¶ Armament
There are all sorts of things you can put on your jet's hardpoints however you should understand the differences between the various options, so you can make the correct choice to match the mission requirements.
Armament can be split into 2 categories with the following sub-categories:
- Air-to-Air
- Short-Range Missiles
- Medium-Range Missiles
- Long-Range Missiles
- Air-to-Ground
- Gunpods
- Bombs
- Laser Guided
- Unguided
- Missiles
- Anti-Radiation
- Anti-Tank
- Anti-Personnel
- Rockets
- Targeting Pods
This may seem like a lot, but I'll try my best to keep it simple and omit the details that are not relevant to Arma. For the sake of simplicity, I'll use the names that show up in game when our modpack is activated. They should generally be quite similar to vanilla ones if they're different at all.
¶ Air-To-Air
I'm not going to compare missiles within these subcategories as
- You often don't get a choice (e.g. BIM 9X is a NATO/AAF exclusive and R73 is a CSAT exclusive)
- It's the theory that this module is focusing on rather than what's the most powerful jet in Arma
¶ Short-Range Missiles
SR missiles are typically IR guided i.e. heat-seeking which makes them much easier to carry as even vehicles without active radars can make use of them. They're intended to be used at ranges under 3km or so as they don't have enough fuel to go much further but are much more agile due to the reduced weight and size.
The SR missiles available in the vanilla game are powerful, but bear in mind they're not as overpowered as some modded versions therefore you still have to plan out your launch carefully. Below you have examples of what would be a good position to launch a SR missile.
The key thing to remember is that the missile should be launched at the lowest overload possible, if you're turning and the enemy is turning even harder than you are, the missile will find it difficult to follow the turn and continue tracking the target. On the other hand, if the enemy is flying straight away/towards you, the missile will have a lot less work to do to get to the target and depending on the distance from the target, they may not even be able to move out of its way.
Below is an example of when not to fire a missile.
While it is possible that you could hit the target from that angle, SR missiles rely on predicting where the target is going to be. It is unlikely the target will continue flying straight, so the missile would likely have to complete another turn to get ahead of the enemy on top of the tight launch turn it has already completed.
Examples of SR missiles:
- BIM 9X AA
- R73 AA
¶ Medium-Range Missiles
MR missiles are typically radar guided and require an active radar system to lock the target (although ordinarily you'd have to maintain lock on the target to guide certain real radar guided missiles, Arma does not enforce this and instead the missile guides itself all the way after it's launched). This means only certain jets can carry them, although rest assured any modern fighter should have an active radar system. The range of these missiles is around 12-13km, but bear in mind that this is a lock range, the missile still has to reach the target therefore you'd ideally want to be closer to make sure it can actually reach the target.
Radar missiles work differently to IR missiles but I will omit the actual inner workings and instead just provide an example of when to fire one:
There are some differences, for instance you should not fire a missile at a target flying directly away from you or perpendicular to you. Notching (flying perpendincular to a radar) is a common tactic used to counter radar guided missiles and active radar systems and although it may not be as effective against these modern versions, it is still something to keep in mind when launching a missile. Flying away from the missile also makes it harder for it to track you and bleeds it of its energy (as it has to travel a longer distance to get to you).
Compared to SR missiles, MR missiles are less agile as of course the extra range makes them heavier therefore when launching one, make sure it will have less work to do, even less than in the case of an SR missile.
Examples of MR missiles:
- AMRAMM C/D AA
- R77 AA
¶ Long-Range Missiles
LR missiles are also typically radar guided and are not used in the vanilla game outside of SAM sites. Real LR missiles would have a range that can be above 100+km, however in-game the SAM sites have a 16km tracking distance making them slightly better than MR missiles.
Examples of LR SAM sites:
- S750 Rhea
- MIM-145 Defender
¶ Defending
Although you know how these missiles would be used offensively, how do you defend yourself against them?
¶ Plane Positioning
Positioning your plane is very important when countering a missile; as shown in the examples previously, the optimal missile launch position is from behind the target (SR) or from in front of the target (MR) but neither really excel from the sides (90 degree angles or less). With that said, positioning your plane perpendicular to the enemy or at an even tighter angle essentially defeats any SR missile that they could send at you if they could even maintain a lock.
