoints
Before leaving the briefing room to begin a mission, take care to note the
identity of every waypoint programmed into your aircraft's Nav system.
Once over East Timor, you'll be busy enough without the added workload of
trying to remember the purpose of each waypoint. I know you guys are keen
to be heroes, but time moves fast when you're flying at low level at a
speed of more than 500kts. Time wasted struggling with waypoint selection
is time in which a fighter, SAM or AAA battery can get a shot at you.
Accepting the mission will take you to the Weapons Loading Screen to select
the weapons you want to carry then into the cockpit ready for take off.
If you want to take over a mission currently being flown by the computer,
click on the left hand monitor to bring up on the whiteboard a list of
currently-airborne AV-8Bs. Clicking on any one of these will put you into
the cockpit of that aircraft. Turn off its autopilot, and you can fly the
mission.
Always remember that after a few hours of operating experience, you`ll be a
better pilot than the computer. If several missions are being flown, the
most effective tactic is to let the computer fly them all, while you use
TAWADS to monitor their progress. As each aircraft approaches its target,
jump into the cockpit, switch off the autopilot, and fly the attack
manually. Once the target has been knocked out, re-engage the autopilot,
and let the computer fly the aircraft to its next waypoint while you jump
back to the Command Center and the TAWADS display. This technique will
give you the most interesting part of the mission to fly, and leave the
autopilot to handle the routine parts of the sortie.
ARMING THE AIRCRAFT
Once you've accepted a mission, go to the flight deck, where the armorers
are waiting to load weapons on your aircraft. The aircraft arrives from
the hanger with all its pylons empty. A series of buttons at the foot of
the screen allows the individual types of weapon to be selected.
There are two ways of loading your weapons. One is to leave the job to the
armorers, who'll already have loaded the pylons with what they consider to
be a suitable warload for the mission you're about to fly. Details of this
combination will have been given during the pre-flight briefing in the
Pilots Briefing Room.
If you don't like their selection, you can remove it by clicking on CLEAN,
or modify it by removing the weapons you don't want and installing your own
choice. If you've previously flown a mission, clicking on LAST will order
the armorers to repeat the loading you specified for that mission.
To install a weapon of your own choice, first select it by clicking on its
button. It will appear in the window at the foot of the screen. To load
this weapon onto the aircraft, click below the pylon you want to mount it
on using the left mouse (SPACE). The chosen weapon should then appear on
the pylon. To remove an installed weapon, click with the right mouse
button (ENTER).
As you load weapons, an information line half-way down the screen will show
the weight of the weapon currently selected for loading, and the take off
weight of the aircraft with the current warload. If you plan to take off
vertically the latter figure must be kept below the maximum engine thrust!
The outboard pylons (the one nearest the wingtip) on each side can only
carry a small load, but those inboard are closer to the wing root, so can
carry a greater load without straining the aircraft structure. If the
weapon won`t install on the pylon you chose try one further inboard.
In some cases, several weapons of the same type can be carried on a single
plylon using a multiple ejection rack (MER). If another weapon can be
carried without exceeding the pylon's load carrying capability, clicking on
a pylon a second time will install a second weapon. In some cases clicking
a third time may install a third weapon. The limits on pylon loading can
be found by experimenting. The 25mm cannon is always carried under the
fuselage.
If you`re going to fly a reconnaissance or strike mission, and enemy
fighters are expected, you might want to carry an AIM-9M Sidewinder on each
outboard pylon. This reduces the number of pylons available for air to
ground weaponry but increases your chances of shooting down any fighter
which attacks you.
Carrying an LQ-164 jamming pod will reduce the range at which enemy radars
will detect your aircraft. This will make it difficult - but not
impossible for SAM batteries to launch radar-guided missiles at your
aircraft. Carrying a jamming pod reduces your chances of being shot down
by a radar guided missile, but takes up a valuable pylon, reducing the
weapon load you can carry.
Within the fuselage of the aircraft are dispensers for chaff and flares.
These are released by pressing the C or F key. The numbers remaining for
use are shown on the weapons display on the right hand MFD.
When released, a chaff cartridge bursts to release a cloud of fine strands
of metalized glass fibre. These form a radar-reflective false target which
can confuse a hostile radar. If attempting to lock onto your aircraft, the
radar may instead lock onto the chaff cloud. If already locked on, it may
"break lock", following the slow moving chaff cloud rather than the fast
moving aircraft. If a radar guided SAM has been fired at your aircraft,
dropping a chaff cartridge will offer it an alternative target.
Jamming pods and chaff have no effect on anti-aircraft guns, shoulder fired
heat-seeking SAMs or on the less efficient optical back up guidance modes
available of the SA-3 and SA-6 SAM systems. If a heat seeking SAM or
Sidewinder is headed for your aircraft, release a flare. Missiles of this
type home onto heat radiated by your aircraft. Flares are fast-burning
devices which offer the missile an intense heat source which may distract
it from your aircraft.
When attempting to distract an incoming missile, it may not be enough just
to release chaff or a flare. For a start, timing is critical. Release the
chaff or flares too soon, and the missile will re-acquire you; release them
too late, and the weapon will reach your aircraft before being
significantly decoyed.
Pulling a sharp turn in the direction of the attack will help break the
missile's lock. Never turn away from the missile - this gives it a simple
"tail-chase" flight path and an easy kill. Turning toward the missile
forces it to maneuver hard in order to follow you.
If you run out of chaff or flares, a sharp turn might still save you. Once
again, timing is critical. The closer you let the missile approach before
making the turn, the harder it must maneuver to compensate for your sharp
change of course. The missile does not have unlimited maneuvering power so
what you're trying to do is to get out of its way so rapidly that it can't
follow. If tasked with attacking a heavily defended target, you might want
to carry an external chaff/flare dispenser on one of your pylons.
While the armorers were loading and fuzing your chosen weapons, other
members of the flight deck crew were busy fuelling your aircraft, and
recharging its oxygen system. To begin the mission, click on the OK
button. This will put you in the cockpit, and start the aircrafts engine.
SELECTING AND USING WEAPDNS
Once airborne and on the way to the first waypoint, it's time to select
weapons. Pressing BACKSPACE cycles through the weapons available The
Stores Display on one of your MFDs will show the selected pylons and the
numbers of weapons on each.
You can only select weapon types, not individual pylons. Bombs or unguided
rockets can be released individually or in a salvo. Pressing the N key
will change the salvo size. Guided missiles cannot be salvoed; only one
missile will be released for each press of the firing button.
Alphanumerics at the bottom left of the HUD will show the type of weapon
selected, and the number to be released in the salvo. This information is
duplicated on the MFD Stores Display and on cockpit indicators mounted
above the left-hand MFD.
During the pilot`s briefing, you`ll sometimes be warned that fighters are
expected. On the way to and from the target area, choosing GUN or AIM-9M
will ensure that you-re ready to fight back if enemy F-16s or F-5s try to
intercept you.
Use the fire button or SPACE to release weapons. When a multi round salvo
has been selected, a single press will release all the weapons in that
salvo. Rockets fire with an interval of 0.2 seconds between rounds bombs
at 0.4 second intervals. After releasing weapons, the fire button / space
control is inactive for 0.5 second, 0.1 second in the case of the cannon.
Cannon
The aircrafts 25mm cannon is aimed using the velocity vector marker in the
HUD. The gun has 300 rounds of ammunition, and the number remaining is
shown in the Stores Display screen on the MFD display.
Iron Bombs & Rockeye
Free falling bombs can be delivered on one of two modes - CCIP and
automatic. Both are available in this simulation.
CCIP Mode
Normal method of aiming iron bombs is by means of the Continuously Computed
Impact Point (CCIP) mode. As its name suggests, during a CCIP attack, the
aircraft's Nav system is continuously computing the point where the bombs
would land if released now, and marks this in the HUD with a small
cross-shaped aiming mark. A line is automatically drawn between this CCIP
marker and the LFD. Known as the CCIP line, this is used when delivering
bombs in Automatic Bombing mode, or when aiming laser-guided bombs (LGBs).
When dive bombing, the CCIP marker will be easily visible in the HUD field
of view. If you fly a horizontal attack at low level, you`ll have to fly
fast to keep the CCIP marker in the HUD field of view. In practice, AV-8B
pilots normally keep the speed to 450kts or more when making CCIP attacks
from low level.
Automatic Bombing Mode
To toggle between CCIP mode and the alternative Automatic Bombing mode,
press the ` (single quote) key.
Once the target is visible in the HUD, place the LFD aiming mark over it
and press ENTER or the second mouse or joystick key. This locks the
nose-mounted ARBS video camera onto the selected spot on the ground,
designates this as waypoint 0, and selects waypoint zero. Remember that
the ARBS isn't locked on to the target, but is tracking a designated point
on the ground. If that point wasn't lined up with the target, the
automatic system has no way of compensating for this.
The aiming point will be marked by a cross on the ARBS video display, and a
cross in the HUD. Position the CCIP line over the target, and hold it
there. Press and hold down the fire button to indicate to the automatic
bombing system that it is free to release ordnance. If you keep the CCIP
line on the target, and the fire button pressed down, the bombs will be
released automatically. If no bombs are released, the CCIP line was not
aligned accurately with the target - the Automatic bombing mode won't
release weapons which have no chance of hitting the designated aiming
point.
Unguided Rockets
Rockets are launched in CCIP mode. In this case the HUD does not show a
CCIP line - only a "T" shaped CCIP aiming mark.
AGM-65E Maverick
Maverick is designed to home onto targets which have been laser designated
by friendly forces. If Maverick is selected, andd a target is being
designated by ground forces, a square marker will appear in the HUD as you
approach the target area. Maverick can then be fired and will home
automatically without further action by the pilot.
Firing a Maverick - or any other guided weapon - does not automatically
result in a "kill". For a start, you may have fired at too great a range.
Also be aware that missile homing systems are not perfect, but should bring
a missile within several feet of its target. During trials in the late
1970s, half the Maverick rounds fired landed within four feet of the
target. The others exhibited greater errors, in some cases 10 feet or
more. All guided missiles exhibit such variations in accuracy between
individual rounds, and in some cases may not land close enough to score a
"kill". In AV-8B Harrier Assault, missile behaviour has been accurately
modelled to reflect such small errors. If firing a guided missile doesn`t
result in a kill, the simulation is not at fault. Make a second pass, and
fire another weapon at the target.
Laser Guided Bombs (LGBs)
Like Maverick. LGBs are laser-homing weapons which require their target to
be designated. Operating procedure is similar to that for Maverick, but
these unpowered weapons have less range and maneuvering capability than the
AGM-65. LGBs must be dropped close enough to the target to allow their
limited maneuvering power to successfully guide the weapon to a "kill". It
is essential that the CCIP line be positioned inside the square marker when
the bomb is released.
AIM-9 Sidewinder
Selecting AIM-9 will automatically activate the IR seeker of the Sidewinder
missile. This will scan an area ahead of the aircraft looking for a
suitable target. Any target aircraft visible through the HUD will be in
the sidewinder's field of view, and the missile will lock on automatically.
If several aircrafi are visible within the HUD, Sidewinder will lock onto
the nearest.
You will receive two indications of successful lock-on. A circular mark in
the HUD will track the target, and you will hear a "growling" tone
generated by the missile seeker head. The missile can then be fired, and
will home automatically. If the seeker has not locked onto a target, the
missile can still be launched, but it will not home.
AIM-9M will not home onto Indonesian C-130 Hercules transports. Use the
cannon to attack these.
AGM-88 HARM
If you wish to attack a radar guided SAM site, turn your aircraft onto the
threat bearing indicated by the radar warning receiver. Once the radar is
within the HUD field of view, a square aiming mark will become visible.
This will track the target, indicating that the missile has locked on.
Firing at too great a range can fail to generate a "kill", either because
the missile did not have enough range to reach the target, or because the
radar has been switched off (The latter tactic is a good counter to HARM,
since it deprives the missile of its ability to make furthur course
corrections). Launching the missile at closer range will reduce the
enemy's chances of switching off in time, but if misjudged could give him
the chance to fire a SAM at your aircraft.
POST-FLIGHT DEBRIEFING
On landing from a successful mission, waiting a short time or pressing
Ctrl-D will bring you back to the Pilots Briefing Room. De-Briefing
information will be displayed on the whiteboard. Once you`ve read this
clicking on the right or left monitors will bring up a listing of the
missions waiting to be flown, or those currently under way.
ALTERNATIVE LANDING SITES
Under normal circumstances, you will always land back on Tarawa. Although
some of the other assault ships are carrying spare AV-8Bs and can ferry
them over to Tarawa to replace aircraft lost in combat, the aircraft were
loaded onto these ships by crane. You cannot land on vessels other than
Tarawa.
If you run short of fuel when flying over East Timor you may land at any
airfield which has been captured by the Marines. They will almost
certainly find enough Indonesian fuel to refill your tanks, and may even
have some 25mm ammunition available to reload your cannon.
SECTION V - SHIPS AND MEN OF THE TASK FORCE.
--------------------------------------------
Tarawa: Lead Vessel of the Assault Force
The most important vessel in the fleet under your command is the assault
ship LHA 1 Tarawa. Built in the early 1970s, this was the first of a class
of five vessels intended to combine the functions of the earlier Iwo Jima
class helicopter carrier (LH), with those of a dock landing ship (LPD) and
an assault cargo ship (LKA).
Tarawa was built by Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation. She was laid down
15th November 1971, launched on 1st December 1973, and commissioned on 29
May 1976. She was followed by five sister ships the Saipan, Belleau Wood,
Nassau, and Peleliu. A total of nine had been planned when the class was
trimmed to only six in 1971 even before Tarawa had been laid down. All six
ships was built by Ingalls, with the last example entering service in 1980.
Tarawa and her sister ships are the world's largest amphibious vessels. To
the layman, Tarawa looks like an aircraft carrier. Similar in size to a
Second World War Essex-class aircraft carrier the ship is 834 feet long,
132ft wide, and has a full load displacement of 39,967 tons. Impressive
though these figures are, Tarawa is some 200ft shorter than a modern
aircraft carrier, has about half the displacement, and lacks the angled
flight deck, aircraft catapults, and arrester gear needed to operate
conventional jet fighters.
Tarawa is designed not to provide the large-scale air power available from
an aircraft carrier, but to embark a Marine amphibious unit, transport it
over long distances, deploy it ashore, then loiter in the area to support
it. This ability to land forces on a distant shore is one component of the
mobile force structure which makes the United States a superpower. Nations
such as China may have strategic nuclear weapons, but lack this ability to
intervene at trouble spots around the globe. The Commonwealth of
Independent States which resulted from the break-up of the Soviet Union
would have difficulty in carrying out this sort of force projection.
Tarawa has enough accommodation space below decks for a reinforced
battalion - total of around 2,000 men, plus the hardware needed to give
them fire power once ashore - five M60 tanks and six 105mm field howitzers.
Although powerfully armed, it's a numerically small force, one better
suited to a swift "surgical" strike rather than long slogging match against
enemy forces operating at brigade strength (around 5,000 - 8,000 men) or
divisional level (around 15,000 - 20,000 men.)
On land, armies can request supplies, firepower, or even diversionary
attacks from other units along the same front line. There is no such
tactical luxury for Marine units sent onto a hostile shore. Every bullet
and band aid they need, they must take with them. Trained to fight under
such self sufficient conditions, the Marines regard themselves as an elite
unit, perhaps the elite unit. A US Marine may pudgingly accept that the
British SAS, the Russian Spetsnaz, the Israeli paratroopers, and the French
Foreign Legion are tough, but this won't dent his conviction that the
Marines are the toughest soldiers who walk this planet.
Tarawas 820ft X 118ft night deck can handle twelve CH-46 Sea Knight assault
helicopters, or nine of the heavier CH-53 Sea Stallion. Directly below the
flight deck are two half-length hanger decks. These can house up to 26
CH-46 or 19 CH-53. These aircraft can be moved to and from the flight deck
via one elevator mid-way down the port side of the ship, and a second near
the stern. AV-8B Harriers are carried as required for the individual
mission.
For Operation Ocean Saber, Tarawa carries eight AV-8B, plus 28 helicopters.
A separate vehicle deck carries the wheeled and tracked vechicles for the
vessel's force of Marines. The vessel is operated by a crew of around 900,
bringing the total to around 2,900.
In the lower part of the aft section of the vessel is a feature unique to
amphibious assault ships - a large docking well. This can be flooded to
allow landing craft to enter and leave via a stern-mounted door which gives
access to the sea. On Tarawa, the well is 286ft long and 78ft wide so can
acommodate a wide range of landing craft. For this mission, it contains
four LCU, and two LCM-6. Forty LVT tracked landing craft are carried on a
separate vehicle deck.
Built in large numbers between the mid-1950s until the mid-1970s, the LCU
(Landing Craft Utility) is the descendant of the Second World War LCT
(Landing Craft Tank). Maximum payload of these 135 foot long vessels is
180 tons. For example, they can carry three tanks. Later models have bow
and stern ramps, to enable vehicles to drive through. LCUs are powered by
four diesel engines, and have a top speed of 20kts.
The 56 foot long LCM-6 was a Second World War design, but remained in
production until the 1970s. It can carry 80 soldiers or 34 tons of cargo.
Two diesel engines give a top speed of 20kts.
One of the most tactically useful vehicles in the early stages of an
assault is the LVTP-7 Amphibious Assault Vehicle. (In the game, these are
referred to simply as LVTs). As its full designation "Landing Vehicle
Tracked Personnel" suggests, this is a vehicle able to propel itself in the
water, climb a beach under the power of tracks, then carry its soldiers
inland.
The LVT weighs around 50,000lb, and can carry 25 Marines, who enter and
leave the vehicle via a rear-mounted ramp. Hatches in the upper surface
allow cargo to be loaded from above, either when the vechicle is aboard
ship or floating alongside a ship. A Cummins VT8 diesel engine drives the
vehicle at speeds of up to 39mph, while in the water, two water jets propel
it at speeds of up to 8.5mph.
It takes primitive terrain to top an LVT. The vehicle can cross an 8ft
wide trench, climb over a 3ft obstacle, and has a ground pressure of only
8lb/sq in. The hull is made from aluminum armor between 0.27 - 1.77 inches
thick, and the vehicle has a turret armed with an M85 0.5" caliber machine
gun.
More than 33,000 square feet of storage space is available aboard Tarawa
for vehicles, plus almost 117,999 cubic feet of space for palletised
stores. To support the landed force of close to 2,000 Marines requires
several hundred tons of stores, so the ship has built in automated
cargo-handling facilities include conveyors and elevators. These can
handle up to 240 one-ton pallets per hour.
