Re: [GZG] [DSII] Precision Strike

John A. wrote:

> >This is one of the most 1970s bits of the entire DS2 rules set. While

> this was true during >the 'Nam and Yom Kippur wars, it wasn't true for

> Serb AA units during the NATO bombings >of Kosovo, it isn't true
today, 
> and I kinda doubt that it'll become much truer in the future. >Modern 
> radars can play quite a few interesting tricks on incoming ARMs, and
all 
> those >tricks definitely fall in the "ECM" category.
>
>Part of the problem is that the NATO forces in Kosovo didn't have a
>combined/joint strike capability.  Army strike assets (MLRS/ATACMS)
>would have gone a long way towards dealing with this thing because of
>faster response times-

Oh, certainly. 'Course, those army strike assets would also have been in

range of the *Serbian* army strike assets which the combined air forces 
were trying to hit from higher than 15,000' altitude ;-)

It would also have added another interesting facet to this AA-vs-ARM ECM

warfare: creating *false* AA radar emissions to make the NATO forces
waste 
their MLRS/ATACMS on cheap decoys (just like they expended quite a lot
of 
expensive precision bombs on what turned out to be garbage containers
with 
a fire lit in one end - on long-distance IR that looks very much like an
MBT).
How many rockets can NATO afford to waste before they start requiring
more 
secure confirmation that the emitter is a radar rather than a decoy?

'Course, in the Kosovo case there's yet another ugly twist to this:
place 
the AA radars - either real ones or decoys - close to an Albanian
village, 
so the NATO forces can't use their area weapons without "committing an 
atrocity" against the very people they wanted to *protect*. How many
such 
disasters could the alliance take without fracturing? It was pretty 
strained by the bombing of refugee columns and the Chinese embassy,
after 
all...

>But at any rate, switching a radar on and off may keep it from being
>shredded by an ARM, but it doesn't do the effectiveness of your air
>defense network any favors.

Thing is, modern radars can play ECM tricks *without* shutting
themselves 
down and instead use among other things their own radar emissions to
fool 
the ARMs... and see my reply to Ryan for an even more interesting option
:-)

>And it will be, as always, a race between radar designers and ARM
>designers as to who can play better tricks.

Of course - but emulating that kind of capabilities race is precisely
what 
FMA's core opposed die roll does best. It's merely a matter of selecting

your baseline appropriately for the setting you play in :-)

Later,

Oerjan
oerjan.ariander@telia.com

"Life is like a sewer.
  What you get out of it, depends on what you put into it."
-Hen3ry

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