If you're at a longer range, suppose let's say 10km, you don't have the option of going around the enemy as you're simply too far but since you're outside of SR missile range, you can be certain that any missiles will be radar guided i.e. MR/LR. As previously stated, ideally you'd want to avoid launching an MR/LR missile at a target moving directly away from you as they'd be able to bleed the missile of its speed (even if it's closing in, it'll take a lot longer than it would for a target approaching it). If you're defending against a missile like this, you should go in the opposite direction of it, fly low to possibly use the terrain against it and prepare to use countermeasures.
It is possible to outmanuever a missile, both SR and MR/LR missiles, but the probability of success is much lower than if you used countermeasures, positioned your plane correctly and also turned to make it difficult for the missile to reach you.
¶ Countermeasures
Your plane should come with countermeasures, in real life this would be flares and chaff seperately however Arma combines the two for the sake of simplicity. You should have two modes in vanilla, with a single or burst usage, however I recommend using burst unless you are short on countermeasures as modern missiles are a lot harder to defeat than you might think.
Instead of blabbering on about how a missile seeker head works, I'll just tell you how to use countermeasures. All you need to know is that the missile can turn for countermeasures instead of your plane, and positioning/manuevering is the way to ensure a higher probability of success.
For example, let's say the missile was launched at 3km and is directly behind you:
What you should do in this situationis:
- Drop countermeasures
- Start turning hard to move out of their way
- Continue dropping countermeasures as you turn
- Stop dropping countermeasures when you are sure that the missile has gone for countermeasures.
This is where you'd want to end up:
In this diagram you have dropped enough countermeasures that the missile has lost track of you and has instead gone for flares, while moving out of the way to be safe. (missiles typically have proximity fuses meaning that as long as they get close enough, the target should still take damage/be taken down.)
You're unlikely to find yourself in this relatively favourable situation but you'll just have to hope you can react quickly enough to an approaching missile. Remember that it's okay to use up your countermeasure supply if it means you'll stay alive, there's no need to try and save countermeasures. Missions with air assets will usually have some sort of resupply available anyways.
¶ Air-to-Ground
Yet again I'll refrain from comparing different versions of the armament within these subcategories and instead will focus on how they work and how you'd use them.
¶ Gunpods
Gunpods can either be internal/external. Most fighters (or all of them in the case of vanilla A3 content) come with some sort of internal gun whether it's a minigun or a 30mm cannon. Here's some examples:
- A-164 Wipeout - 30mm Gatling Cannon
- To-201 Shikra - 30mm Gsh Cannon
- A-149 Gryphon - 20mm M61 Minigun
- Harrier GR.9 (Modded Vehicle) - 20mm Twin Cannon (external)
Generally fighter gunpods are intended as a backup air-to-air weapon, especially considering the severely limited ammo for most of them while CAS/ground attack aircraft usually have gunpods meant for dealing with infantry and ground vehicles with larger ammo supplies to ensure the aircraft can provide support for longer.
Most vehicles can't mount external gunpods but usually it's not an issue when there's an internal one available.
¶ Bombs
Bombs come in various shapes and sizes depending on the type of bomb and the era it's from, I'll provide some pictures to help you identify these easier.
Bombs come in various versions such as:
- High Explosive (HE)
- Cluster
- Incendiary/Napalm
Cluster bombs usually disperse HE sub-munitions (they essentially split into smaller pieces that explode on a wider area) but can also disperse things like mines, or chemical/biological substances. These bombs can be devastating against infantry in particular but are banned internationally yet may still see use by countries that decide to not follow the conventions.
Napalm/Incendiary bombs are pretty self explanatory but set everything around the target ablaze. These can also be devastating however they aren't seen in the vanilla game.
There are other guidance systems for bombs such as TV, but you're unlikely to see many if any at all in Arma even with various mods.
