Last updated: Sept/12/2022
Weapons Ranges for the AH-64 and any other helicopter and Fixed Wing aircraft (several examples already in the mission, add your own in the ME).
This is a single player mission but it is compatible with MP gameplay
Please use this thread for comments:
https://forum.dcs.world/topic/300330-helicopter-weapons-range-ii/
Sept/12/2022 Update
- Upgraded the missions to the latest version of the scripts and fixed the bug with the Automatic Range Clearance reported in the comments below
May/20/2022 Update
- Support for automatic pass start and end added.
- 3rd version of the mission added: day - AUTO (se t for automatic pass start/end) - 6/26/22 : currently broken, will troubleshoot and fix when I get a chance.
- Attack Radial option added to designation (works with any type of designation)
- Results reports got some formatting changes to support the attack radial.
- 2 new result reports using the designated target as reference instead of the closest target to impact
- BDA report fixed and re-added
- Designation settings moved under the Setting menu
- Results use shell display names instead of the type for reporting
- Tracking Script does not longer depend on pass-end to count cannon rounds.
- multiple minor bugs fixed (and, most likely, new ones introduced :) )
May/12/2022 Update
- Improve grouping of weapons for reporting
- Added optional Abort Message (turned off by default)
- Added Range Card with target offset information (kneeboard card)
- Fixed "no effect" message when target was killed
- Fixed cannon rounds counting and crashes when multiple shell types where loaded in the a/c
- Results reports improvements.
- Removed Pass BDA report.
Helicopter Weapons Range II
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The objective of this mission is to provide an environment where to practice the use of helicopter and fixed wing aircraft weapons. It was designed for my personal use in Single Player , with the AH-64 in mind, flying either from the back of front seat, and commanding George in the other seat.
It uses a (reusable and portable) script that provides useful feedback on several parameters (distance and position of the impact, targets “hit” by the weapon”, altitude, roll, pitch and yaw angles at the time of release …) . Most of these parameters are optional and can be configured using the settings menu option.
The Range
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There are two training areas:
1) Weapons Range
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Used to practice basic weapons employment and attack technics. It is divided in three areas:
A) Popup Targets area: contains 30 popup targets that are activated by the presence of helicopters. This area is delimited by blue containers.
B) Static targets: contains 6 targets, 4 are IFV/MBTs (re-spawnable via settings menu) in the center of structures designed to provide some concealment from low level attacks, and 2 area/rockets attacks designed to count the number of weapons that impacted inside the delimited area. This area targets will not report hits from strafing attacks. No mark, Laser and IR designation is available for these targets (make sure that the correct designation area is selected via the Designation menu)
C) Moving targets: contains 4 moving targets (re-spawnable via settings menu) at different speeds. Laser and IR designation is available for these targets (make sure that the correct designation area is selected via the Designation menu)
2) Target Recognition Range
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Use to practice target recognition in an urban setting. Multiple semi-random targets deployed to the area. Smoke, No mark, Laser and IR designation is available for these targets (make sure that the correct designation area is selected via the Designation menu)
This is a “tactical range” and can be used in several ways. To practice target recognition, I recommend using Smoke designation, the Range will assign you a target and you will have to locate, identify and engage that target. This is particularly fun (for me) with a fixed wing aircraft!
Also, using Laser/IR designation, will allow practicing for difficult shots because of target occlusion.
Mission flow
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Think of the script as a “range control”. Communications with “range control” will be done via the comms menu (“\”, “F10-Other”).
“Range control” has to be informed that ordnance is about to be deployed (using the “rolling in” menu option) in order to start tracking. Once the attack is completed, “range control” has to be asked to provide the results using the “Off - attack completed” menu option. There is an optional parameter in the script configuration that will generate an abort message if ordnance is dropped without the “rolling in” notification.
Additionally, “range control” can be asked to provide the coordinates for the targets and to designated them using white phosphorus, laser or an offset designation (range and bearing from a reference point).
Note: in version 1.2+ of the UI, support was added for automatic range clearance to drop ordnance, so the reporting of “rolling in” and “attack complete” commands are done automatically upon entering a zone and a timer after the last shot was fired.
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– Adding your own aircraft:
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Well, just add them to the mission! The name or type of the aircraft is not important. The “SKILL” however, is important. For user flyable aircraft, DCS accepts 2 different skills: “Player” and “Client”. The mission and script support both. “Client” has no limitations but “Player” does. If the mission contains a single aircraft and its skill is se t to “Player”, the aircraft cannot be started in the air because the range control will not work (DCS bug or limitation). A single “Player” aircraft is supported only if it starts on the ground. In this case, the script will start working when the engines are started (if cold & dark) or after take off (if started as a hot aircraft).
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--Author notes:
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Multiplayer: This mission uses a total rewrite of my Target Impact Tracker Script and a custom Popup Target control. Neither has been test in MP but I suspect that TITS will work fine in a MP setting but I’m not so sure with the popup target script, so MP compatibility of this mission is UNKNOWN and officially unsupported. Unofficially I don’t mind asking questions and, perhaps, coding a little to help anybody to make it work in MP, just keep in mind that the time I spent in this comes from my “entertainment” time, and it is already limited.
The default unit of measurements can be easily changed on the ME, using the “Override defaults trigger”.
When designing these scripts, I decided not to spend time (neither CPU or mine) doing validations, so, be warned: if you use an unsupported value, something will blow up.
Please use the forum thread provided in the download page to contact me.
vFG 476 Range Targets Package REQUIRED
https://www.476vfightergroup.com/showthread.php?5304-476th-Range-Targets-Package
A couple of good videos by Sidekick65 on the prior version of my Target Impact Tracker Script (that are still valid):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFHpjkvTnKg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQUBRqpFIEc&t=935s
