Re: [GZG] [DSII] Precision Strike

[Oerjan Ariander <oerjan.ariander@xxxxxxxxx>]

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@xxxxxxxxx

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

_______________________________________________
Gzg-l mailing list
Gzg-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.csua.berkeley.edu/mailman/listinfo/gzg-l