A massive conveyor system runs along the top of a central support structure
which divides the docking well in two, then forward onto the vehicle deck.
Five elevators - two in the well deck area, and three at the front end of
the conveyor lift the cargo pallets from the cargo holds deep in the ship,
allowing them to move rear ward to the well deck, where an overhead
monorail system loads them onto the landing craft. The aft pair of
transporters can also be used to move pallets to the hangar deck. While an
inclined ramp allows pallets to be moved up to the flight deck for loading
onto helicopters.
To be effective, Tarawa`s Marines must be able to perform at peak
efficiency as soon as they go ashore. To help prepare the Marines to cope
with the climate they will experience at their destination, a 5,000 square
foot training and acclimatisation room is available. (In this game, the
acclimatisation room also contains the Part Task Trainers which will help
teach you how to fly the AV-8B.) Other facilities include a hospital able
to provide intensive care for up to 90 casualties.
Command facilities are located in the massive island superstructure at the
starboard side of the night deck. From here the commander of the
amphibious task group and the landing force commander issue their
instructions via the Tactical Amphibious Warfare Data System (TAWADS) - a
computer-controlled system able to store information on targets, and keep
track of landing craft, helicopters, vehicles, soldiers, and cargo. Later
in this manual, you'll learn how to use TAWADS to generate battle plans,
and to control the amphibious assault forces and the AV-8B Harriers.
In an era when most major US warships are driven by gas turbines or nuclear
power, the Tarawa class relies on a traditional steam powerplant. Two
Combustion Engineering boilers provide the steam needed to drive two
Westinghouse geared turbines, each of which powers one of the vessels two
propeller shafts. The turbines deliver a total of 70,000 shaft horse
power: enough to take Tarawa to a top speed of 24kts. Maximum range at a
more economical cruising speed of 20kt is 10,000nm.
The Navy has only two Blue Ridge class command ships: so may not be in the
area of an amphibious operation. To get around this problem, the Tarawa
class are equipped with extensive command and control facilities including
an SPS-52B radar for fighter control.
During an amphibious operation, Tarawa and her sister ships would be
obvious targets for enemy attack. Three types of weapon are carried for
self-protection. A single Mk45 75mm/54 gun is mounted at the port and
starboard front corners of the flight deck, a third at the starboard rear.
These can fire 20 rounds per minute. Maximum range is 8nm in the
anti-aircraft role, 12.4nm against land targets.
When the vessels first entered service, the port rear corner carried an
eight-barrelled launcher for the Sea Sparrow surface-to air missile, while
a second was positioned forward of the island. The final self defense
weapons were six single-barrelled Mk67 20mm cannon.
In the 1980s, a retrofit program installed two General Dynamics Mk15/16
Phalanx 20mm close-in weapon systems (CIWS) on each ship. These were
mounted in the positions formerly used by Sea Sparrow. The 20mm Mk87 gave
way to six 25mm Mk 242 cannons.
Phalanx is intended to protect the ship against anti-ship missiles which
make it part of the surface-to-air missile fire power of the fleets
warships. This is a "last-ditch" weapon a radar-controlled automatic gun
mount whose six-barrelled Gatling gun pours out 50 20mm caliber cannon
shells per second. Maximum range is short - if an enemy missile is closing
for the kill, Phalanx will have only a few seconds to score a kill.
The cannon shells do not carry an explosive payload; damaging a missile at
such short range would probably not stop the crippled round striking the
ship. The projectiles leaving the Phalanx gun barrels are solid, and made
from depleted uranium, one of the heaviest metals known to man. If hits
are obtained on the missile, the impact energy of these heavy high speed
projectiles should be enough either to cause massive structural damage
which will knock the weapon off course, or even to detonate the missile's
warhead.
Tarawa also carries extensive electronic warfare (EW) protection, including
the SLQ-32(V)3 system. This is designed to detect and jam hostile radar
signals. Four six-barrelled SRBOC launchers are available to release chaff
and IR decoys in further attempts to confuse incoming anti-ship missiles.
More Ships and More Men
On its own Tarawa could not carry a large enough force of Marines to carry
out Operation Ocean Saber. Supporting her are six other amphibious warfare
vessels, an escort of four warships, and a tanker.
To provide additional amphibious capability the fleet includes five Dock
landing ships. Like Tarawa, these slightly smaller vessels carry Marines
and their equipment, and incorporate docking wells designed to handle
landing craft. Newest of the five is LSD-41 Whidbey Island. First of a
class of eight modern dock landing ships built to replace the older
Thomaston class, this was built in the early 1980s by Lockheed Seattle.
Whidbey Island is 609ft long, and has a full load displacement of 15.725
tons. It carries a force of 500 Marines plus their equipment. Its 440ft X
50ft well deck houses four LCAC air-cushion landing vehicles.
Gradually replacing the older LCU, are the LCAC (Landing Craft Air
Cushion). These can carry only 24 soldiers, a single tank, or between 60
and 75 tons of cargo, but have a top speed of 40kts when fully loaded.
Their great advantage, apart from high speed, is that they can land on most
shorelines. Conventional landing craft require careful choice of landing
site. According to the US Navy the LCAC can cope with around 70 per cent
of the shorelines around the world, while the LCU was restricted to around
15 per cent. Apart from their smaller payload, CVACs have some
disadvantages compared with LCUs. They are noisy, create clouds of spray
(which sometimes interfered with the driver's vision before the addition of
spray suppressers), and can have problems in rough seas.
Whidbey Island also has up to 5,000 cubic feet of space available for
marine cargo, and 12,500 square feet for vehicles. Four Colt/Pielstick
diesel engines driving two shafts give a total of 41,600shp and a top speed
of 22kts.
The rest of the Marine Expeditionary Brigade is deployed on LPD-4 Austin,
LPD-5 Ogden, LPD-7 Cleveland and LPD-9 Denver. These are 570 feet long,
with a 16,900 ton full load displacement. Part of a class of 12 vessels
built in the l960s, each can each carry 1,000 Marines and 2,500 tons of
cargo. The 168ft X 50ft well deck can house one LCU and three LCM-6.
These landing craft can be supplemented by several more carried on deck and
lowered into the sea by an aft-mounted crane. Austin lacks the helicopter
hanger added to later vessels of the class. As a result, only Ogden,
Cleveland, and Denver can carry aircraft. Typical loads might be one
SH-60, two CH-46, or four AH-1W. Being almost 30 years old, Austin and her
sister ships are steam powered. Both have twin-shaft installations
delivering around 24,000shp and giving a top speed of around 20kts.
For self-protection, all five Dock Landing Ships are fitted with the
SLQ-32(V)1, a simpler version of the EW system carried by Tarawa. All five
also have four SRBOC chaff/flare launchers, while Whidbey Island also has a
pair of 20mm Phalanx guns.
Cargo and Fuel
To carry the rest of the Marine Expeditionary Brigade`s heavy loads, the
force includes the Vehicle Cargo Ship T-AK 3009 Pfc Dewayne T. Williams.
Built by General Dynamics, this 44,330 ton vessel joined the fleet in 1985
on long term charter. The ship is operated by American Overseas Marine,
and has a crew of 30, plus 25 technicians. On its own it can carry 22,700
tons of equipment and supplies, 25 per cent of the stores needed by a
Marine Expeditionary Brigade over a 30 day period. It has a
roll-on/roll-off capacity of more than 150,000 square feet, and can carry
530 cargo containers. It also delivers vehicle and aviation fuel.
Unlike the Whidbey Island and the Austin class, Pfc Dewayne T. Williams is
not an amphibious ship. It unloads its cargo either by using port
facilities, or at sea by means of its built-in cargo-handling equipment.
This includes two twin cranes and one single crane. A small landing
platform for helicopters is located at the rear of the superstructure. The
vessel is powered by two Stork Werkspoor 16 TM 410 diesel engines, and has
a speed of 18kts. Maximum range at this speed is 12,840 miles.
The Warship Escort
Keeping this assault force safe from land and sea attack is the task of the
warships assigned to escort the formation. During the Second World War, an
amphibious task force would have been escorted by heavy cruisers or even
one or more battleships, but these massive gun platforms have been retired.
For this mission, the use of guided-missile cruisers has been ruled out by
Washington, so the largest and most powerful of the vessels escorting the
amphibious force is the 563ft long guided missile destroyer DDG 933 Kidd.
Originally laid down in June 1978 for the Imperial Iranian Navy and named
Kouroush, Kidd and her four sister ships were taken over by the US Navy
following the Iranian Revolution. Kidd was launched by Litton on 11th
August 1979, and was completed in the summer of 1981.
The Kidd class are a specialised anti-aircraft version of the US Navy`s
Spruance class destroyer. The equipment fit of the Spruances were trimmed
to save money but the Shah of Iran had opted for the original
specification. As a result, Kidd and her sister ships are the most
powerful destroyers in the US fleet. Full load displacement is 9,200 tons,
around 1,400 tons more than a Spruance. This extra weight is partly due to
the installation of armor protection, also three additional radars - an
SPS-48 and two SPG-51 radars. The Kidd class is ideal for tropical
service, since its air-conditioning systems were designed to cope with
operations in the Gulf.
The ship is armed with missiles and guns. Two Mk 45 5inch guns mounted
forward and aft have a rate of fire of 20 rounds per minute. Maximum range
is 12.6nm against surface targets. Inboard of the guns are two Mk 26
twin-rail missile launchers able to fire SM-2MR Standard SAMs or ASROC anti
submarine missiles. Maximum range of this version of Standard is 40nm.
Two eight-round launchers for Harpoon missiles allow ship targets to be
engaged at ranges of up to 70nm. The hanger carries either two SH-2F
Helicopters, or a single SH-60. Two 20mm Phalanx guns are carried for
point defense.
Like Tarawa and the Dock Landing Ships, Kidd is equipped with an electronic
warfare suite, plus four SRBOC launchers for chaff and flares. In this
case EW system is an SLQ-32(V)2 updated by the Sidekick program to add
jamming and deception modes. During the late 1980s, Kidd and her sister
ships were updated under the US Navys threat Upgrade (NTU) program to
improve their ability to deal with sopisticated aircraft and missile
threats.
The ship is powered by four General Electric LM2500 gas turbines. These
develop a total of 80,000shp, and drive two shafts, giving the ship a top
speed of 30kts. Range at 20kts cruising speed is 6,000nm.
The other three escorts are smaller and less well-armed vessels - 445ft
long frigates of the Oliver Hazard Perry class. Built in the late 1970s,
FFG-10 Duncan, FFG-11 Clark and FFG-20 Antrim joined the fleet in 1980-81.
Displacing around 3,500 tons at full load, the Perry class were designed as
a lower cost alternative to the Spruance class destroyers. To keep costs
down, these vessels are armed with only a single Mk13 trainable missile
launcher plus a 3 inch Mk 75 gun.
Two General Electric L2500 gas turbines drive a single shaft (another
cost-cutting compromise), and deliver a total of 40,000shp. This gives a
top speed of 28.5kts. Maximum range at 20kts is 4,500nm. Normal crew
complement is 206, including 13 officers and 19 aircrew.
The Mk13 missile launcher is the vessels, primary armament. It can fire
Standard SM01MR anti-aircraft missiles, or Harpoon anti ship missiles.
This version of Standard has a range of only 25nm, much less than the 40nm
of Kidd's SM-2MR missiles. The vessel is also fitted with two triple
launchers for anti-submarine torpedoes, and carries two SH-2F or two SH-60
helicopters.
The 3in gun can fire 85 rounds per minute. Maximum range is 8.7nm against
surface targets, or 6.6nm against air threats. A single 20mm Phalanx is
mounted on the roof of the aircraft hanger. Electronic warfare and
chaff/decoy facilities are similar to those of Kidd.
To support the Tarawa, her five supporting ships, and the warship escort,
the fleet is accompanied by the 41,350 ton Replenishment Oiler AOR 6
Kalamazoo. Built by General Dynamics, and commisioned in 1973, Kalamazoo
is one of a class of seven ships designed to support naval units operating
at sea. It can carry 160,000 barrels of fuel, 600 tons of munitions, 200
tons of dry stores, and 100 tons of refrigerated stores. Cargo handling is
highly automated. Powered by General Electric steam turbines, the ship has
a top speed of 20kts. Maximum range is 6,500 miles at 19kts, or 10,000 at
16kts. Normal crew is 454.
A ship with this capability needs to be able to defend itself, so Kalamazoo
carries a single Mk 29 eight barrelled launcher for Sea Sparrow
surface-to-air missiles. Like Tarawa, it is fitted with the SLQ 32(V)3
electronic warfare system, plus four six-barrelled SRBOC launchers for
chaff and decoy flares. Add on armament can include two 20mm phalanx CIWS,
or four 2Omm Oerlikon cannons. Kalamazoo has a small flight deck and
hanger. These were designed to handle two UH 46 helicopters.
The Marine Expeditionary Brigade
The force tasked with Operation Ocean Saber is a Marine Expeditionary
Brigade (MEB) whose Regimental Landing Team will carry out the landing and
ground combat. An MEB is commanded by a Brigadier General, and built
around a reinforced infantry regiment and a composite Marine aircraft
group. Self-sustainable for up to 30 days, an MEB is used to provide rapid
response in what are euphemistically called Low Intensity Conflict
situations.
In real life, the Regimental Landing Team is a complex organisation
incorporating specialized units such as armour and artillery and supported
by a Brigade Service Support Group. To make the game easy to play, we
assumed the landing force consists entirely of normal infantry battalions,
and that these incorporate the supporting armour and artillery. The number
of infantry battalions has been increased to compensate for the "missing"
support units.
A normal Marine regiment consists of three battalions, each with around
1,200 - 1,400 men. These have a two digit designation. Our landing force
is based on the 9th Marine Regiment, and has three battalions - 1/9, 2/9,
and 3/9, plus two battalions from the 6th Marine Regiment - 1/6 and 2/6.
Each battalion has three rifle companies. The first battalion has A, B, &
c companies, the 2nd E, F & G, the 3rd I, K, & L. Company designations D,
H, and M are never used. During the last decade, battalions were slimmed
down from four companies to three, eliminating D, H and M, but the
remaining three retained their traditional designations. Each company
consists of a 1st, 2nd and 3rd platoon.
US military "shorthand" for the A company, 1st battalion, 9th Marine
Regiment is "A/1/9", but the unit designations you`ll see in the game are
written in fuller form, such as "A coy 1st bn, 9th Marines". The TAWADS
tactical map does not identify individual platoons, so don`t be surprised
to see several units in close proximity all labelled identically. These
will be individual platoons of the same company.
The Marines will go ashore either in conventional landing craft or in the
amphibious Landing Vehicle Tracked (LTV). They can also be flown into
battle aboard CH-53 Super Stallion helicopters. These heavy assault
helicopters can carry up to 55 soldiers, or 36,000lb of stores.
Once ashore, the Marines will move inland in their HMMWVs (High Mobility
Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles). Referred to as "Humvees", these jeep-like
vehicles can carry six men, or a light weapon such as a 20mm cannon or
recoilless rifle.
One thing any amphibious assault force is always short of is armored
vehicles. The only main battle tanks available to go ashore are 20 M1
Abrams. These tanks weigh around 60 tons, and are armed with a powerful
105mm gun. The accuracy and armor-piercing capability of this gun far
surpasses that of the 100mm gun mounted on Indonesian tanks. The latter
have no modern fire-control system; if the first shot misses the target,
the crew must try to correct the aim manually. The computerized system on
the M1 should near-guarantee that if the first shot misses, the second will
score a hit.
The M1 has a top speed of 45mph on a road surface, can cross 9ft trenches,
and climb a 4ft obstacle. It has a crew of four, and is protected by
composite armor which is much more effective that the steel used in older
tanks such as Indonesia's T-59s.
To supplement this small tank force, the Marines have more than 400
eight-wheeled LAV-25 Light Armored Vehicles. The standard version is armed
with a 25mm cannon and a co-axial machine gun, but the air defence variant
has a lighter four-barrelled cannon and four Stinger shoulder-fired anti
aircraft missiles. The LAV has a crew of three, and a top speed of more
than 60mph on a good road surface.
Although the AV-8Bs will do their best to provide air support for the
Marines, additional air-strike capability is available either from AH-1W
Sea Cobra attack helicopters, or from CH-53 rigged with externally- mounted
weapon launchers, and cannon or machine gun able to fire through windows.
THe AH-1W Sea Cobra is a custom-built attack helicopter with a two-man crew
- pilot and gunner - and heavy armor protection. A nose mounted
night-vision FLIR system, allows it to fight by day or night, carrying up
to eight TOW or Hellfire antitank missiles, plus AIM-9 Sidewinders for air
to air combat.
For artillery support, Marine artillery units are equipped with the light
but hard hitting M198 155mm howitzer. This has a maximum range of around
15 miles, and can deliver shells twice the weight of those fired by
Indoneesias shorter-ranged artillery. The landing force has 18 six- gun
batteries of M198 howitzers.
To deal with enemy tanks, the Marines also have ground-launched TOW anti
tank missiles, plus the smaller shoulder-fired Dragon anti- tank missile.
The Stinger shoulder fired heat-seeking SAM is also available to protect
mobile units from attack by Indonesian aircraft.
SECTION VI - ABOARD THE TARAWA
------------------------------
After the animated sequence which starts the game, the player will be
placed in the command center of the Tarawa. The entire game is controlled
from this location, including command of the task force and the despatch of
aircraft on combat missions.
From this location, you have four options:
1. Move around the carrier to visit other compartments.
2. Use the Tactical Amphibious Warfare Data System (TAWADS) to plan or
change combat operations.
3. Save the current state of the game, or reload a saved game.
4. Pause the game
5. Quit to DOS.
Below deck, a single corridor gives access to all parts of the ship you`ll
need to use. To get to it, click on the EXIT sign at the top left hand
corner of the screen. (Similar EXIT signs will be found in all the
compartments you visit.)
Along one side of the corridor are the Pilot's Briefing Room, the Command
Center, the Acclimatization Room, and the Hanger. From the other side, a
passageway leads to the flight deck.
You'll see the corridor from a position about half-way along its length
Clicking on the red-coloured arrow marking on the deck will allow you to
look in the opposite direction.
To enter one of the compartments, click on its name, or in the case of the
flight deck, on the sign "TO THE FLIGHT DECK". Note how the shape of the
cursor changes from an arrow to a cross as you align it with the name,
sign, or arrow. This change is shape shows that the cursor is aligned with
a selectable option.