¶ Laser Guided
Laser guided bombs require you to lock onto either your own laser (from an internal/external targeting pod) or a friendly laser and on a correct launch, the bomb should guide itself towards the laser. Bear in mind that while these bombs are "smart", they do not have proper propulsion systems and can't fly by themselves, they instead glide/fall towards the target with minor adjustments done to the glide path where necessary.
Here is a GBU-12 500lb laser guided bomb. As you can see it looks quite advanced compared to traditional "dumb" bombs.
Below you can see a diagram of how a laser guided bomb would work in practice.
It's a very simple diagram, but as you can see the plane flies by while laser designating the target and drops the GBU when locked onto the laser. The plane then continues flying away while maintaining their laser on the target until the bomb reaches the target.
The important thing to remember is that laser guided bombs do require you to keep the laser on the target for most of its journey in order to hit the target accurately. Unless you're using a larger version like a 2000lb one, missing the target by even a little bit can lead to no/minimal damage.
Some jets do not have a 360 degree laser designator therefore you'll have to make sure that the bomb is guided for as long as possible, possibly diving along with it to maintain the laser in place.
Examples of laser guided bombs:
- GBU-12
- FAB-250M
- RBK-500F (Cluster)
¶ Unguided Bombs
Unguided bombs or "dumb" bombs require you to use your own skills and/or the plane's targeting systems in order to accurately drop them. They are significantly cheaper however and can be dropped at much more awkward angles as they do not need guidance beyond the launch. There are different versions however the one you'll see the most is just a plain bomb like the one below.
There's also retarded bombs that have different glide paths when dropping due to their parachutes/tail units:
You're unlikely to see these, but aiming these would of course require a different drop point as they are unlikely to travel as far in the horizontal direction.
Examples of unguided bombs:
- Mk82
- FAB-250
¶ Missiles
Air-to-ground missiles are great for precise strikes from a distance with various types available with different guidance systems and payloads.
¶ Anti-Radiation
Anti-radiation missiles are intended for use against radar and SAM sites. They are guided by the radar emitter of the target therefore they have to be used against unaware targets to be effective but can be launched from an extremely long distance (maximum range of 16km or so).
AGM-88C HARM
Examples of anti-radiation missiles:
- AGM-88C HARM
- KH58 ARM
¶ Anti-Tank/Personnel Missiles
Anti-tank and anti-personnel missiles are pretty similar with the same guidance systems available and although you use them the same way, the way they look is very different therefore I split them up.
Anti-tank missile (left), anti-personnel missile (right).
Anti-tank missiles are intended to penetrate enemy armor and then explode causing maximum damage while anti-personnel missiles aim to just explode near the target to kill them.
Anti-tank missiles come in laser and radar homing versions, with the former potentially requiring you to use your own laser designator to guide the missile. Radar homing missiles will just require you to locate and lock onto the target.
Anti-personnel missiles only come in laser homing versions but should behave the same way as anti-tank missiles.
Examples of anti-tank missiles:
- AGM-65 Maverick
- AGM-114K
- Kh-25MTP
- Kh-25ML
- 9K121 Vikhr
- AGM-114L
Examples of anti-personnel missiles:
- HOT 1/2/2MP/3
- AGM-114N
Anti-tank missiles can of course be used against personnel, while anti-personnel missile wouldn't do great against armor.
¶ Rockets
Rockets are the unguided brother of missiles, they have various payloads such as:
- HE
- AP
- Flechette
They also come in various sizes and amounts and require you to use your plane's targeting systems (if it has them) and your own skill to effectively use them. They are cheaper than the guided brothers and can be carried in larger amounts due to their more compact size.
S8 x20 Rockets
Examples of rockets:
- Hydra 70
- CRV7
- S8
- S5
- Skyfire
¶ Targeting Pods
Targeting pods can be internal or external, but you'd need one if you'd like to properly use laser guided munitions. There shouldn't be much of a difference between them, but if you're ever comparing them, make sure you take one that has 360 degree operation and offers thermal vision alongside the laser designator if possible.
AN/AAQ-28 Targeting Pod
¶ Conclusion
Hopefully some of this information helps to explain what some of this armament is and/or what it does. Usage will be covered in the dogfighting/BVR/CAS sections.