UAV's

[finalcut]

About once a week or so we hear on the news about some UAV blowing the crap outta some Al Qaeda or Taliban in our current theatre of operations.Why do we not have UAV's available for CAS in this game?Just wondering.Also,shouldn't we have them available to help ID enemy units?

[Boche]

well i dont thing a UAV is the best type of CAS for a combat mission. those UAVs that target HVTs ussually stalk them or follow them around until they strike and are ussualy CIA manned. during a conflict its much better to use aircraft than a UAV, atleast in todays battlefield

the identifying enemy units could be useful although i dont know if units in a conflict like that would be "armed" with small UAVs like in afghanistan

[meade95]

While I would agree, and suspect we will have UAVs in any CMSF-2 that comes out - The way it is now, without them......the only way to address the lack of UAVs is perhaps within the "intel %" at the start of the scenario for BLUFOR. Give them a higher % if on that scearnio you think they would be in play...

[Alchenar]

I'm not a fan of implementing local UAVs unless you're going to go all 'future war' and set the whole thing in a fictional USA-China land conflict.

Blue gets enough advantages without real time top down monitoring of all human movement and vehicles.

[Field Marshal Blücher]

well i dont thing a UAV is the best type of CAS for a combat mission. those UAVs that target HVTs ussually stalk them or follow them around until they strike and are ussualy CIA manned. during a conflict its much better to use aircraft than a UAV, atleast in todays battlefield

Pretty much this. I actually think that it is only CIA UAVs that are armed, although that may not be true any more.

[meade95]

Pretty much this. I actually think that it is only CIA UAVs that are armed, although that may not be true any more.

That isn't, the case, any longer.

[JonS]

That isn't, the case, any longer.

ya, but in 2008?

[SD Smack]

Im not sure how UAVs would be fielded in a "hot" war but when it comes to CAS whats the difference whether its a UAV or an Apache....to me if I see I have an Apache I know that the load out will be greater than a UAV can hold plus it still has 30mm...even the Kiowa has a .50 cal. The intel aspect of the UAV would be more important to me as a ground commander. Having a real time image/video of the battlefield would be great and UAVs do provide that, but Iraq and Afganistan dont provide ideal operating environments for that to be tested. Ak rounds just dont reach that high. For what its worth I think that having UAVs in a "hot" environment would require that very few ADA systems were available to the enemy....just a thought.

Steve-o

[-Eddie-]

ya, but in 2008?

Weapon off the rail!

The RAF have been sending Hellfires and Paveway IIs downtown since June 2008 from the Reaper UAV, and on active duty in Afghanistan from October 2007. So even if we're in the confines of the CMSF time frame we can safely assume the RAF/USAF operators were able to use the Reaper effectively by then.

Implementing it in a CMSF2 game is something I'd be very interested in. As said, it's a bit of an all-seeing-eye, especially with its new sensors:

Gorgon Stare

Big Brother really is watching. Or should that be Big Brothers?

We should also be thinking of what the aerial battlespace will look like in a future war (2035 onwards). The UK seems to be sidestepping the '5th Gen' combat aircraft, giving only a momentary glance at the F-35C. We, like the US and France seem to be interested most in the future of UAVs (renamed RPAS by some orgs).

British Air and Space Power Doctrine

On the table so far is the Mantis UAV, Taranis UAV, and some kind of future UAV with the French..

Future of UAVs in the RAF