At either end of the corridor are elevators. These will take you to three
other levels of the ship;
PRIMARY FLIGHT CONTROL (PRI-FLY)
COMMAND CENTER (COMM. CNTR)
CARGO HOLD
VEHICLE DECK
Clicking on the appropriate switch will take you the level you've selected.
Clicking on the EXIT sign at the top left of the screen will take you back
to the corridor, directly in the case of compartments in the corridor, or
via the elevator in the case of the other decks.
Modern warfare is fast moving, and in the heat of battle, time is short.
To help you "short cuts" are provided to those parts of the ship you'll
need to visit most often.
There are telephones in most compartments. Clicking on these will take you
immediately to the Command Center.
End Of Part 3
-------------
AV8B HARRIER ASSAULT - OPERATIONS MANUAL - Part 4
-------------------------------------------------
WHAT THE COMPARTMENTS DO
Each compartment of the ship has its own specialised function:
The Command Center
The Command Center has two large wall mounted displays, and three computer
consoles. As was the case in the corridor the cursor will change shape
from an arrow to a cross to indicate possible selections.
The central computer console in the Command Center gives access to the
Tactical Amphibious Warfare Data System (TAWADS), a sophisticated
integrated computer system designed to provide command and control over the
group's aircraft, weapons, sensors and landing craft.
TAWADS has two main purposes. Before the campaign begins, it is used for
detailed strategic and tactical planning. When TAWADS is ordered to run a
plan, it will automatically send the relevant orders to the units which are
tasked with carrying them out. No military plan ever survives contact with
enemy but must be modified and updated as the campaign proceeds. TAWADS
will allow you to assess the progress of the conflict, and to issue direct
orders to ground and air forces, ordering them to carry out specific
tactical tasks not envisaged in the original battle plan.
Full information on the use of TAWADS is contained in the Task Force
Commander's Manual.
Pausing the Game
When the phone rings, or other interruptions disturb the player, its easy
to pause the simulation. Just click on the command centre digital clock.
(When you're in the cockpit flying a mission, the game can be paused by
pressing the P key).
Saving the Game
The Command Center is the only location where you can save the current
state of the game.
As you play through a campaign, the computer keeps track of the current
position of the fleet, plus the position of all US and Indonesian ground
forces, and what they are currentlv doing. It also keeps a record of
damage which you have inflicted on the enemy`s fixed bases, and the losses
in aircraft, helicopters, vehicles, and men which you have suffered.
Finally, it must also note any changes that you have made to the current
battle plan.
Saving a game takes an electronic "snapshot" of all this information and
stores it on the hard disk. You can reload this saved game at any time -
this will reset the entire game world back to where you were when the save
was carried out.
There are at least two reasons for saving a game. After you have been
playing for several hours, the Real World may suddenly intrude - the dog
demands to be walked, it's time to eat, or time to sleep. It might even be
time to use the computer for something so mundane as work. Saving the game
before quitting will allow you to continue play at a later date.
The other reason for saving is to preserve a record of your success to
date. Saving regularly is an insurance policy against things suddenly
going wrong. If you make a tactical error, or the Indonesians hit you with
a brilliant counter attack, you can effectively reset the clock and try a
different strategy.
The save/load game screen is called up by clicking on the disk icon on the
command center desk (You'll see it to the left of the white telephone).
The screen has save/load facilities on the left hand side, and a record of
the game-configuration preferences on the right.
There are 10 slots available to hold saved games.
To save a game, click on one of the slots. It will become highlighted.
Click onto the Save Game icon (an arrow pointing at a floppy disk). The
current game state will be saved into the hard disk, and the selected slot
will now contain the name of your saved state. It should read something
like SABER 0/9:50. The name is made up to the name of the plan currently
being run, plus the current date and time. The example shown contains Plan
SABER at the state it had reached by 9.50am on day 0 of the campaign.
A saved game can be retrieved at any time by entering the SAVE/LOAD screen,
clicking on the slot which contains the saved game, then clicking on the
Load Game icon (an arrow pointing away from a floppy disk.
The Preferences section of this screen allows you to permanently configure
some features of the game. (These can be configured for the current game
session only by the means of a menu accessible by pressing ESC while in the
AV-8B cockpit). Each customizable feature has its own icon. Click on
these to change a preference for example, click on Joystick Control to set
the default control to joystick. Preferences can be saved by clicking on
SAVE PREFERENCES.
Useful Short Cuts
The Command Center also provides three useful "short-cuts" to other parts
of the ship:
This is the only compartment where clicking on the telephone does not take
you to the Command Center. When playing the game, you`ll often be
switching between the Pilots Briefing Room and the Command Center, so
clicking on the white telephone in the Command Centre takes you directly to
the pilots briefing room. If a red light is flashing on this phone, this
indicates that fresh missions have been posted on the whiteboard of the
Pilots Briefing Room.
Clicking on the left-hand wall-mounted display takes you directly to the
aircraft cockpit.
Pilots' Briefing Room
Visit the Pilots' Briefing Room to select the AV-8B missions you want to
fly, and to receive pre-flight briefings before take off. Return there
after landing to receive a debriefing report summarizing the success of
your attack.
Central item in this compartment is a large whiteboard used to display
information to pilots. On either side are monitor screens which are used
to call up further information. Clicking on these selects the type of data
displayed on the whiteboard.
When you enter the room from the corridor or directly from the Command
Center, the whiteboard will show the new missions waiting to be flown. If
you want to see this at any other time, click on the right hand monitor
screen. Clicking on the left-hand monitor will bring up on the whiteboard
a list of currently-airborne AV-8Bs. Clicking on any one of these will put
you into the cockpit of that aircraft. Turn off its autopilot, and you can
fly the mission.
Consult the AV-8B Pilot's Manual for full information on how to use these
displays.
The AV-8B Cockpit.
Once you`re in the cockpit and airborne, there are four ways of getting
back to the ship:
The most obvious to is complete the mission, then land (either manually or
under autopilot control). After landing, pressing Ctrl-D or waiting for a
short time will take you back to the Pilots Briefing Room for a debriefing
session which will tell you how well the mission went. The only type of
mission which does not result in any debrief is a Combat Air Patrol.
(Having flown the mission you'll already know how many aircraft you shot
down.) If you want to skip the debrief press Ctrl-C after you land. This
will take you directly to the Command center.
Like all pilots sent to war, you run the risk of being shot down. Using
the ejection seat to escape from a crashing AV-8B should see you returned
to the Pilots Briefing Room for a debriefing session. Whether you land in
the sea or on East Timor, a rescue helicopter will almost certainly get to
you, and return you to the ship. Like AV-8Bs, the small force of pilots is
a valuable resource.
If you crash, either due to pilot error or by being shot down, you'll be
returned to the Command Center - dead pilots don't need debriefing
sessions!
If you press ESC, then select Commander from the menu which appears, you go
back to the command center, while the computer takes over the task of
automatically flying your aircraft. You can jump out of a Harrier at any
time, return to the command center, then rejoin the mission from the
currently active missions displayed in the pilots room. (The phone
shortcut from the Command center to the Pilots Briefing Room makes it quick
to get back to the aircraft.)
Acclimatization Room
This compartment contains an AV-8B flight simulator. Here you can practce
flying the AV-8B. Clicking on the up and down arrows on the simulator
control console allows you to select the type of training mission you want
to fly. The simulator will then put you in the cockpit of an aircraft
which has been correctly set up for the sortie. At the end of each
training mission you are returned to the Acclimatization Room.
Hangar Deck
From here, the AV-8Bs are raised on the deck-edge elevator to the flight
deck. Tarawa carries eight aircraft, and this view will show you the
number currently available to fly missions. Clicking on the ARM icon will
raise and aircraft to the flight deck, then take you to the Weapon Loading
Screen, and then into the cockpit to begin a Combat Air Patrol.
Flight Deck
Walking onto the flight deck takes you into the Weapon Loading screen, then
into the cockpit to begin a Combat Air Patrol mission. No waypoints will
be set in the Nav system. One Harrier will always be available to fly a
Combat Air Patrol.
Primary Flight Control (PRI-FLY)
The island is the tall superstructure on the starboard (right hand) side on
the Tarawa. A glassed-in compartment high up on the island acts as the
shipboard equivalent of the Control Tower at a land-based airfield From
here, the Air Officer (known as the "Air Boss") controls flight operations.
Seated in a padded chair, he can turn to look out of any of the windows,
observing the entire flight deck. Once the amphibious landings get under
way, the flight deck will be a busy place at times. Try to stop by Pri-Fly
and watch the flight deck operations. Pressing Keys F1 F2 F3 F4 will allow
you look out of the various windows. Esc returns you to the elevator.
Cargo Hold
By visiting the Cargo Hold, you'll get an idea of how much of the on-board
stores are still available for use. The number of crates visible gives a
general indication of the amount of stores available, and you can assume
that the proportion of the stores available on board the other ships in the
task force are similar to those on Tarawa. If the Cargo hold starts to
look empty, the cargo holds on the other amphibious ships will be in a
similar condition.
Vehicle Deck
The vehicle deck shows the next group of vehicles available to go ashore
with the Marines. When the campaign begins, you'll see a group of LVTs
(Landing Vehicle Tracked) ready to go ashore. As was the case in the Cargo
Hold, this view gives an indication of the vehicle availability for the
entire task force.
Simulation Viewpoints
As you`ve already seen, the game allows you to jump from one aircraft to
another, or back to the Tarawa. These are not the only views of the
simulated world you can look at. Several keys flip you to more spectacular
viewpoints. Before trying this, you'd be advised to hit the A key to
engage your aircraft's autopilot. It's easy to crash while admiring the
visuals.
Pressing the V key switches to an outside view of your aircraft. You can
move around your AV-8B by pressing the appropriate function keys. F3 and
F4 will position you 60 degrees on either side of the nose of your
aircraft, F5 and F6 will put you 60 degrees on either side of the tail. F7
and F8 with smoothly rotate the view left or right respectively, while F9
and F10 rotate the viewpoint up and down.
Pressing the 0 key effectively places a TV camera in the sky at your
current location, and provides a movie-like view of your aircraft flying
off into the distance.
The J key switches to the enemy's viewpoint. This takes you to the
selected or designated target. In air combat, this key will take you into
your opponents cockpit, so gives you a quick way of checking that you`re
not about to be shot down.
If you launch a guided missile, the M key will show you the view seen from
the missile seeker. It's not particularly useful, but it can be
spectacular.
SECTION VII - FLIGHT TRAINING
-----------------------------
Primary Training
If you've never flown a flight simulator, you need to understand the basic
rules of how to fly an aircraft. (If you already understand these, you can
go directly to the heading "Using the Part-Task Simulators").
An aircraft must be maneuvered in three dimensions - pitch (nose up or nose
down), yaw (nose left or nose right), and roll (nose rotated to move one
wing down and the other up). In a conventional aircraft, these movements
are generated by hinged control surfaces whose position is controlled from
the cockpit.
The control column often referred to as the joystick - is used for pitch
and roll control. Yaw is controlled by the rudder pedals. Luckily for
computer based flight simulations, the part played by yaw is relatively
minor. Most flying maneuvers are commanded using the control column.
Dozens of old movies on TV will have made you familiar with how to control
an aircraft in pitch, showing pilots pulling back on the control column to
bring an aircraft out a dive. Pulling back the control column causes the
elevators moveable surfaces on the aircrafts horizontal tailplane to
deflect upwards into the flow of air caused by the aircraft's forward
speed. The result is similar in effect to moving the rudder of a boat:
The nose moves in the direction in which the hinged surface was moved. The
airflow pushes against the raised elevator, pushing the tail of the
aircraft downward, and lifting the nose. Cockpit scenes from old movies
showing dive bombers in action illustrate the opposite rule - pushing the
control column forward causes the nose of the aircraft to fall.
Given that an aircraft has a moveable rudder surface on its vertical tail,
it would be reasonable to assume that steering to right and left is done by
moving the rudder to right or left. That works with a boat, but on an
aircraft produces a skidding turn which is not particulary useful The way
to turn an aircraft is to roll it in the required direction.
This is done by moving the control column from side to side. To fly to the
right, move the control column to the right. A hinged control surface near
the right wingtip will rise, while a similar surface on the left wing will
droop. These surfaces are known as ailerons, and always respond to control
column movements by moving in opposite directions In this case the right
aileron will force the right wing down, and the left airelon will cause the
left wing to rise. This will start the aircraft turning to the right.
Pulling back on the control column will tighten the turn. Once you get
close to the desired bearing, reduce the back pressure on the control
column, and move it to the left until the wings return to level.
Centering the controls after demanding a maneuver does not return the
aircraft to the straight and level. At first sight, this may seen hard to
understand, but an automobile provides a simple analogy. If your driving
north, and use the steering wheel to turn onto an eastbound road, returning
the wheel to its central position once you're headed eastwards does not
bring you back to running north. Like the steering wheel on an automobile,
the controls of an airplane are used to order a change of direction.
Centering them tells the aircraft that the change of direction has been
completed.
In a real aircraft, the rudder is controlled by the rudder pedals. In our
simulation, you must use the < and > keys. These move the rudder left and
right respectively. In a normal flight simulation, the rudder has little
effect. Its main function is to make small horizontal aiming corrections,
or to final heading corrections when landing. On the AV-8B, it serves
another purpose, one which is unique to V/STOL aircraft.
Lift the nose of a conventional aircraft too far and the speed will start
to fall. As the speed of the aircraft falls, so does the speed with which
the air flows over the wings and movable control surfaces. Just as a boats
rudder loses effectiveness at slow speed, so do elevators, ailerons and the
rudder. Fly slower still, and the flow of air over the wing is no longer
fast enough to maintain the lift needed to support the aircraft.
Effectiveness of the control surfaces falls away steadily but in the case
of wing lift the deterioration is quite sudden. The upper surface of a
wing is slightly humped in cross section, and at speed the airflow across
the upper surface will cling to the wing on the rear side of the hump.
If the speed of the aircraft gets too slow this process breaks down.
Instead of staying at the surface of the wing, the air breaks away from the
wing along the highest point of the hump. This sudden breakaway sharply
reduces wing lift. In technical terms the wing is said to be "stalled".
Deprived of lift, the aircraft will lose height, and its nose will drop,
and the resulting shallow dive will build the speed back up until the wing
functions normally. At low level, that height loss can cause you to crash
If you were turning at the time of the stall, the aircraft will enter a
spin. Ejection may be the only course open to you.
By moving the nozzles of the Pegasus engine downwards, an AV-8B pilot can
substitute engine thrust for wing lift, flying at ever - decreasing speeds
below the stall until the aircraft is in a hover. At these low speeds, the
control surfaces have no effect, so control is automatically transferred to
a system of nose, tail and wingtip mounted reaction jets. Similar to the
thrusters used to orientate spacecraft, these reaction jets allow control
to be maintained even in the hover. Using the rudder in the hover can send
the aircraft pirouetting round - a trick often demonstrated when the
Harrier appears at air shows.
Like an automobile, an aircraft has controls for increasing or reducing
speed. The throttle controls engine thrust, so works like the accelerator
pedal of an automobile. The other control you need to know about is the
airbrake. This is a hinged surface which swings downward beneath the
fuselage of the AV-8B. It creates drag, reducing the aircrafts speed much
faster than throttling back can.
If this is the first flight simulation you've purchased, try the exercises
offered by the Part-Task Simulators described below. The take off exercise
will give you the chance to fly around and try out the controls without
falling foul of an Indonesian F-16. Once you can maneuver the aircraft,
and have fired a few weapons in practice, try your hand at combat missions,
opting to fly the Simple Model. This will be easier to control than the
Advanced Model. The autopilot is there to help you both in the training
exercises and in combat. Don't hesitate to use it, particularly when it's
time to land.
Using the Part-Task Simulators
Like USMC pilots assigned to fly the AV8B, you'll learn to fly the aircraft
by carrying out a series of exercises on Part Task Simulators (PTS). These
are designed to help to learn the different aspects of flying and combat.
You'll find the Part Task Simulators in the Acclimatization room of the USS
Tarawa. There are five different PTSs, each of which will take you through
one main aspect of the operation of the AV-8B Harrier. Information on
recommended flight procedures, and how to aim and fire the weapons is
contained in the AV-8B Pilot's Manual, which you should consult before
starting your training exercises.
Take-Off
This places you in the cockpit of an AV-8B with no underwing stores. This
lightly loaded condition will allow you to practice vertical as well as
short take-offs. Although able to carry out vertical takeoffs and
landings, the AV-8B can carry a heavier weapon load if it makes a short
take off run. The PTS will allow you to try. This section teaches how to
take off and land under heavy load conditions, using the vectored thrust to
keep take off and landing distances to a minimum. Hovering manoeuvering in
the hover, making the transition to forward flight, then the transition
from forward flight back to the hover can all be practised in this PTS.
Landing
Landing an aircraft aboard a ship is never easy but Harrier's ability to
fly at very slow forward speed supported by downward thrust eliminates two
of the hazards of conventional carrier landings - the high approach speed
and the need to catch a braking wire with the fighters tail hook. To quote
Mike Gaines, defence editor of the magazine Flight International, "It is a
lot easier to stop and land than to land and try to stop."
Landing is made harder when the ship is stationary since this requires the
pilot to perform a hover. This simulation teaches the trainee to approach
the carrier from the correct angle and height, then to get down without
crashing into the island or any other aircraft on the deck. You will start
in the cockpit of an AV- 8B with no underwing stores. You will be flying
at a height of around 250ft, and Tarawa is directly ahead of you, about
five miles away. The nearest ship visible directly ahead of you is not
Tarawa. Don't waste time trying to land on it!
Simple Weapons
This PTS places you in the cockpit of an AV-8B flying at around 550ft
altitude and heading toward a barge target about seven miles away. The
aircraft is armed with Mk81 iron bombs. Hydra rocket launchers and its
25mm cannon. Fly this exercise several times, trying each of these weapons
in turn. Diving attacks with guns and rockets are the best way of knocking
out small targets, but in combat exposes the aircraft and pilot to the
dangers of light AAA fire and the risk of failing to pull out in time, and
flying into the ground. Practice your tactics before trying them out
against an enemy who shoots back.
Guided Weapons
You're at the same height and facing the same target as in the previous
exercise, but now your aircraft is armed with laser-guided versions of the
Mk81 bomb (shown in the HUD as "Mk81L", and AGM-65E Mavericks. Try
attacking the target barge with both types of weapon.
Air Combat
In this case, your target is an unmanned drone aircraft, programmed to fly
a circular flight path. This will allow you to practice approaches from
different angles, engaging the drone either with an AIM-9M Sidewinder or
with the 25mm cannon.
