Tips on how to use CAS?

[John Kettler]

Bulletpoint,

Your problem, in a nutshell, is that your men are well inside "danger close" for a 250-pound bomb, the most common gravity ordnance for CAS then. "PI" = Probability of Incapacitation, assuming a 5 Minute Assault Criterion. A PI of 0.1% is one in a thousand. Below, it says troops within one kilometer are at risk, yet you are a mere 100 meters from the strike zone. Recommend Hide for your men if they're that close. I freely grant, though, that not all 250-pound bombs are created equal and that the WW II version is much less powerful, so has a significantly smaller MAE (Mean Area of Effect,) than its Vietnam era descendant. This discussion further assumes weapon reliability is perfect and attacks are parallel to the requesting unit's front. As such, they presumably do not take into effect early or late release and assuredly don't model things like dinged bomb fins, which are quite capable of generating significant additional ballistic dispersion. This material is taken from a Marine Corps weapon planning manual.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/usmc/mcwp/3-23-1/appf.pdf

Troops in Contact

Unless the ground commander determines otherwise, the terminal controller should regard friendlies within 1 kilometer of targets as a “troops in contact” situation and should advise the ground commander accordingly. However, friendlies outside of 1 kilometer may still be subject to weapon effects. Terminal controllers and aircrews must carefully weigh the choice of ordnance and delivery profile in relation to the risk of fratricide. The ground commander must accept responsibility for the risk to friendly forces when targets are inside the 0.1% PI distance. When ground commanders pass their initials to terminal controllers, they accept the risk inherent in ordnance delivery inside the 0.1% PI distance. Ordnance delivery inside 0.1% PI distances will be considered as “danger close.”

Regards,

John Kettler

[Bulletpoint]

Bulletpoint,

Your problem, in a nutshell, is that your men are well inside "danger close" for a 250-pound bomb, the most common gravity ordnance for CAS then.

I find these bombs pretty harmless in the game actually. It's like someone forgot to dial in the right damage numbers.

What happened to my troops was strafing, and at the worst possible time when the whole platoon was bunched up against a hedge, just before assaulting a position.

Well, I learned my lesson on that at least.

[John Kettler]

Bulletpoint,

They shouldn't be pretty harmless, at least, not against exposed troops. A tank? Another matter entirely, barring a direct hit or near miss.

On another note, I now see I didn't really have a handle on the Casualty Criterion. Thought I understood what it was (helps to read all of it), but here's what it really is, for purposes of weaponeering.

Casualty Criterion

The casualty criterion is the 5-minute assault criterion for a prone soldier in winter clothing and helmet. Physical incapacitation means that a soldier is physically unable to function in an assault within a 5-minute period after an attack. A probability of incapacitation (PI) value of less than 0.1% can be interpreted as being less than or equal to one chance in one thousand.

Warning: Risk-estimate distances do not represent the maximum fragmentation envelopes of the weapons listed.

The above criterion is tough because it makes the greatest demand on weapon performance short of actually digging in the infantry constituting the target array. Prone is better than standing because of both the presented area and because of the way blast and fragmentation effects work. Infantry in winter clothing is better protected than infantry in summer uniform. Terminal effectiveness studies done decades ago found that an optimum frag size for defeating a summer uniformed man is nullified by thick, layered winter clothing. Further, there's an account over on IRemember by a Maxim gunner who became what we'd now call Spetsnaz, but was then simply Scout, if the translation is to be trusted. He talks about a garment called the telogreika which had known effectiveness vs grenade and mortar fragments. His saved him from a very sharp mortar bomb frag. My suspicion is the cotton(?) batting inside wrapped up the fragment, slowed it down, maybe even stopped it from getting out the other side altogether for many frags. In his case, all it did was break the skin. This statement about frags being defeated by winter clothing may seem odd, but the actual mortar bomb fragments tell the tale. The image is taken from the classic, and grisly, Wound Ballistics and shows, by photography, what the actual fragments from a Japanese 81 mm mortar bomb look like. Note the heavy skewing toward lots of tiny projectiles.

http://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/wwii/woundblstcs/chapter1figure11.jpg

Regards,

John Kettler



[Michael Emrys]

I freely grant, though, that not all 250-pound bombs are created equal and that the WW II version is much less powerful...

Which may have something to do with why late war and Korean War photos show the fighter-bombers loaded with the 500 lb. variety instead.

Michael