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After encountering a new Foreign Policy article while reading Yahoo, I thought this would be of interest to the readers here, as well as those who'd love to see something done so CMBS weapons can be ported over to CMSF, allowing the rapidly expanding and already intense combat actions by Russia on behalf of Syria to be simulated. http://news.yahoo.com/helicopter-putin-weapon-choice-syria-110030372.html In order to survive in a heavy MANPADS environment, Russian attack helicopter pilots, operating what are/ have been made to appear to be Syrian Mi-24 HIND attack helos, are flying unprecedentedly low combat profiles. Profiles utterly unlike Cold War flight techniques. I've presented both for comparison. The tremendous level of flying skills on display in the first vid may be taken as the best level of performance a Russian combat unit can produce. Would say this is by no means typical, but with the latest strike aircraft in use in Syria, the Su-34 FULLBACK, it's obvious Putin's got his top forces in the fray. It's one thing to hedgehop over high tension lines while invading the Crimea but not under fire (video readily available online), but another matter altogether to come in ultra low and stay there with people shooting at you from all directions and disaster--via ground clobber--an eyeblink away! Notice these guys aren't executing one and done tactics, but are sticking around and working the target. Cold War https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAT-MEImJ9o New ultra low/extreme low level attack tactics are a big deal, in my estimation, as both a former Threat Analyst and student of modern warfare, and I believe this is how the Russians would fight in Ukraine as well. Indeed, in the sort of MANPADS threat they could expect there, I believe coming in on the deck or close to that would be an operational necessity, though quite fraught. By operating barely above ground or obstacle height, the Russians reduce Detection Probability and Detection Range for the defenders. In turn, this cuts into their reaction time, allowing the attackers to get much closer than was possible before commencing the attack run. The classic low run in, then popping well up, firing and remasking is dead, I believe. In game terms, it might be helpful to give players the ability to select the desired flight profile, thus allowing them to tailor risk levels for their "flying tanks." Regards, John Kettler