SECTION VIII - TASK FORCE COMMANDERS MANUAL
-------------------------------------------
As commander of Operation Ocean Saber, you have two responsibilities Before
the outbreak of hostilities, you must devise an overall plan for the
amphibious landing and the subsequent ground battle with the enemy's
forces. This will specify the movement of the assault ships and their
escorting warships, the targets to be attacked from the air, also the
landing points, subsequent movements, and targets for the ground and
airborne troops.
Once the plan is complete, you can start the simulation. As this proceeds
under the control of the computer, your job as commander is to monitor the
air and ground war you'll have to "fine tune" the battle plan, responding
to the movements of the enemy and the successes or failures of your own
forces.
CREATING A BATTLE PLAN
When planning a campaign, the first step is to locate the most important
targets of the map. These are the major towns, the air bases, and the most
important fixed military bases. Having noted their position, identify the
nearest beaches on which you can send Marines ashore. Can any of these
inland targets be "taken out" by units landed by helicopter? Once these
airborne forces have landed, and completed their mission, will they be
strong enough to beat off counter attacks?
Once ashore, your Marines will advance to attack the inland targets which
you've assigned to them. Use the Tactical Amphibious Warfare Data System
(TAWADS) to identify the enemy forces based at these locations, and work
out how large an attacking force you`ll need, and how much air support you
can afford to provide with the numerically small fleet of AV8Bs.
Some targets can be destroyed by air attack using the AV-8Bs. Identify
these, and decide in which order they should be attacked.
How are you going to deal with the Indonesian Air Force? Attack it on the
ground and accept the losses which will result from flying against heavily
defended air bases? Or wait for it to come up and fight?
Many of the Indonesian units are mobile, and will only appear on the TAWADS
map if they lie along the route of an AV-8B or helicopter mission which has
been flown. To locate those in areas not overflown by current operations,
you may want to launch aircraft on reconnaissance missions to these areas.
Having listed your priorities, determine where to position the fleet. The
AV-8Bs can travel to a distant target quite quickly but the slow-moving
landing craft cannot. The closer you are to a planned beachhead, the
faster the landing craft can make the round trip to the shore and back.
Having the ships repeatedly rush from one end of East Timor to another to
get aircraft and landing craft close to their targets will waste time - try
to develop a single integrated plan under which the ships will cruise along
the shore, launching their attack missions.
The battle plan contains several components. At the top level are the
movements planned for the ships of the task force. These fleet movements
are specified as a linked set of numbered waypoints. At most waypoints,
the task force will launch one or more combat operations.
The heart of the plan you devise will be a route off shore along which the
fleet will sail. This route will consist of a series of interlinked
waypoints. At each waypoint, you will have created one or more operations
- air or ground missions which must be launched from this location. These
can be assaults by ground forces, attack or transport missions by the
fleet's helicopter force, or air missions for Tarawa's AV -8B Harriers.
These operations in turn will follow routes which are themselves a series
of linked waypoints, some of which mark the position of targets which must
be attacked. Each combat operation is based on a ship in the task force.
When the task force reaches the appropriate waypoint, the combat operations
associated with that waypoint are automatically launched.
It's impossible to "muddle through" a major amphibious operation Before
starting the campaign, it's essential that you have a clear and coherent
plan. The US, British and French units which General Schwarzkopf sent deep
into Iraq during Operation Desert Storm knew when they crossed the border
where they were going, what to do when they got there, and what to do after
that. If you want to win, make sure the Marine units you send ashore are
equally well informed.
TAWADS will allow you to create and position waypoints for the fleet, the
AV-8Bs, the helicopters, and the ground forces. It will automatically
handle much of the detail, such as waypoint arrival and departure times,
freeing you to concentrate on shaping the overall plan. By the time you've
created a plan of your own, you'll realise why the job of commanding a
Marine Expeditionary Brigade is normally given to a Brigadier General.
It's not easy.
Since the software comes with at least one pre-defined campaign, you may
find that examining these will give you ideas on how to construct your own
plan. For example, battle plan SABER sends Harriers to the fixed bases to
bomb them heavily then relies on ground forces to mop up the remaining
mobile units. This is one potential solution - others may be better.
It's essential that your plan should be balanced. Sending ground forces
onto East Timor without air cover will result in them taking heavy losses
as they attempt to destroy the fixed bases. You can`t just leave the job
to the infantry. Don't let the spectacular air component of Desert Storm
fool you into thinking that the fight against the Indonesians can be left
to air power. General Swarzkopf had hundreds of aircraft at his disposal -
you have only eight! If you rely on air power to attack fixed/mobile units
on Timor you will probably miss the supporting mobile units. After the
AV-8Bs have gone, the mobile forces will get to work to repair the damaged
bases.
FIGHTING THE CAMPAIGN
Once a plan has been devised, you can start the simulation running. Once
activated, it will automatically generate detailed mission instructions.
The computer will act as your staff passing commands to the units tasked
with carrying out the individual parts of your plan They in turn will try
to achieve what you have asked them to do. As the fleet reaches each
waypoint, it will launch all the operations due to begin at that location.
As your ground forces are committed to battle, the multi layer expert
systems within the software will react to your actions, taking action with
its own forces in real time. Moving in a realistic manner these computer
controlled enemy units will defend their ground, advance to fight your
forces, or retreat.
As the campaign gets under way you'll then have to monitor the intelligence
information and decide how to counter the enemy's moves In running the
battle you`ll have three main sources of information.
1. The TAWADS map display
2. Intelligence reports.
3. Pilot briefs.
TAWADS will allow you to assess the progress of the conflict, and to issue
direct orders to ground and air forces, ordering them to carry out specific
tactical tasks not envisaged in the original battle plan. It will be your
job to modify the battle plan, responding both to the movements of the
enemy and to the successes or failures of your own forces. You may have to
send out new units or alter the orders of units in the field in order to
reinforce a critical part of the battlefield, exploit a breakthrough, or
stop a retreat.
Like a good military commander, the expert systems controlling the enemy
forces will not waste time in indecision. They will monitor the movements
of the US forces, and once combat begins will try to identify tactical
weaknesses, and move enemy forces to exploit these. Its view of tactical
priorities may not be the same as yours. Look out for the unexpected and
remember that the enemy may respond faster than you anticipate.
Don't forget that as task force commander you have more information on what
the enemy is doing than your commanders on the ground. Your guidance is
essential to the efficient operation of your troops. Every action you take
effects the world you are playing in thereby giving you a feeling of
realism never encountered before. Your decisions and actions, successes
and failures will swing the whole conflict one way or the other.
THE COMMAND CENTER
The Command Center has two large wall-mounted displays, and three computer
consoles. As was the case in the corridor the cursor will change shape
from an arrow to a cross to indicate possible selections.
The central computer console in the Command Centre gives access to the
Tactical Amphibious Warfare Data System (TAWADS), a sophisticated
integrated computer system desigued to provide command and control over the
group's aircraft, weapons, sensors and landing craft.
The monitor on the left-hand side is for Tarawa's Air Data Computer.
Clicking on this screen shows the current state of fleet of eight AV-8B
Harriers based on the ship. It will report on aircraft lost in action or
accidents.
The monitor on the right-hand side is for the Ground Data Computer.
Clicking on this will display the latest combat reports from the Marine
units operating on shore. These messages will detail major gains or losses
of territory made by the Marines, and report casualties.
Remember to check these monitors regularly. If one or more unread messages
are waiting on either of the monitors, the monitor will scroll, and its
cursor will flash. If it isn't flashing, there are no fresh reports for
you to look at.
USING TAWADS
The TAWADS system has 11 operating modes:
BATTLE PLAN SELECTION Selection, overview and activation of Battle plans.
BATTLE PLAN CONTROL Control over fleet movements and access to battle plan
operations.
OPERATION DETAILS Allows the creation, review and modification of
operations associated with the selected fleet waypoint.
HARRIER WAYPOINTS Entry and amendment of individual helicopter movements of
an AV-8B.
HELICOPTER WAYPOINTS Entry and amendment of individual helicopter operation
movements.
GROUND FORCE WAYPOINTS Entry and amendment of individual operation
movements by ground forces.
AIR PLAN Give new instructions to an immediate and unscheduled AV-8B
sortie.
OVERIDE Give new instructions to a ground unit for immediate action.
INTELLIGENCE Provides information on a designated unit or location.
KEY Explains the symbols used on the tactical map.
MENU Customises the running of TAWADS.
Each of these modes opens a command window offering tactical information,
and most have two levels of control functions.
The first level of control are the options available by clicking on the
icons contained within the window. Every window has at least one icon
(EXIT or CLOSE), and some have several.
The second level of control is via a submenu. Not normally visible, this
can be opened by clicking anywhere in the grey background of the window.
This small menu will list the control options available in this particular
TAWADS mode.
Display Conventions
On the TAWADS tactical map, the routes between mission waypoints are drawn
automatically. Ground and air routes and waypoints shown in yellow are
currently active. Those shown in light grey are planned operations which
have yet to begin, while those in dark grey are history and have already
been completed. With its default display options active, TAWADS does not
display missions which have been completed. The waypoints and route for
the fleet are shown in blue.
Inputting Your Commands
The main interface with TAWADS is a two-button pointing device - either a
mouse or a joystick. The keyboard is used only to enter names of Plans and
Operations.
The left-hand button on the mouse provides the Select function; that on the
right provides the View function. The location of the buttons on a
joystick varies from one model to another. Later you'll be shown a simple
way of determining which provides the Select function, and which the View
function.
The buttons can be used in the normal three ways - to single click, double
click, or drag. If the manual simply tells you to click, use the left-hand
button as normal.
The pointer is generally free to move over the entire display, however
during certain operations the pointer movement will be restricted to a
limited area (for example, during menu operations).
STARTING TAWADS
The centre computer console in the Command Center is the TAWADS display.
The green shape visible on the screen is an electronic map of the island of
Timor. Clicking on this screen will provide a full screen TAWADS display.
If no battle plan is being executed as will be the case the first time you
look at this screen - a rectangular battle planning window will be open at
the top left hand corner of the map.
The TAWADS synthesized map is a simple contour view of the active combat
area in this case the island of Timor. Overlaid on this basic map are
symbols indicating the position of towns, villages, and roads. A small
white shape off shore marks the current position of the US naval force.
EXPLORING TAWADS
The TAWADS interface can be a bit daunting when first seen, so let's try a
simple walk-through of its main features without actually trying to fight a
campaign. A window in the battle-planning window should show "SABER", the
name of the pre-loaded battle plan. If it doesn't, click on the SELECT
icon (the up and down arrows) until SABER is displayed. Now click on GO.
The battle-planning window will close, the battle has begun. You'll notice
that the fleet has now moved up to the coastline of East Timor.
You`ll see various coloured lines and symbols overlaid on the map. These
represent the opening moves of battle plan SABER. For the moment lets get
rid of them and declutter the screen.
Clicking on the MENU icon will open the Options Menu. Click on DISPLAY
OPTIONS, and you'll see a list of features which can be overlaid on the
map. The default conditions at startup are for Cultural features, Military
Units, Plans Forward and Plans Current to be displayed. Click on Plans -
Forward to remove these. The menu will close. Reopen it, and click on
Plans Current to eliminate these. Now you should have a reasonable
decluttered map to explore.
With the map set to its initial relatively small scale, it will still be
fairly cluttered, even on a 17" monitor. The first thing you'll want to do
is to centre the map on an area of interest, and change the scale to make
more detail visible. There are two ways of doing this.
Surrounding the map are control icons. These provide access to the major
functions of the system. A single click on any icon performs the function
associated with that icon.
The two icons at the bottom left of the screen provide control over the map
view.
Clicking on the up, down, right or left arrows within the MAP SCROLL ICON
scrolls the map view in the appropriate direction.
Clicking on the MAP ZOOM ICON with the select button decreases the scale of
the map, zooming in by a factor of two. Clicking on the same icon with the
view button unzooms the view. A little experimentation at this point will
show joystick users which button is which. The button which makes the view
of the island get larger is the select button; that which makes the view of
the island larger is the View button.
A small horizontal marker at the top of the map gives an idea of the amount
of terrain being viewed. As the zoom setting is changed this line can
indicate anything from tens of meters to hundreds of kilometers (km).
Other data displayed on the map surround shows is the current date and
time, also the system mode and selected battle plan.
Trying Out the Map
To get an idea of how to use the map, use the MAP SCROLL icon to bring the
eastern tip of the island to the centre of the screen. Click on the MAP
ZOOM icon several times to zoom in. You'll soon be able to see the
individual ships in the fleet, plus several other types of symbol - red
diamonds, blue rectangles, and faster-moving orange airplane symbols.
These are military units taking part in the battle. Clicking on the KEY
icon at the top right will open a window listing the symbols. (This can be
closed when no longer required by clicking on its CLOSE icon.)
Keep zooming in, and place names will appear. You`ll see that the town
nearest the eastern tip of the island is Tutuala. (You may have to use the
MAP SCROLL icon to re-center Tutuala.). Zoom in further, and you`ll start
to see finer detail. For example, there is a small wood some ikm north
east of Tutuala.
Click right on the MAP ZOOM icon until Lore becomes visible in the bottom
right corner of the map. We will use this to become familiar with another
way of moving around and zooming on the map.
Place the cursor on Lore, then use the View button to drag it to the centre
of the screen. (As you do this, the cursor will change from being a single
arrow to a tiny version of the MAP SCROLL icon.) When you release the View
button, the map will move to bring Lore to the location where you released
the button. If you think of this process as "Dragging Lore into View", you
will have a neat way of remembering how its done - a drag operation with
the View button.
Move the cursor onto Lore, then click the view button. This will magnify
the map by a factor of two centered about the pointer position. Double
click with the view button reverses the magnify operation.
To find out more about any location on the map, you need to use the
INTELLIGENCE icon. To see this feature in action, click on Lore to expand
the scale. Clicking on the INTELLIGENCE icon will open a window giving
details of enemy strength in the town.
Use your pointing device to explore the map, zooming in and out to examine
some of the towns and villages, checking the identity of the military units
you encounter. You'll soon become accustomed to using the map controls,
and will be ready to tackle the task of planning an operation.
TAWADS OPERATING MODES
Let's look at each of these TAWADS operating modes in more detail. To help
you find the information you need to control combat operations, a standard
format is used to describe each mode:
STARTUP - how to enter this mode.
PURPOSE - a Summary of what this mode does.
LIMITS ON POINTER MOVEMENT - the area of the display over which the pointer
can be moved.
DESCRIPTION - a fuller description of the purpose of this TAWADS operating
mode.
COMMAND ICONS - the function of each of the icons contained in this window
SUBMENU the command options available from this windows hidden menu.
End Of Part 4
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AV8B HARRIER ASSAULT - OPERATIONS MANUAL - Part 5
-------------------------------------------------
BATTLE PLAN SELECTION
STARTUP - Automatic on the first use of TAWADS. Subsequently by clicking
on the PLAN icon on the map surround.
PURPOSE - Selection, overview and activation of battle plans
LIMITS ON POINTER MOVEMENT - restricted to the battle planning window.
DESCRIPTION - Opened over the top left corner of the map, the Battle Plan
Selection window allows the commander to review existing battle plans,
create a new plan from scratch, and activate a chosen battle plan. A brief
outline of the selected battle plan is shown in the lower half of the
window.
Command Icons
SELECT Click left to select the next battle plan
Click right to select the previous plan.
OUTLINE Edit the outline description of the battle plan.
GO Instructs TAWADS to activate the selected plan.
EXIT Closes this window.
Submenu
Clicking anywhere on background of the Battle Plan Selection window will
open a menu offering the following functions :
Review/Change Battle Plan
Review or change the operational details of the selected plan - clicking on
this will take TAWADS into the Battle Plan Control mode described in the
next section.
Add New Battle Plan
Create a new battle plan - the system has a maximum capacity for 99 plans,
so feel free to create lots of new ones. You will be prompted to enter a
name for the plan. Type this, then press RETURN. This newly- created plan
will contain no orders. To create the orders which will make up a new
plan, re-open this menu, and click on REVIEW/CHANGE BATTLE PLAN option.
Remove Plan
Remove an unwanted battle plan from the TAWADS computer.
If you decide not to carry out any of the above functions, you can exit
from this menu by clicking outside of it.
BATTLE PLAN CONTROL
STARTUP via the map surround PLAN icon when a battle plan is active, also
via the Battle Plan Selection sub-menu "review/change" option.
PURPOSE - provides control over fleet movements and access to battle plan
operations.
LIMITS ON POINTER MOVEMENT Map and Battle Plan Control window.
DESCRIPTION - The movement of the task force is directed by a set of
waypoints defined by the battle plan. A waypoint is a map location where
something is scheduled to happen - once arrived there, a military unit is
to make a change of course, loiter, or carry out some action. Waypoints
are used to direct the fleet, and to provide start points for operations.
The fleet waypoints are shown as a linked set of diamonds on the sea. All
waypoints are numbered. Waypoints which the fleet or other forces have not
yet reached can move moved, but not waypoints that your units have passed.
By definition, these are now part of history, so cannot be altered.
Fleet waypoints can be selected using the pointer select button. The lower
part of the Battle Plan Control menu will show the time at which the fleet
is due to arrive and depart this waypoint.
Fleet waypoints can be moved by dragging them with the Select button. This
will automatically update the displayed fleet arrival and departure times.
Double-clicking on a waypoint will take TAWADS into Operation Details mode.
Described later in this section, this will allow you to review change, or
add operations associated with this waypoint
Command Icons
EXIT - closes the Battle Plan Control window. If your designing a battle
plan, this will save any changes you have made to the plan.
Submenu
Clicking anywhere on the background of the Battle Plan Control window will
open a menu offering the following functions:
Review/Change Operations
This is the most common function used in plan updating. It activates the
Operational Details window control function, allowing review/change to all
operations initiated at the currently selected waypoint. Double clicking
on a waypoint on the map also activates this function.
Add New Waypoint
This adds a new waypoint to the plan. When building a plan, you'll
normally want to add the new waypoint at the end of the existing set of
waypoints, so this is where the new waypoint will normally be placed by
TAWADS. If you`re modifying an existing plan, you may want to insert a new
waypoint between two existing waypoints. This can be done by selecting the
waypoint before where you want the new waypoint to be.
For example if you want to create a new waypoint between waypoints 5
waypoint and 6, click on waypoint 5, open the submenu, then select ADD NEW
WAYPOINT. A new waypoint 6 will appear close to waypoint five, and the
later waypoints in the plan will automatically be renumbered, and the later
waypoints in the plan will be recalculated.
In every case the newly-created waypoint will be positioned close to an
existing waypoint - either the last waypoint of the intermediate waypoint
you selected. You'll now need to drag it to the final location where you
want it to be positioned. TAWADs will automatically compute the new
arrival and departure times for this and any subsequent points.
Remove Waypoint
This will remove the selected fleet waypoint from battle plan. Before
removing a waypoint, make sure you have removed any operations associated
with this waypoint.
Change Departure Time
Normally TAWADS will automatically plan a departure time which allows a
long enough interval for all the operations you've planned for this
waypoint. If you add more operations, TAWADS will increase the time at
this waypoint to accommodate the extra operations. Sometimes, you may want
the fleet to loiter at a waypoint for a predetermined period of time.
Clicking on Change Departure Time will open a submenu showing the current
arrival and departure time. Clicking on the minutes displayed in the
departure time with the left button will add a minute to the time spent at
this waypoint; clicking with the right button will subtract a minute.
Clicking on the hour or the day will change these values in the same way.
OPERATION DETAILS
STARTUP - via the Battle Plan Control window's submenu, or by double
clicking on a waypoint while in Battle Plan Control mode.
PURPOSE - Allows the creation. review and modification of operations
scheduled to start at the selected fleet waypoint.
LIMITS ON POINTER MOVEMENT - restricted to the Operational Details window.
DESCRIPTION - This mode allows you to create, review, modify or delete any
of the individual military operations scheduled to take place from this
waypoint. You can add new missions, remove unwanted ones, alter the order
in which the individual operations are to be carried out, alter the scale
of a ground operation, or assign an operation to a different ship of the
task force
Command Icons
Select Click left to select the next operation from the currently
selected fleet waypoint.
Click right to select the previous operation from the
currently selected fleet waypoint.
The aircraft or troop movements associated with the
selected operation are shown in bright green on the map.
Submenu
Clicking anywhere on the background of the Operational Details window opens
a menu offering the following functions:
Edit Mission
This allows you to review or change the selected operation. Clicking on it
takes TAWADS into either the Harrier Waypoints, Helicopter waypoints, or
Ground Forces Waypoints mode. Consult the relevant heading later in this
section for further information.
Alter Detail
Allows you to alter:
The name of a Harrier operation,
The name of a Helicopter operation and the ship from which it is to be
launched.
The name, launch ship, and scale of a Ground operation
Add New Operation
Add a new operation to the battle plan, to be initiated from the currently
selected waypoint.
The creation of a new operation follows a pre defined structure.
Name
Mission names are generated automatically by TAWADS. The selected
alphanumeric code reflects the mission type, waypoint and the new mission's
position is the list on operations due to begin at this waypoint.
Type
Select operation type from menu. The options are:
Ground Assault
Helicopter
Harrier
Select Ship
If there is more than one possible ship from which an operation can be
based then you will be required to select from a menu of possible bases.
In the case of Ground Assault operations, there will be a third set of
options:
Operation Size
Select the size of the planned landing. The options are:
Limited (one landing craft)
Medium Scale (two landing craft)
Full Scale (three landing craft)
Depending on the type of mission being added, TAWADS will now enter either
the Harrier Waypoints, Helicopter Waypoints, or Ground Forces Waypoints
mode, so that you can define waypoints and targets for this operation.
Consult the relevant heading later in this section for furthur information.
Remove Operation
Remove selected operation from the battle plan. (This is not possible if
the operation is already active or finished).
Operation Schedule
An Operations Scheduling window will open listing all the operations
planned from this waypoint. These will be listed in date/time order and
the list is scrollable by clicking on the up and down arrows at either end
of the vertical orange scroll bar. If an operation has not yet begun. its
priority may be changed. Select the operation to be re scheduled by
clicking on the appropriate line in the listing. The line will turn red to
show that it has been selected. Clicking on the clock face icon at the top
left corner of the Operations Scheduling window with the right button will
advance the operation one position up the list: clicking the left button
will demote it one position further down the list. When satisfied with the
changes, click on this window's Exit icon.
HARRIER WAYPOINTS
STARTUP from the Edit Mission or Add New Operation functions of the
OPERATION DETAILS window's submenu, or directly from the AIR PLAN icon on
the map surround.
PURPOSE - entry and amendment of individual operational movements of an
AV-8B.
LIMITS ON POINTER MOVEMENT - Map and Harrier Waypoints window
DESCRIPTION - The Harrier Waypoints window shows the current operational
instruction, which is highlighted red on the map. In planning your route,
remember that the AV-8B has no forward looking radar able to provide
terrain-avoidance information. If mountains lie between an aircraft and
its target, you should add one or more navigational waypoints to the
planned route in order to take the flight path around these. Waypoints on
the planned flight path may be designated as primary or secondary targets.
Waypoints marking targets should be positioned as accurately as possible on
the map, since these mark the point to which the aircraft Nav system will
guide you. The more accurately the waypoint is positioned, the closer the
target will be to your flight path, making it easier to locate visually in
the forward view
Command Icons
EXIT returns control to the OPERATION DETAILS function.
Submenu
Clicking anywhere on the background of the Harrier Waypoints window opens a
menu offering the following functions:
Navigation Waypoint
Defines the currently selected waypoint as a navigation waypoints.
Primary Target
Defines the currently selected waypoint as a Primary Target.
Secondary Target
Defines the currently selected waypoint as a Secondary Target, one which is
to be attacked if any ordnance is left after successfully attacking the
Primary Target.
Remove Waypoint
Deletes the currently-selected waypoint from the aircraft flight path.
HELICOPTER WAYPOINTS
STARTUP - from the Edit Mission or Add New Operation functions of the
OPERATION DETAILS window's submenu.
PURPOSE - entry and amendment of individual helicopter operations
movements.
LIMITS ON POINTER MOVEMENT Map and Helicopter Waypoints window
DESCRIPTION - The Helicopter Wavpoints window current operational
instruction, which is highlighted red on the map. Waypoints on the planned
flight path may be designated as navigational waypoints, landing sites for
troops, or targets to be attacked.
In planning your route, remember that the helicopters have no forward
looking radar able to provide terrain avoidance information. If mountains
lie between an aircraft and its destination, you should add one or more
navigational waypoints to the planned route in order to take the flight
path around these.
Command Icons
EXIT - returns control to the OPERATION DETAILS function
Submenu
Clicking anywhere on the background of the Harrier Waypoints window opens a
menu offering the following functions:
Navigation Waypoint
Defines the currently selected waypoint as a navigation waypoint.
Drop Troops
This mission will be flown by a transport helicopter, which will land
troops at the selected waypoint.
Attack
This mission will be flown by an AH-1W Cobra attack helicopter, or by a
transport helicopter fitted with rocket pods and machine guns or cannon
rigged to fire from the fuselage windows. The aircraft will attack a
ground target at the specified waypoint.
Remove Waypoint
Deletes the currently selected waypoint from the aircraft flight path.
GROUND FORCE WAYPOINTS
STARTUP - from the Edit Mission or Add New Operation functions of the
OPERATION DETAILS window's submenu.
PURPOSE - entry and amendment of individual operational movements by ground
forces.
LIMITS ON POINTER MOVEMENT - Map and Ground Force Waypoints window
DESCRIPTION - The Ground Force Waypoints window shows the current
operational instruction, which is also highlighted red on the map. On
reaching a waypoint, the Marines can engage the enemy forces based there,
then either hold the position, or move on to attack another waypoint.
Command Icons
EXIT - returns control to the OPERATION DETAILS function.
Submenu
Clicking anywhere on the background of the Ground Force Waypoint window
opens a menu offering the following functions:
Navigation Waypoint
Defines the currently selected waypoint as a navigation waypoint. Since
the Marines will be coming ashore by landing craft, the first waypoint must
be beachhead. Troops can only be landed on beaches.
Engage & Occupy
The Marines will engage any enemy forees at this location, and after
defeating them will hold and defend this position until given furthur
orders.
Engage and Continue
The Marines will engage any enemy forces at this location, and after
defeating them will move on to the next waypoint.
Remove Waypoint
Deletes the currently selected waypoint from the ground movement plan.
AIR PLAN
STARTUP - from INTELLIGENCE window when an operational unit is selected on
map.
PURPOSE Give new instructions to a ground unit for immediate action.
LIMITS ON POINTER MOVEMENT Map and Harrier Waypoints window
DESCRIPTION - If an AV-8B must be immediately despatched - for example, to
re-attack a target which was not destroyed by an earlier strike, or to cope
with a newly-detected target not contained in the Battle Plan, clicking on
the Air Plan icon will give immediate access to the HARRIER WAYPOINTS mode.
The Harrier Waypoints window shows the current operational instruction,
which is highlighted red on the map. In planning your route, remember that
the AV-8B has no forward-looking radar able to provide terrain avoidance
information. If mountains lie between an aircraft and its target, you
should add one or more navigational waypoints to the planned route in order
to take the flight path around these. Waypoints on the planned flight path
may be designated as primary or secondary targets. Waypoints marking
targets should be positioned as accurately as possible on the map, since
these mark the point to which the aircraft Nav system will guide you. The
more accurately the waypoint is positioned, the closer the target will be
to your flight path, making it easier to locate visually in the forward
view.
Command Icons
EXIT - returns control to the OPERATION DETAILS function.
Submenu
Clicking anywhere on the background of the Harrier Waypoints window opens a
menu offering the following functions:
Navigation Waypoint
Defines the currently selected waypoint as a navigation waypoint.
Primary Target
Defines the currently selected waypoint as a Primary Target.
Secondary Target
Defines the currently selected waypoint as a Secondary Target, one which is
to be attacked if any ordnance is left after successfully attacking the
Primary Target.
Remove Waypoint
Deletes the currently-selected waypoint from the aircraft flight path.
OVERIDE
STARTUP from the Intelligence icon on the upper right border of the
tactical map.
PURPOSE - Give new instructions to a Marine unit operating on East Timor.
LIMITS ON POINTER MOVEMENT - none.
DESCRIPTION - During combat the commander may wish to issue a last-minute
change or orders to ground forces already sent into action, overriding
their current orders with a new assignment of higher priority. The ground
unit to be given the new command must be selected on the map using the
Select button. Opening the Intelligence window (if it is not already open)
will confirm the identity and current status of the unit).
Submenu
Clicking anywhere on the background of the Intelligence window opens a menu
offering the following function:
Overide
Selects the new primary target - this is done by clicking on the new
target.
This change of plan takes place immediately
CONFIGURATION MENU
STARTUP - from the MENU icon on the upper left border of the tactical map.
PURPOSE - customizes the operation of TAWADS.
LIMITS ON POINTER MOVEMENT - individual menus.
DESCRIPTION - The operation of TAWADS can be configured to meet the
preferences of the player.
Submenu
Clicking on the MENU icon on the upper right border of the tactical map
will open a menu containing the following options:
Stop Time
This pauses the simulation.
Normal
The simulation runs in real time - this is the normal operating mode when
playing the game.
Fast
The simulation runs at four times normal time. This can be useful while
units are on the move, but little else is happening for example, if landing
craft are heading from the assault ships to the beachhead.
Step 1 Min
This is an alternative method of temporarily speeding up the game.
Step Next Mission
This advances the game to the point where the next mission is about to be
launched. This allows the player to "fast forward" through parts of the
plan in which no operations are to be launched. For example plan SABER
contains relatively few night missions for the AV-8Bs. If none are
scheduled, selecting "Step next mission" will advance the simulation to
dawn of the next day.
Speeding up time is something a commander will want to do quite often, so
you can jump directly to this function by clicking on the digital clock on
the upper border of the TAWADS map display.
Pressing any key during time advance will stop the advance and return you
to normal time.
Display Options
This lists the features which can be overlaid on the map:
Cultural features (towns, villages, airports, etc. )
Military Units (friendly and enemy)
SAM Zones (Areas of terrain protected by surface to air missiles)
Plans - Forward (Military movements due to take place)
Plans - Current (Military movements currently taking place)
Plans - Past (Completed military movements)
The default conditions at startup are for Cultural features, Military
Units, Plans Forward and Plans Current to be displayed.
Preferences
The sole option available here is to adjust the interval of time within
which you must make a second click on the mouse of joystick button for this
to be recognised as the second action of a "double click". The default is
0.2 sec, but you can choose 0.3, 0.4 or 0.5. If you regularly double-click
when using other software (such as applications running under Microsoft
Windows), this allows you so set the mouse double click speed to the value
you've become used to.
INTELLIGENCE
STARTUP - from the INTELLIGENCE icon on the upper right border of the
tactical map.
PURPOSE - to provide information on friendly and enemy units operating in
East Timor.
LIMITS ON POINTER MOVEMENT - none.
DESCRIPTION - Towns, villages, airfields, plus US and Indonesian ground
units are shown on the map as symbols. To obtain more information on any
of these, click on the Intelligence icon. This will open an intelligence
window at the upper right corner of the map, and show information on the
selected unit or location. Click on a unit or location using the SELECT
button to have the Intelligence window provide a report. You can call up
reports on as many units and locations as you wish and can leave the window
open while the game runs - it will continue to display information on the
last object you selected.
Command Icon
Close
Submenu
Strategic Overview: Switches the intelligence window to show strategic
information about the overall process of the campaign. Selecting any
object on the map switches the window back to tactical mode.
Command Overide: If a ground unit has been selected, clicking anywhere on
the background of the intelligence window opens a menu offering the OVERIDE
function. (See the section on OVERIDE for details of this mode.)
KEY
STARTUP - from the KEY icon on the upper left border of the tactical map.
PURPOSE - explains the symbols used on the tactical map.
LIMITS ON POINTER MOVEMENT - none.
DESCRIPTION - Towns, villages, airfields, plus US and Indonesian ground
units are shown on the map as symbols. To find the meaning of these, click
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SECTION IX - INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING
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Lower the blinds, lock the door and post sentries to make sure we won`t be
disturbed by those not cleared for Secret material. The spooks of the
Defense Intelligence Agency have prepared the following classified
presentation to guide you through your mission;
THE INDONESIAN ARMY
Current total strength of the Indonesian Army is around 210,000.
Provincial and District commands have at their disposal some 80 battalions.
Nominal strength of a battalion is around 1,500 - 2,000 men. Most are
infantry units, but there are also four airborne battalions, plus eight
artillery battalions, and eight for air defense. East Timor covers some
7,700 square miles. Normal Indonesian Army force level in this region is
between 20,000 - 30,000 soldiers, probably 10 - 15 battalions in all.
For years, counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency have been major tasks
both for the Indonesian Army and its Special Warfare Command and for
specialised anti-terrorist units such as the Armys Detachment 81 Special
Forces, the Navy's Kesatuan Gurita, and the Air Forces Satgas Atbara, and
the Satgas Gegana (Counter terrorist Task Force) of the National Police.
Years of combat experience has made Indonesia's commando units probably the
world's most effective counter-insurgency force. Over almost three
decades, almost all of the Army's senior commanders have served in East
Timor and regard the campaign as valuable training for the service.
In its anti-guerrilla operations, the Army makes extensive use of
helicopters to move its commando forces. Under a scheme designated
Territorial Counter-Guerrilla Warfare, the commandos have demonstrated an
impressive ability to move, fight and survive by using tactics copied from
their guerrilla opponents.
This sort of extended anti-guerrilla campaign has proved costly in
financial terms. The East Timor National Council of Maubere Resistance has
estimated that the annual cost to the Indonesian Government of its
counter-insurgency campaign is $1,200 million.
Given Indonesia's long standing and expensive military struggle to end the
rebellion, the rulers of Indonesia will almost certainly use their large
reserve of forces to reinforce East Timor once Ocean Saber gets under way.
The Kostrad (Indonesia's strategic reserve) consists of three infantry
brigades, three airborne brigades, two regiments of field artillery, an
air-defense artillery regiment, and two engineering battalions. There are
also two brigades of Marines, Assuming a typical size of 6000 men per
brigade, this provides a reserve force of at least 30,000 men.
The Indonesian Air Force has a fleet of around 19 Lockheed C-130 Hercules
Transports. Each of these four-engined aircraft can carry more than 100
soldiers or up to 20 tons of cargo on a typical mission. These will almost
certainly be used in attempts to ferry soldiers and marines into East Timor
landing them at the airfields on the north coast.
Other reserves exist in the form of the Wanra (People's Resistance) and
Kamra (People's Security). These are local auxiliary forces supporting the
Army and Police respectively. Lightly armed and with minimal training
neither should pose any threat to the Marines, and are unlikey to be met in
combat.
Indonesian battalions are identified by three digit numbers, and like their
US equivalents consist of companies subdivided into platoons. By
monitoring radio traffic between units, the general operating area of each
battalion has been established, and this information is contained in the
databanks of the TAWADS system. Identification does not stretch to
companies or platoons, since communications at this level are largely by
phone or messenger, rather than radio. Intelligence can thus establish
that a town is being held by the 239th battalion, but not that the cook
house was being guarded by the 3rd platoon, 5th company
To label unidentified enemy units, the US Marines use the following scheme:
U/<unitnumber>,<battalionnumber> bn
For example:
U/7, 239 bn
U/1, 409 bn
The "U" in the designation indicates that the identity of this subunit is
unknown. Each battalion has its own set of "U" numbers, so the first
example would be the seventh subunit of the 239th battalion to have been
located.
THE EAST TIMOR RESISTANCE
Although the nominal strength of the East Timor resistance is thought to be
around 1,400, this force is in no position to provide assistance to the
Marines. The resistance operates in units of between 10-50 men, average
age being in the teens or early twenties. Shortage of radio communications
forces individual units to operate autonomously, without any form of
effective central control.
Weaponry is largely small arms, mostly captured M16 rifles, but there is a
shortage of ammunition. Lacking a large scale backer prepared to arm them,
the rebels are also short of hand grenades, and light machine guns, and
have no shoulder-fired SAMs able to deal with Indonesian helicopters.
The resistance tends to avoid pitched battles with the Army. It considers
itself a political symbol rather than a fighting force, and is only too
aware that it lacks the strength and numbers needed to capture and hold
territory. Once the Marines land, we expect the resistance will do its
best to harass the defenders with ambushes and diversionary hit-and-run
attacks, but it lacks the weapons and manpower to take direct part in the
fighting.
INDONESIAN NAVY
Under normal circumstances, the 17 frigates, four Exocet-armed fast- attack
craft, and two submarines of the Indonesian Navy would pose a formidable
threat to the US task force. However, the Indonesian Navy took no part in
the coup, and has publicly distanced itself from the ruling junta. Through
diplomatic channels, senior Indonesian Navy commanders have informed the US
government that their service will not oppose any UN sanctioned action
against Army and Air Force units in East Timor. The US government has in
turn assured the Indonesian Navy that its neutrality will be respected,
provided that its warships remain north of East Timor and at least 10 miles
from the island's northern coastline. This condition has been accepted by
the Indonesian Navy, but to avoid the risk of accidental confrontation
between the two navies, the President has directed that the US fleet remain
south of East Timor throughout Operation Ocean Saber.
INDONESIAN AIR FORCE
The Indonesian Air Force is relatively small, but well equipped. With
limited funds for aircraft purchase over the years, the Indonesians have
always chosen wisely. Every type of jet fighter currently in Indonesian
service was good enough to be selected by the US Air Force and Navy as
"aggressor" aircraft for Top gun and other air combat training schemes.
F-16 Fighting Falcon
The newest and most potent warplane you'll face is the single engined
General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon. A batch of 12 - eight single- seat
F-16A and four two-seat F-16B entered service in 1990. These are basic
Block 15 version of the aircraft, rather than the more potent Block 50/52
model now in service with the USAF but it remains an agile and highly
effective fighter. On paper, the F-16 totally outclasses the AV-8B in air
combat. It has a top speed of around Mach 2.0 compared with the Mach 0.85
of the AV-8B, while its combat ceiling of around 50,000ft is around 5,000ft
above that of the Harrier II.
In practice, most modem air combat takes place at altitudes of less than
20,000ft, and at speeds ranging from Mach 0.8 - 1.2. Here the difference
between the two aircraft is less obvious. Under typical combat conditions,
the AV-8B and the F-16 are in a similar weight category. The F-16's Pratt
& Whitney F100 engine generates about ten per cent more trust than the
Rolls Royce Pegasus in the AV-8B, but burns about twice as much fuel when
doing so.
An F-16 can only reach full engine thrust by using a fuel hungry
afterburner. Any extended use of afterburning will have the enemy pilot
peering nervously at his fuel gauge and wondering if its time to head for
home. The AV-8B develops full thrust without afterburning, so its pilot
can make more use of full power in combat. When attacked by F-16s, use
that thrust, plus all the maneuvering advantage which can be obtained from
"viffing" . Try to fight on your terms, not his.
The main air-to air armament of the F-16 is the AIM-9 Sidewinder plus a
built-in 2Omm Vulcan cannon. The latter has a similar rate of fire to the
25mm cannon carried by the AV-8B, but its 20mm shells cannot match the
explosive power of the larger 25mm projectiles. The export version of
Sidewinder supplied to Indonesia is less sophisticated than the AIM-GM used
by the AV-8B, so should be more vulnerable to decoy flares.
Indonesia uses the F-16 both as an air combat fighter and as a strike
aircraft. On a short-range attack mission, an F-16 can carry up to
12,0001b of bombs. If F-16s are sighted, always remember that their target
may not be you, but Tarawa or one of the other ships in the fleet.
F-5 Tiger II
Much the same applies to the other supersonic fighter in Indonesian service
- the Northrop F-5E and F-5F Tiger II. Top speed in this case is Mach 1.64
at 36,000ft, while the combat ceiling is 54,000ft. The F-5 lacks the high
thrust-to-weight ratio of the F-16, but its high maneuverability makes it a
dangerous opponent. In the 1970s this aircraft was used by the "Aggressor"
and "Top Gun" training units of the USAF and USN, who found it well-matched
to the task of simulating the small and agile Soviet MiG-21.
Ten single seat F-5E and four two-seat combat capable trainers are
currently in service. They have two 2Omm internal cannon, and can carry
AIM-9 Sidewinder, or several tons of bombs.
A-4 Skyhawk
The final aircraft you can expect to meet is the McDonnell Douglas A- 4E
Skyhawk. Originally developed as a lightweight shipboard attack aircraft,
this small subsonic bomber can carry up to 8,000lb of ordnance, including
bombs and unguided rockets. Britain`s Royal Navy lost several warships to
A-4 attacks during the Falklands War and the 26 in Indonesian service will
pose a high threat to the amphibious- warfare ships of the US force.
After releasing its bombs, the A-4 is a capable subsonic opponent in air
combat. It can carry the AIM-9 Sidewinder, and has a built-in armament of
two 20mm cannon. In air-to-air combat, US and Israeli Skyhawks have used
cannon or unguided rockets to down MiG-17 and MiG-19 fighters. Indonesia's
pilots will be hoping to add the AV-8B to this list so treat the A-4 with
respect in a dogfight. It's not known as "Heinemanns Hot Rod" for nothing!
Other Aircraft
Indonesias final operational jet is the British Aerospace Hawk advanced
trainer. Although an effective light-strike aircraft, it is not currently
based in East Timor and you are not likely to meet it in combat.
The final type of aircraft in East Timor is the Bell Model 205 UH-1
Iroquois better known to the US services as the "Huey". The 16 strong
fleet is operated by the Army rather the Air Force. Widely used as light
troop transports, these can carry between 11 and 14 soldiers. Since these
are regularly used as light inter-island transports, it is impossible to
determine how many of the 16 are currently in East Timor.
GROUND TARGETS IN EAST TIMOR
Mobile Units
Years of anti-rebel operations have taught the Indonesian Army the virtues
of mobility. Much of the strength of the resident garrison will probably
be found in small groups of between two and six tanks, personnel carriers,
trucks, or other heavy vehicles. Normal development practice is for these
to be stationed around fixed bases, villages and towns, but there should
also be opportunities to attack such units while they are on the road
travelling operating locations. These units will move when and if they are
required to support their home bases. The position of mobile units will
not be known until they have been sighted by US aircraft.
Fixed Bases
Typically these will be military camps, with several buildings and bunkers.
Some have radio antenna masts. Installations of this type are positioned
at road functions and further intelligence information relating to these
can be found in the TAWADS databank
Fixed bases are always supported by a number of mobile units, the number
depending on the importance of the base. Some indication of the number of
mobile units around a fixed base should be available to pilots during their
pre-mission briefing, and more exact information on the mobile units which
have been detected by US aircraft will probably be available from TAWADS.
These defending units may have shoulder launched SAMs.
If a fixed base is attacked, normal Indonesian Army doctrine is for the
surrounding mobile units to regroup around the base and support it. These
include engineering units which will probably attempt to repair damaged
bases. If you destroy the buildings in a base, but fail to hunt down and
destroy any enemy mobile units in the locale, those building could quite
quickly be repaired and returned to operational status
Fuel Dumps
Petroleum, Oil, and Lubricant (POL) supplies for the Indonesian forces in
East Timor are stored in several Fuel Dumps. These are major installations
with large above-surface fuel tanks on ground. The latter will be highly
vulnerable to air attack, but pilots should avoid overflying at low level
the massive explosion which results from the destruction of the filled fuel
tank. Like the Fixed Bases, fuel dumps are located near road junctions,
and will protected by a significant defensive force.
Air Bases
Five air bases have been identified. All are heavily defended by both
fixed and mobile units. The two biggest air bases are Dili and Vila
Salazar on the north coast. Dili also serves as the civil airport, having
taken over this role from Vila Salazar. By local standards, both are major
airports with several runways, substantial numbers of hangers and other
buildings, and a control tower. These are the main operating bases for the
F-16s, and would be the arrival point for any Indonesian reinforcements
flown in by air
Three smaller bases are at Suai, Same, and Viqueque on the south coast.
These have a single runway and several hangers, and are normally used by
the F-5 force. The possibility of F-16s being moved forward to these bases
cannot be ruled out.
Electronic intelligence gathering has produced no evidence that the
Indonesian Air Force is planning a pre emptive strike on the fleet.
Fighters are unlikely to be scrambled until US warplanes approach
Indonesian Airfields or begin attacking targets on East Timor.
SAM Sites
All the SAM systems in service with the Indonesian forces are either mobile
or easily transportable. Normally these are kept at fixed bases, but
electronic intelligence gathering operations conducted over the last eight
hours suggests that these are now being deployed under cover of darkness to
their operational positions. As soon as a SAM site is detected, the area
it covers will be noted in the TAWADS databanks.
Villages and Towns
These have no fixed defenses, but mobile units may be based around them.
End Of Part 5
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AV8B HARRIER ASSAULT - OPERATIONS MANUAL - Part 6
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INDONESIAN ARMY EQUIPMENT
Since seizing power the military junta has embarked on major purchases of
military hardware. These have greatly increased the striking power of the
Army particularly in terms of tanks, artillery and surface-to-air missiles.
Standard main battle tank is now the Chinese T-59, a version of the Soviet
developed T-54/55. Armed with only a 100mm gun, these 38 ton tanks are
outclassed by the US M1 Abrams. Although crudely made, these are reliable
and well-armored for their weight class. If unsupported by the small
number of tanks available to the landing force, Marine units which
encounter T-59s should be able to deal with these using TOW anti-tank
missiles. The T-59 will also be vulnerable to attack by the AV-8Bs or
AH-1W attack helicopters.
The main artillery used by the Indonesian Army is a Chinese built version
of the Soviet 122mm D-3O howitzer. With a maximum range of just over 9.5
miles (15km), these are out-ranged by the more modern M198 howitzers used
by the Marines.
Two types of mobile Anti-Aircraft Artillery (AAA) have been purchased in
large numbers. The heaviest is a Chinese-built version of the Soviet
ZSU-57-2 a twin-barrelled 57mm gun mounted on a T-54 tank chassis. This is
a relatively slow-firing weapon, but a single hit can do massive damage to
your aircraft.
Much more likely to score a hit is the radar-guided ZSU-23-4 Shilka radar
guided AAA gun, significant quantities of which have become available on
the international market with the collapse of the former Soviet Union.
Mounted on a PT-76 tracked chassis, this four barrelled weapon combines
accuracy with a high rate-of fire.
Until recently Indonesian surface-to-air missile (SAM) defenses were
restricted to small numbers of British and Swedish systems, but these have
not been deployed in east Timor. The SAM defenses of East Timor are based
on two types of missile purchased from one of the former Soviet republics.
The SA-3 is a transportable command-guided SAM with a maximum range of up
to 15 miles (25km). The smaller SA-6 is mounted on tracked vehicles, and
has a range of 18 miles (30km) against low altitude targets, or about twice
this distance against aircraft flying at high altitude.
SA-3 and SA-6 will probably be used to defend airfields, and other high
value targets such as fixed bases and fuel dumps. Flying at very low
altitude (around 300ft) should dramatically reduce the effectiveness of
these both types of SAM, but will increase the risk posed by AAA weapons.
The ALQ-164 jamming pod should also reduce the effectiveness of these
missiles as will the release of chaff.
Mobile units have been armed with the Chinese built HN-5, an improved
version of the Soviet SA-7 shoulder fired missile. This is a heat seeking
missile, with a maximum range of around two miles (3.5km). The best
counter to this weapon is to release flares.
INDONESIAN COMBAT PERFORMANCE
The Marines have the edge over Indonesian soldiers in both quality of
equipment and level of training. In a firefight against an Indonesian
mobile unit, a US unit of similar size will probably win with minimal
casualties. When sent against defended fixed bases, the Marines will be an
a disadvantage, since they not only cope with dug-in defenders, but must
also concentrate on trying to destroy base facilities. Without air support
the marines are likely to take significant casualties in such an attack you
are advised to bomb fixed bases using the AV-8Bs, then send in the Marines
to mop up any remaining defenses. If this is not possible, the AV-8Bs
should at least provide Close Air Support for the attacking Marine forces.
THE HARRIER AT WAR
Harrier has twice seen combat action. USMC AV-8Bs were deployed to Saudi
Arabia in 1990, and played a successful role during Desert Storm. Almost a
decade earlier, Britain successfully used the aircraft during the 1982
Falklands War. Both campaigns illustrated the strengths and weaknesses of
the aircraft, offering useful lessons for the current East Timor campaign.
OPERATION CORPORATE: THE LIBERATION OF THE FALKLANDS
On April 2nd 1982, Argentinian forces invaded the Falkland Islands
overcoming the token UK military forces stationed there. The US Navy
believed that the recapture of the islands by Britain was a military
impossibility a view obviously shared by Argentina. This view overlooked
the presence of two strong-willed individuals - British Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher and the head of the Royal Navy, First Sea Lord Sir Henry
Leach. Even before the Argentinian fleet had reached the Falklands to
begin what Argentina saw as the liberation of part of its territory, Leach
had begun to assemble the naval task force whose first elements would
depart for the south Atlantic on April 5th.
Britain's Royal Navy no longer operates full-sized aircraft carriers able
to operate conventional catapult launched fighters. To provide air cover
for the task force, the UK had to rely on the Sea Harrier. A total of 28
were deployed on two vessels. Invincible was the first of a new class of
light carriers, while the larger Hermes was a conventional carrier which
had been rebuilt as a helicopter equipped assault ship. To improve the
endurance and firepower of the Sea Harrier, a modification program fitted
the aircraft with larger drop tanks, and increased its armament from two
Sidewinders to four.
In theory at least, the British aircraft should have been no match for
Argentina's top fighters. The 21 Mirage III and 26 examples of the
Israeli-built Dagger copy of this French fighter were supersonic aircraft
with a top speed of Mach 2. Luckily for the British, the Mirage is a
delta-winged aircraft, a configuration which requires a long runway. The
airfield at Port Stanley was the largest in the Falklands, but had too
short a runway to handle these aircraft. The Mirages and Daggers had to
fly their combat missions over the Falklands from bases on the Argentinian
mainland. Like the Messerschmitt Bf109 fighter which escorted Luftwaffe
bombers attacking Southern England fifty years earlier, the Argentinean
fighters were forced to carry external fuel tanks to extend their range,
and even with these could spend only a few minutes flying at full power in
the combat zone.
On May 1, Hermes launched 12 Sea Harriers to carry out attacks on
the airfields at Port Stanley and Goose Green. An hour after their
return, these aircraft were once more airborne on air-defense patrols.
Despite being outnumbered six to one, the force of 28 Sea Harriers
scored 20 "kills" and three "probables" during the brief war. Sixteen of
the Argentinian aircraft were downed using the AIM-9L Sidewinder
the other four by fire from the Sea Harrier's internal armament of two
30mm Aden cannons.
Six Sea Harriers were lost. One was shot down by a Roland surface-to air
missile the other by AAA. The remaining four were lost in accidents - one
crashed after take off while the others fell victim to the foul South
Atlantic weather. Two which went missing while on patrol are believed to
have collided in poor visibility while another rolled off the deck of the
carrier and fell into the sea.
To supplement the small Sea Harrier force, 14 Royal Air Force Harrier GR.3
fighters were selected to handle much of the ground-attack role. RAF
pilots were hurriedly trained in the art of flying from a carrier while
their aircraft were modified to carry AIM-9L Sidewinder missiles. These
aircraft were flown to Ascension Island. Six were sent to the South
Atlantic aboard a container ship, then transferred on arrival in mid May to
the flight deck of Hermes. Two more flew from Ascension to Hermes,
arriving on June 1, and were followed by a further two which arrived on
June 8th.
The RAF Harrier GR.3s flew 125 ground-attack and tactical reconnaissance
sorties in the face of heavy defensive fire, mainly from light anti
aircraft weapons. Three of the 10 aircraft were lost in action, all
believed to have been the victims of anti-aircraft gunfire. "Most aircraft
engaged in offensive support survived damage, which usually resulted from
intense Argentinian anti-aircraft gunfire, said the British Government's
official report on the campaign. Most of the close support missions used
unguided bombs, the British BL775 cluster bomb proving particularly
effective.
Throughout the brief war task force commander Rear Admiral John "Sandy"
Woodward was aware that the success of the amphibious landing would depend
on the survival of his two aircraft carriers, particularly the flagship
Hermes. Wherever possible, he kept these vessels well east of the
Falklands, and thus out of range of the Argentinian Mirages, Daggers, and
Skyhawks. Even at this distance, Woodward still faced the threat of attack
by fighter-bombers equipped with the French built Exocet anti-ship missile,
but Indonesia has no weapons of this type.
For Ocean Saber, the US has only one carrier, while the number of AV-8Bs
available is around a fifth the size of Woodward's combined force of Sea
Harrier and Harrier GR.3 aircraft. This small air component must handle
both the air to-air and air-to-ground missions, flying against an air force
about a third the size which Britian faced in 1982. Without Tarawa and its
AV-8Bs, the landings are doomed to failure. Lose Tarawa, and you lose the
campaign.
During the Falklands War the Argentinian Air Force made two main tactical
errors. One was for its fighters to launch their missiles at maximum
range, then turn away to retreat at supersonic speed. The Sea Harriers
were able to dodge the incoming missiles, close the range, then fire their
own Sidewinders. The other was the fact that for most of the brief war
aircraft tasked with attacking the fleet concentrated their fire on the
escorting warships rather than the amphibious ships and transports.
Destroyers and frigates could be replaced by others despatched to the South
Atlantic in the wake of the main task force, but the carriers and their
aircraft, plus the assault ships and transports with their cargo of
soldiers and equipment were irreplaceable.
Neither error is likely to be repeated by the Indonesians. The F-16 has a
much longer range than the Mirage and Dagger so will have ample time to
engage the AV-8Bs. It also has a much higher performance than the
Argentinian fighters, and is armed with more effective air to air missiles.
Unlike Rear-Admiral Woodward, the commander of Ocean Saber does not have a
supply of fresh escort vessels. Like the amphibious ships and transports,
Kidd and her Perry-class companions are irreplaceable.
OPERATION DESERT STORM: THE LIBERATION OF KUWAIT
The part played by the AV-8B in Desert Storm was relatively small. Two
squadrons of AV-8B were among the first Marine aircraft to arrive in Saudi
Arabia. By the time that the air war began, 6O AV-8B were operating from
shore bases, and a further 26 aboard amphibious- warfare ships operating in
Gulf waters. This was a total of four squadrons and one detachment.
The land based aircraft operated from King Abdul Aziz Airfield. This was
the most northerly airfield used by the Allies, and ensured a short flight
time to the combat zone. Other deployment locations included rough
airstrips and concrete forward sites.
The AV-8B went into action on the first day of the ground war, knocking out
Iraqi artillery which was bombarding Marine ground positions near Khafji.
By the end of the Gulf War the small force AV-8B force had flown more than
3,380 combat sorties, and some 4,000 flying hours. During this time, they
delivered more than 5.9 million pounds of ordnance. Mission capable rate
averaged 90 per cent.
To stay out of SAM and light AAA fire, AV-8Bs typically flew at an altitude
of around 15,000ft high enough to say out of trouble, but low enough to see
trucks moving on the ground. Assigned a primary and secondary target
within a 30 by 30 mile "kill box", pairs of aircraft would make diving
attacks on their designated targets. If these couldn`t be found, pilots
would follow the roads until they found a target. Few AGM-65 Mavericks
were used by the AV-8Bs; the best warload turned out to be between four and
six bombs mounted one per pylon. These were normally 500lb, 1,000lb or
Rockeye bombs. In a typical CCIP attack the weapons would be released at
around 6,000ft while the aircraft was flying at around 525kts in a 45
degree dive. At first, the AV-8Bs would trade two bombs for Sidewinders,
carrying four bombs plus two missiles, but the absence of the Iraqi Air
Force made this a pointless precaution. The number of Sidewinders carried
was reduced to one under the left wing, then to zero.
Five AV-8B were lost in combat - two from VMA 542, and one each from VMA
231, 311. and 331. Two of the pilots - Captain James M Wilbourne of
VMA-542, and Captain Reginald C. Underwood of VMA 331 were killed.
Captains Michael C. Berryman (VMA-311) and Russell A. C. Sanborn
(VMA-231) were taken prisoner, and later released, while Captain Scott
Walsh of VMA-542 was rescued.
Combat experience showed that the aircraft's main weakness was the location
of its engine nozzles. Heat-seeking missiles home of the hottest part of
the target which is normally the jet pipe. On a conventional fighter, hits
from light heat-seeking missiles tend to be one the tail but on the AV-8B
the hot jet pipes are much closer to the engine and cockpit area.
Gulf War combat experience shows versatility of the unguided bomb,
particularly the Rockeye, and the wisdom of staying above the ceiling of
light AAA weapons. If losses due to heat-seeking SAMs build up during
Operation Ocean Saber, it may be advisable to carry an external chaff/flare
dispenser so that you can drop flares more frequently during your attack.
SECTION X: HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
DEVELOPMENT OF THE HARRIER
At Britain's 1968 Farnborough Air Show, three officers of the Us Marine
Corps walked into the hospitality suite of the British company Hawker
Siddeley Aviation and announced "We're interested in the Harrier". The US
services are not in the habit of buying jet fighters from an overseas
supplier, but this was the start of a process which would see the US taking
into service Britain's revolutionary vertical take off and landing (VTOL)
fighter and which would lead to todays AV- 8B Harrier II.
To an Englishman, the sale of Harrier to the US Marines might be seen as
evidence that his nation can still teach the "Yanks" a thing or two about
aviation, but in fact US involvement in the Harrier program dates back to
the late 1950s. Without US financial assistance, the airplane would never
have left the drawing board.
Back in the mid-1950s, the Cold War was at its peak, and the NATO allies
had based their air plans on a network of 8,200ft runways based in Western
Europe. These would have been priority targets in wartime a fact which led
French airplane designer Michel Wibault to purpose the Gyroptere, a
ground-attack fighter able to take off and land vertically.
The idea of a vertical takeoff and Landing (VTOL) fighter was not new.
Several experimental aircraft had already flown, and others were being
built. Some, like the turboprop-powered Convair XFY-1 and the jet powered
Ryan X-13 Vertijet, were "tail-sitters." From a vertical starting position,
these climbed away from the take-off point under the power of their main
engine, then reversed this manueuvre in order to land.
An alternative solution explored by aircraft such as the Shorts Sc.1
involved taking off with the fuselage in the normal horizontal position,
the aircraft being raised by a battery of downward-pointing lift engines.
Both arrangements had disadvantages. The pilot of a tail-sitter was in a
most uncomfortable position. During take-off and landing - the very times
when his concentration needed to be at its highest. This was not the case
with an aircraft which used liftjets; here the problem was that the lift
engines occupied much of the internal volume of the fuselage, reducing the
amount of fuel which could be carried, and for much of the flight were
simply unwanted dead weight.
Wibault proposed to get around these problems by using vectored thrust. A
single huge engine whose thrust was greater than the aircraft weight could
lift the aircraft if its thrust could be directed downward, then propel it
in normal flight by directing the thrust rearward.
This idea had been tested in 1954 with the twin-engined Bell Model 65 Air
Test Vehicle, and would be explored further in the new Bell X-14 then under
construction in the USA, but these aircraft were too small to perform any
military task. On the tiny Model 65, the two J44 jet engines were mounted
outside of the fuselage and could be moved from rearward or
downward-thrusting positions. For the X-14, two British- built
Armstrong-Siddeley Viper turbojets would be mounted side by side within the
forward fuselage, discharging their exhaust through belly mounted steerable
cascade nozzles.
In a conventional aircraft, safety is improved by having multiple engines.
If one fails, the aircraft can keep flying. This isn't the case with a
VTOL aircraft any significant loss of thrust while in the hover will turn
that hover into a crash. Having multiple engines simply increases the
chance of an engine failure. This was the problem faced by 1950s designs
such as the Model 65, the X-14, and the Shorts SC.1, and by todays Yakovlev
Yak 38 Forger and Yak 141 Freestyle V/STOL fighters.
For the Gyroptere, Wibault planned that the thrust would be generated not
by several jet engines but by four steerable air blowers, all mechanically
driven by the most powerful engine he could find - the Bristol Orion rated
at around 8,000hp at sea level, this would be connected to the blowers by a
system of shafts and bevel gears. The four blowers would be angled
downwards to provide the thrust needed for vertical takeoff then turned to
face aft to create the power for conventional flight.
Conventional control surfaces such as ailerons, elevators and rudder obtain
their effect by deflecting the rapid flow of air passing around the
aircraft's wings, tail fins, and rudder. When the Gyroptere was hovering
or flying at low speed, they would be useless. Wibault realised that a
practical VTOL aircraft would require a second control system for low speed
flight and hovering. He proposed to fit the aircraft with a system of
nose, tail, and wingtip mounted reaction control jets. Fed by compressed
air, these would be used to maintain control until the airplane was flying
fast enough for conventional control surfaces to take over.
Unwilling to fund such as novel airplane, the French suggested that Wibault
apply for funding from the Mutual Weapons Development Programme (MWDP), a
scheme under which the US could fund promising foreign weapons. Gyroptere
was too complex to be practical, but gave two British companies Hawker and
Bristol Aero Engines the inspiration to devise a more sensible design.
Bristol engineers looked at Wibault's proposal, and decided his estimated
weight of only 1,0801b for the four blowers and bevel gearboxes was
unrealistic. Instead, they proposed that the Orion engine should drive a
single large fan section "borrowed" from the companys much larger Olympus
engine. This in turn passed its output of compressed air to two steerable
nozzles.
Hardly had this BE.48 engine been sketched out on the Bristol drawing
boards when Hooker realised that Bristol's new Orpheus jet engine would
make an even better power source than the Orion. This BE.52 engine design
was equally short-lived. The improved BE.53 eliminated the gearbox used to
drive the fan. Instead, the fan was driven by its own turbine stage.
The idea of using a second turbine was not new. Until 1949 all jet engines
had used a single shaft. Air from the inlet was compressed by a multi
stage compressor whose airflow entered a combustor section, where the fuel
was burned. The hot efflux gases leaving the combustor passed through a
turbine used to drive the compressor, before passing to the jetpipe.
This layout was simple, but the rotational speed of the turbine-driven
shaft which drove the compressor was always a compromise between the
optimum speed needed by the early stages of the compressor and the speed
best for the later stages which were handling a higher pressure airflow.
In 1949 two engine manufacturers Pratt & Whitney and Bristol Engines -
tested new engines which introduced a twin-shaft layout, a configuration
still used for most present-day aero engines. A low- pressure (LP) fan
feeds air to a high-pressure (HP) compressor. After fuel has been burned
in this HP airflow the hot gases pass through an HP turbine used to drive
the HP compressor, then an LP turbine which drives the LP fan, before
passing to the jetpipe. The two section of the engine - LP and HP can each
rotate at the speed which gives highest efficiency.
On the B.53 the fan did not feed the HP compressor. All its air went to
the two large steerable nozzles. Two small inlets mounted directly above
and below the fan were used to feed air to the Orpheus section whose hot
exhaust gas was released from a rearward-facing jetpipe just as in a
conventional engine. Since all the compression was done by a compressor
which was entirely driven by a single shaft and turbine, the BE.53 was not
a true two-shaft engine, but it promised enough power to allow the design
of a warplane.
In the spring of 1957, the Hawker team led by Sir Sidney Camm, designer of
the World War II Hurricane, Typhoon and Tempest piston- engined fighters,
drew up plans for what was then known as the P.1127. With its ugly tadpole
shaped fuselage, unswept mid set wing, and tail wheel undercarriage, this
design looked more like the primitive jet fighters of the mid 194Os than a
combat aircraft for the 196Os. Air from the nose inlet entered a BE.53
engine in the lower part of the centre fuselage. The two steerable nozzles
were located on either side of the fuselage directly under the wing, the
jetpipe emerging from the lower fuselage just aft of the wing. A slim rear
fuselage led to a tail assembly which would not have looked out of place on
a Second World War piston engined fighter.
Since only part of the thrust of the BE.53 was vectorable, the aircraft was
designed for short rather than vertical take-offs and landings. Its
take-off and landing speeds would be too low for aerodynamic controls to be
effective, so Camm's team planned to feed some of the fan air to a system
of nose, tail, and wingtip-mounted reaction control jets similar to those
first proposed by Wibault. Too small and lacking in engine thrust to carry
a warload, the P1127 was proposed as a lightweight reconnaissance aircraft.
While this design work was going on, back at Bristol Engines, Hookers team
had come up with further improvements. In a normal two shaft engine, the
task of the fan stage is to provide LP air for the HP compressor. The new
engine now being sketched out on Bristol drawing boards had an oversized
fan which produced enough LP to feed not only a pair of steerable nozzles,
but also the HP compressor. Having passed through the HP and LP turbines,
the hot engine efflux entered not a single conventional jetpipe, but a pair
of steerable aft nozzles. All four nozzles of this "four-poster"
arrangement could be simultaneously moved so that they pointed downward to
provide the vertical thrust needed for VTOL, then backward to power the
airplane for normal flight.
This new engine allowed the Hawker team to make a fresh start. By the
autumn of 1957 they had created a design able to take off and land
vertically. Although the wing was still unswept, it was recognisably the
ancestor of today's AV-8B Harrier II.
The new airplane and engine could not have been born at a worse time. The
British Government had just decided that the manned combat aircraft was
obsolete, and opted to cancel virtually all its current warplane programmes
in favor of guided missiles. The idea of a VTOL fighter fell on deaf ears.
US defense planners rejected the British idea of all-missile air forces as
naive, and agreed to meet 75 per cent of the cost of developing the new
airplane and its engine. Refused British funding, the two partner
companies used their own money to make up the remaining 25 per cent. Not
until late 1959 did the British government agree to help fund the two
P.1127 prototypes taking shape at Hawker's Kingston factory.
Camm and his team wanted to create not just a flying testbed able to
demonstrate V/STOL technology but an airplane which could serve as an
operational fighter. The structure was built strong enough for combat and
with the internal volume needed to allow the installation of mission
related avionics. The problem they faced was that in any VTOL airplane,
the total weight at takeoff must be less than the thrust created by the
engine. Get the airplane too heavy or be faced with an engine unable to
develop the specified thrust, and it will refuse to fly a fate not unknown
in the history of VTOL aircraft!
In September 1959 the new engine, now named Pegasus 1, started running on
the test bench. It developed only 9,000lb of thrust, but showed that the
concept of a "four poster" vectored-thrust engine worked. An engine
suitable for flight would have to generate more thrust, plus a supply of HP
rather than LP air for the reaction control system. Studies had shown that
the amount of LP air needed for reaction control would reduce engine
performance, and require bulky ducting to feed it to the wingtip, nose, and
tail reaction jets. To be practical the system would have to be redesigned
to use high-pressure air drawn from the engine's HP section.
To provide the extra thrust and a source of HP bleed air, Bristol devised
the Pegasus 2 engine, which ran for the first time in February 1960. The
best that Bristol designer Stanley Hooker could promise was 11,0001b of
thrust giving Camm the problem of packing this large engine into an
airplane about the weight of a Korean-War-era F-86 Sabre. Redesigning the
reaction control system was not easy. The HP bleed air from the Pegasus 2
was available in the quantities needed to do the job. and at pressures
high enough to allow small and compact ducting. Unfortunately it left the
engine at a temperature of around 660 deg F, so had to be ducted via
pipework made from Nimonic alloy a material originally designed for use
inside jet engines.
By October 1960, the first P.1127 airplane was ready to fly. It left the
ground for the first time on October 21st, beginning the first of a series
of tethered tests intended to explore handling in the vertical mode. The
margin between aircraft weight and engine thrust was very low during these
first flights, allowing enough fuel for only two minutes of hovering
flight. By early November, test pilot Bill Bedford and the P.1127 team
were ready to try free flight. To do this involved the additional weight
of installing a radio in the cockpit at a time when every pound was vital.
The first untethered flight was on November 19th. Soon afterwards, the
British government finally agreed to pay for a batch of four development
aircraft. Bristol - know known as Bristol Siddeley also increased the
thrust of the engine by a further 1,000lb, allowing more fuel to be
carried.
Next stage was to try the airplane out in normal flight. This phase of the
test program started on March 13th 1961, clearing the way for the team to
cautiously explore the problem of making the way for the vertical to
horizontal flight and back again. On some hovering flights, the nozzles
were rotated backward to give the aircraft a forward velocity while during
others made from the runway the nozzles were deflected downwards to allow
the aircraft to fly more slowly, eventually bringing it to speeds at which
its aerodynamic control surfaces had little effect, control being
maintained using the puffer jets.
During a six month series of tests using both P.1127 prototypes, the gap
between the highest speed attained from the hover and the lowest achieved
in horizontal flight gradually narrowed, until the first transition was
demonstrated on 20th September 1961. For todays AV-8B pilots, this
maneuver has become routine and its one you`ll have to learn to carry out
in seconds.
Early in 1961, the NATO allies released a specification for a new
supersonic close-support airplane able to operate from rough strips some
200 yards long. Hawker had already started work on a supersonic P.1150
design. Power by an improved Pegasus engine with afterburning in all four
nozzles, this would have been a practical and useful fighter.
Unfortunately its top speed would have been around Mach 1.3 rather than the
then-fashionable Mach 2. It was never ordered.
By the end of the year, Hawker Siddeley had drawn up plans for the improved
P.1154 - an aircraft which combined the Mach 2.0 performance of the F-4
Phantom with the VTOL ability of the P.1127. To power this, Bristol
Siddeley started work on a more powerful engine - the BS.100.
Worried that the P.1127 concept might be abandoned if left to the British,
around the end of the year the US suggested that a batch of P.1127 be built
to equip a proposed tri-national US/UK/West German trials squadron. Work
started on a batch of nine aircraft built to an improved design designated
Kestrel. These would have swept wings and the uprated 15,200lb thrust.
Pegasus 5 engine, but would still not be able to carry a usefull ordnance
load.
Britian pressed ahead with the supersonic P.1154, which was intended for
use by both the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy and even started work on
a C-130-sized short-take-off and landing transport aircraft able to support
P.1154 operations. It was an ambitious concept and one which would even
strain today`s technology let alone that of the mid 1960s. In practice.
getting the Air Force and Navy to agree on joint design proved near
impossible, and the commonality between the two versions rapidly dwindled.
Late in 1963 the Navy dropped out of the program and an order for McDonnell
Douglas F-4 Phantoms was announced in February 1964.
Work continued on the Air Force version, which was expected to enter
servive in 1969. The arrival in power in late 1964 of a Socialist
Government intent on abandoning most of the nation's military aircraft
programmes resulted in both the P.1154 and the Hawker Siddeley 681 STOL
transport being cancelled in 1965 before either had flown.
F-4 Phantoms were ordered for both British services, but the go-ahead was
also given for the subsonic P.1127 to be taken into service as a combat
airplane. It was to use some of the nav/attack systems being developed for
the P.1154, and be powered by the latest 19,000lb thrust Pegasus 6 engine.
Six development aircraft were ordered in February 1965.
Between the spring of 1965 and the spring of 1966 the Kestrel-equipped
tri-national squadron explored the military usefulness of VTOL aircraft,
flying around 600 hours for the loss of a single airplane. After the unit
disbanded, six of its aircraft were despatched to the USA for trials under
the designation XV-6A, while the others stayed in Britain. Flying from the
carrier, Independence, and the assault ships Raleigh and La Salle XV-6A
proved the potential usefulness of a naval VTOL fighter.
The first of the six development P.1127 first flew on August 31st, 1966. A
batch of 60 production aircraft was ordered early in 1967, and the first of
the resulting Harrier GR.1 aircraft flew on December 28th, 1967. A total
of 114 GR.1's were delivered to the RAF, where they remained in service
until replaced by the AV-8B Harrier II in the early 1990s.
In 1968 the USMC realised that the XV-6A tests had showed the feasibility
of deploying an operational VTOL fighter: Unlike the other US Services,
the Marines are an offensive force, one designed to seize and hold
beachheads. The fire support they need must travel with them. Marine
Forces can't take with them the massive artillery support which the Army
takes for granted, so strike aircraft must provide the close-support needed
to soften up an enemy position, or to break an enemy attack.
In the past, USMC aircraft had operated from carriers, but the P.1127
Harrier was an airplane which could be deployed from assault ships or even
improvised airstrips close to the front line. At first, Congress refused
to allocate money for Harriers, but the Marines pressed ahead with their
evaluation of the airplane while arguing their case.
When Congress finally did agree to authorise the purchase of 12 Harriers
for test and evaluation by the USMC, it insisted that any follow-on order
for production aircraft would have to be placed with a US manufacturer.
Hawker Siddeley and McDonnell Douglas signed a licence-production agreement
for the airplane, while the other deal between Rolls-Royce (who had taken
over Bristol) and Pratt & Whitney covered US manufacture of the Pegasus
engine. In practice however the cost of setting up US production
facilities for the planned USMC fleet of 102 single-seaters and eight two
seat trainers was so high that Congress relented, and the aircraft were
purchased from Britian.
By now the RAF had progressed from the original Harrier GR.1 to the
improved GR.1A (with the Pegasus 102 engine), then the definitive GR.3
(with the 21,000lb thrust Pegasus 103 and additional avionics). The USMC
version was similar to the GR.3, but did not have the nose mounted laser
ranger and marked-target seeker fitted to the RAF Aircraft. The single
seater was designated AV-8A, with the two seater becoming the TAV-8A.
A further batch of 13 aircraft was purchased in the early 1970s by Spain.
Ordered by the US Navy in order to spare Britain's socialist government the
political embarrassment of selling weaponry to a right wing regime, they
were transferred to Spain where they remain in service as AV-8S and TAV-8S
Matadors. They entered service on the elderly carrier Dedalo, and now
serve on its replacement, the Principe de Asturias.
The Marines use the AV-8A in the close-support role, but what Britains
Royal Navy now needed was a VTOL fighter able to operate from the new
Invincible class light carriers. Ordered in May 1975, this was based on
the GR.3/AV-8A, but incorporated a raised cockpit, a nose- mounted blue fox
radar, and a marinised Pegasus 11 Mk 104 version of the Mk103 used to power
the Royal Air Force's Harrier GR.3. The Blue Fox radar was designed for
the task of detecting high altitude targets such as maritime reconnaissance
aircraft, and had none of the expensive technology needed for look down
operation against low level strike aircraft.
First flight of a Sea Harrier prototype was on 20th Augnst 1978.
Deliveries to the Royal Navy began in June 1979, and the aircraft became
operational in 1980, first on the carrier Invincible, then on sister ships
Illustrious and Ark Royal. In its FRS.51 Form, it also serves with the
Indian Navy which purchased 23 (plus four two-seat trainers) for servive
aboard the carriers Vikrant and Viraat.
Both Britian and the US realised that their existing fleets of AV-8A and
Harrier Gr.1/3 would need to be replaced in the 1980s, so the two nations
had already started work on studies of a "Super Harrier". In 1973,
McDonnell Douglas started preliminary work with British Aerospace (which
had absorbed Hawker Siddeley) to develop an inproved version of the
airplane. The AV-16A would have had a long- span supercritical wing, a
25,000lb (11,350kg) Pegasus 15 engine, and twice the payload/range
performance of the existing aircraft.
The two countries were unable to agree on a common design. In the United
States the Marines wanted the most efficient VTOL close- support airplane
which technology would permit, but Britain's RAF wanted a design to which
its existing aircraft could be rebuilt. Not surprisingly in March 1975 the
British Government announced that there was not enough common ground
between the two requirements to justify a joint programme.
At this point Britain and the US pursued their own national programs.
British Aerospace drew up plans for what became known as the "Big Wing"
Harrier. This would have had a revised front fuselage, extended intakes
and a new 34ft (10.4m) span wing of metal construction. Optimised for
high-speed flight, this enlarged wing would have been retrofittable to
existing aircraft.
In the US, McDonnell Douglas pressed ahead with a less expensive design
which would combine a new airframe incorporating refined aerodynamics and
the large-scale use of carbon composites with a developed version of the
Sea Harrier engine. This would be known as the AV-8B Harrier II.
The cockpit was raised to improve the view back over the inlets and wing a
vital feature in air combat - while a new longer span wing with 15 per cent
more area than that of the AV-8A produced more lift and less drag. The
inlets were redesigned, while under the skin, a new generation oF avionics
promised better reliability. Internal fuel capacity was 50 per cent more
than that of the AV-8A. To minimum weight, almost a quarter of the
structure was made not from metal but from carbon composite materials.
To speed the programme, the first two YAV-8B prototypes were not built from
scratch, but were created by fitting the new wing to two AV- 8As. The
first flew on 9 November 1978. Flight demonstrations were completed during
1979 with the two prototypes having flown more than 170 test hours
successfully.
The aircraft did have problems, but these were political rather than
technical. The Carter administration was opposed to the development of an
aircraft customised to meet the relatively small Marine requirement. When
drawing up the Fiscal Year 1979 Defense Budget Request, the Pentagon
refused to add funding for the AV-8B. Instead it suggested that the
Marines buy a batch of 78 McDonnell Douglas A-4M Skyhawks, and increase
their order for the F/A-18 Hornet. This would help reduce the unit cost of
the latter aircraft, and help keep the Skyhawk production line open.
Congress disagreed, and restored funding for the AV-8B.
The following year saw this process repeated, with the Department of
Defense refusing the $203 million requested for continued AV-8B
development. Congress forced the release of $108 million held over from
the previous year and added a further $180 million for FY80. This allowed
a full scale development contract to be issued in April 1979.
A year later Congress again over-ruled the Carter administration and
provided not only the $240.7 million needed for the FY81 development work
but also $90 million for procurement of "long-lead" production hardware
which would have to be ordered now to allow procurement of the first 12
aircraft.
By now it was clear that the aircraft's long-term future would depend on
its becoming an international program. The obvious customer was Britian.
In 1980, the Royal Air Force evaluated the aircraft, and concluded that
although the aircraft met the performance standard laid down by Britians
Air Staff Requirement 409 (ASR 409) in most respects, it was badly lacking
in one area - maneuverability.
The AV-8B had been tailored to meet a US Marine Corps requirement for an
efficient "bomb truck" able to carry a heavier payload over a longer range
than had been possible with the AV-8A. In USMC service, the AV-8B would
operate under the protection of friendly fighters such as the Grumman F-14
Tomcat and McDonnell Douglas F/A 18 Hornet, but the British wanted an
aircraft able to fight in Central Europe, where friendly fighters would be
outnumbered by Soviet MiGs
Any Harrier replacement would have to be able to defend itself the RAF
decided so ASR 409 placed strong emphasis on maneuverability and
survivability for defensive air combat performance. Turn rate of the US
aircraft was well below the 20 degree per second turn rate which the RAF
thought essential if the Harrier was to be able to defend itself against
enemy air superiority fighters.
As well as idetifying the problem, the British also offered a potential
solution. The metal wing of the proposed "Big Wing" Harrier - now known as
the Harrier GR.5 would have incorporated wing leading- edge root extensions
(LERXs), features intended to increase maneuverability. Studies showed
that by adding similar LERXs to the AV-8B wing, the airplane would meet the
RAF maneuvrability requirement without jeopardising the payload/range
requirement needed by the Marines.
In the summer of 1981, the UK agreed to rejoin the programme, and to buy at
least 60 AV-8B fighters. British aircraft would be known as Harrier GR.5,
the designation originally proposed for the "Big Wing" Harrier. Under the
terms of a deal announced in July 1981, the UK agreed to contribute an
initial $80 million to the costs of a joint development program, and to
provide the additional $200 million needed for development work unique to
the RAF version.
BAe would set up a production line in England to build the RAF aircraft,
and would be responsible for manufacture of the rear and center fuselage
sections, center-line pylon and the reaction control system. Fin and
rudder assemblies may also be included. Under this work-sharing agreement
McDonnell Douglas would manufacture approximately 60 per cent of the
aircraft, BAe the remaining 40 per cent. Work on the engine would be split
in a similar manner, with 75 per cent going to Rolls-Royce and 25 per cent
to Pratt & Whitney.
To keep the existing AV-8A fleet effective until the AV-8B entered service
in the mid-1980s, the Marines embarked on a conversion in Lieu
ofProcurement (CILOP) program to rebuild existing aircraft to the improved
AV-8C standard. Changes included the installation of LIDS (Lift
Improvement Devices), plus installation of new avionics such as the AN/ARC
159 radio, KY-28 crypto set, the ALR-45 radar warning receiver and the
ALE-39 flare/chaff dispenser.
The F402-RR-406 Pegasus 11-2IE engine used in early production AV- 8Bs is
based on the Mk 104 developed for Sea Harrier, but is designed to match
mounting points on the AV-8B airframe. It also incorporates a redesigned
fan able to run at higher RPM. It also has new zero scarf cold nozzles, a
revised swan-neck intermediate casing which smooths the flow of air into
the high-pressure compressor a forged combustion chamber, better HP turbine
cooling. a new shrouded LP turbine and improved seals. Maximum thrust is
21,500lb
The first true AV-8B was the first of four full scale development aircraft.
It flew for the first time on November 5, 1981. All four were sent to the
Naval Air Test Center during 1982 to begin a program of flight test. The
first of 12 pre-production airplanes flew on August 29, 1983. A two-seat
TAV-8B version was also developed to help train Marine pilots.
Wherever possible, the AV-8B uses off-the-shelf avionics. Like Marine
pilots assigned to fly the AV-8B, you`ll have to become familiar with these
systems. Prime attack sensor is the Hughes Angle Rate Bombing System
(ARBS), a nose-mounted unit which combines a laser spot tracker and TV
contrast tracker. This allows day or night attacks to be delivered using
conventional bombs, laser-guided "smart" bombs, unguided rockets, or guided
missiles such as the Hughes AGM-65 Maverick. Navigation is handled by an
ASN-130 inertial- navigation system.
Harrier Gr.3 and the AV-8A had no autopilot, but the AB-8B is fitted with a
unit known as the Stability Augmentation and Attitude Hold System.
Intended to reduce the pilot's workload by about two-thirds, this allows
easier and safer hovering and vertical landings. The pilot can even take
his hands off the controls while the airplane is hovering.
Many of the cockpit systems were already used on the F/A-18 Hornet, and
include the head up display (HUD), a multi-function cathode-ray tube (CRT)
cockpit display and an Up Front Control (UFC) panel used for
communications, navigation, and weapons control. In the AB-8B cockpit, the
engine throttle and nozzles are operated from a single control to allow the
pilot to keep his attention focused outside the cockpit during air combat.
Under this HOTAS (hands-on throttle and stick) scheme the pilot will be
able to fly "viffing" (vectoring in forward flight) combat maneuvers.
Without looking down, he can control the airplanes maneuvering flaps,
select and steer the aircraft sensors, acquire targets, release weapons and
aim the guns.
For self protection, the AV-8B is fitted with an ALB-67 radar-warning
reciever designed to detect hostile radar signals. Mounted in the rear
fuselage is an ALE 39 dispenser able to release radar reflecting chaff
designed to confuse enemy radars, or hot-burning flares able to decoy heat
seeking missiles. The aircraft is due to receive the internally- mounted
ALQ-165 Advanced Self-Protection Jammer (ASPJ), but delivery of this
complex system has been repeatedly delayed. (The RAF version of the
airplane carries the British-designed Zeus jamming system). For the
moment, the Marines rely on the externally-mounted ALQ-164 jamming pod.
In 1984, McDonnell Douglas started work to create a night-attack version of
the AV-8B. This was done by adding a nose-mounted Forward looking
Infra-Red (FLIR) system, and equipping the pilot with Night Vision Goggles
(NVGs). These systems are now standard in current production aircraft,
while earlier examples will be modified to add these.
The Marines took delivery of their first AV-8B in 1984, and the aircraft
became operational with the USMC's VMA-331 Bumblebees in 1985. In its
Harrier GR.5 form, the aircraft became operational with Britians Royal Air
Force in 1989. A total of 94 are planned. Spain ordered 12 EAV-8B to
replace the older AV-8A, and these are now in service aboard the aircraft
carrier Principe de Asturias.
In its basic form, the aircraft was intended for use by day, but in
September 1989 the USMC took delivery of the first version configured for
night attack. A similar night-attack version known as the Harrier GR.7
entered service with the Royal Air Force in the following year.
The new avionics needed to give the pilot a view of the outside world were
developed in the UK. A nose-mounted forward-looking Infra red (FLIR)
creates an image of the terrain ahead of the aircraft. This is displayed
on the HUD as a full-sized image directly superimposed on the outside
scene. Flying an aircraft using only the small area visible through the
HUD would be difficult, so the pilot also wears night vision goggles which
provide a lower-grade thermal image of the outside world in whatever
direction the pilot is looking. This version of the aircraft has a more
powerful engine, the 23,800lb thrust Pegasus 11-61 known to the US Marines
as the F404-RR 408.
In AV-8B Harrier Assault, you'll be flying this night-attack capable
version of the aircraft, the most modern variant currently in service. An
even more advanced version known as the AV-8B Harrier II plus started
flight trials on 22 September 1992, but this will not enter service until
the mid-1990s. Main change in this new version is a reprofiled nose
containing an APG 65 multi mode radar.
The Marines intend to take delivery of up to 40 AV-8B Plus. Italy plans to
buy 15 single-seat and two twin-seat Harrier II Plus for service on the
carrier Giuseppe Garibaldi, and could increase this order to around 30.
The Spanish Navy expects to operate 12 AV-8B Plus, but will probably
rebuild its existing EAV-8B to this standard rather than buy new airframes.
Japan is known to be interested in the aircraft.
Production of the AV-8B is expected to run into the early 1990s by which
time the Marines will have taken delivery of 300 AV-8B and 28 TAV-8B
trainers. Under present plans, 156 of these aircraft will be built to the
night-attack standard. To bring older aircraft up to this standard, the
USMC plans a rebuild program. A first phase will install the night attack
avionics; a second could add the APG-65 radar.
Britian will rebuild its Harrier GR.5 aircraft to the GR.7 night attack
standard but haSs no plan to add a radar as part of a mid-life improvement
programme, 31 Royal Navy Sea Harriers are being rebuilt to FRS.2 standard,
receiving a British-developed Blue Vixen pulse Doppler radar able to
provide all-weather look-down capability track while scan, and the ability
to engage several targets simulaneously using up to four AIM-120 AMRAAM
missiles. Other changes include a lengthened rear fuselage (to compensate
for the enlarged nose needed to house Blue Vixen), a redesigned cockpit,
and an improved radar-warning receiver
THE REBELLION IN EAST TIMOR
In August 1975 civil war broke out in the colony of Portuguese Timor. The
eastern section of the islands which make up the Indonesian archipelago,
Timor had first been settled by Portuguese colonists in 1586. In 1859, the
island was divided between the Netherlands and Portugal. In 1949, the
western (Dutch) portion joined the then new state of Indonesia, whose
independence had finally been recognised by the Netherlands.
For Indonesia, the continued presence of the Portuguese in Timor remained a
sensitive issue. Portuguese Timor was run as an overseas province of
Portugal, and until 1975 no steps had been taken to promote self
government. Portugal finally decided in 1975 that it would pull out in
1978, and announced plans to hold local elections for a planned People's
Assembly.
Unfortunately the three main political factions in Portugese Timor ware
unable to agree as to what form independence should take. The Associcao
Popular Democratica de Timor (APODETi) wanted the colony to become an
autonomous province of Indonesia, while the Uniao Democratica de Timor
(UDT) favoured independence but retaining links with Portugal. A third
party the Frente Revolucionario de Este Timor Independente (FRETLiN),
wanted total independence
On August 11th 1975, the UTD announced that it had taken over the colony in
a coup. Fighting broke out several days later and by the 20th had become a
full blown civil war between FRETLIN on one side and an alliance between
the UDT APODETI and several smaller parties on the other
By November 28th, FRETLIN was able announce the establishment of a
"Democratic Republic of East Timor", but the new state would last for less
than a month. On December 7th a force of around 6,000 Indonesian
paratroops supported by bombardments from Indonesian warships operating
offshore invaded the new republic, and seized Dili the capital.
Four days later, the United Nations demanded that Indonesia desist from
"furthur violation of the territorial integrity of East Timor" and ordered
it to withdraw. Indonesia would admit that its Army was in action claiming
that the attack on Dili had been mounted by APODETI, UDT and what were
described as "Indonesian volunteers."
The formation of a "Provisional Government" for East Timor was announced on
December 17th. Four days later the UN Security Council voted unanimously
for a Resolution calling for a total withdrawal by Indonesian forces. This
was rejected by Indonesia, which has ignored many subsequent UN Resolutions
on East Timor.
By mid February 1976. the take over of East Timor was essentially
completed. On May 31st the newly formed "People's Representative Council
of East Timor" held a meeting which had only a single item on the agenda -
a petition that East Timor be absorbed by Indonesia.
In a ceremony reminiscent of the colonial era, an Indonesian "fact finding
mission" which arrived on June 24th was handed a portion of East Timor soil
and a nugget of gold. Five days later, Indonesia announced acceptance of
East Timor and the existence of the new province was proclaimed on August
17th.
Just over a week later, Indonesian leader Suharto admitted that FRETLIN was
still fighting. Two months later, the Indonesian Defense Minister
described FRETLIN as a "band of bandits" who would be eliminated in two to
three months. In practice, the Indonesian Army was to mount repeated
offensives against FRETLIN over the next few years, the largest being in
1978 and the fall of 1981.
1982 produced the first reports of human rights violations by Indonesia,
with 4,000 Timorese being held in prison camps on the island of Atauro. By
this time, Indonesia estimated that FRETLIN had been reduced to a force of
around 130 combatants, while the guerrillas claimed a force of six
companies - about 6,800 in total. Independent observers suggested figures
ranging from 200 to 600. The province seemed quite in the first half of
1983, but fighting broke out again that August.
The mid 1980s saw growing reports of further human rights violations - mass
arrests, "resettlement programs", the execution of FRETLIN sympathisers
executions during the military operations, conscription of Timorese
civilians into the Indonesian Army. These heavy handed tactics seem to
have worked. On 27th December 1988, Indonesia announced that the FRETLiN
rebellion was finally over. Travel restrictions in the area would be
lifted, and the region demilitarized.
In October of that year Pope John Paul II visited Indonesia, and the
authorities suppressed pro Timor demonstrations during his visit. To the
Indonesian Government, the most disturbing feature of these demonstrations
must have been the relative youth of the agitators many of whom must have
been children at the time of the 1985 invasion . A new generation of
Timorese was taking up the struggle for independence.
A program of settling non-Timorese in the region caused protests and
demonstrations in 1990. A report by Amnesty International in the following
year spoke of an "accelerating program of short term detention, torture,
and ill treatment of political opponents".
On November 12, troops opened fire in Dili on a crowd of around 3,500
demonstrators. The number killed has never been fully established. At the
time, the Indonesian Army claimed 19 deaths, and blamed the incident on a
"misunderstood order" Opposition groups estimated the death toll at between
60 and 180. A later official investigation by the Indonesian government
put the figure at 50.
Human rights groups claimed that within days of the massacre, between 300
and 400 people had been arrested, and that between 60 and 80 were executed
on November 15. By late November, claims were being voiced that more than
200 had been executed.
By this time, East Timor had been a closed territory for 13 years. Some
human rights groups have estimated the number of East Timorese killed or
who have died of starvation in the long-running campaign at around 200,000.
FRETLIN has offered a cease-fire, but this has been rejected by the
Indonesian Government.
The stalemate continues. The rebels lack the strength to defeat the
Indonesian Army but that Army in turn has failed to reduce rebel strength
in more than a decade of struggle. If the people of East Timor are ever to
be given the chance to decide their own future, this can only be done with
the help of the international community
In 1992, Portugal asked President Bush to apply pressure to Indonesia to
persuade that nation to accept the many UN resolutions on East Timor, but
with a Presidential election looming and his own poll rating slipping there
was little, in practice, the US President could do. For the moment the
problems of East Timor remain on the international communities "back
burner"
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