AC130 Attack Profile
AC 130 attacks are different to other fixed wing attacks, as rather than flying at the target; the AC 130 flies in a slow anti-clockwise orbit above the target, firing continuously at the target in a firing angle of 450 from the left-hand-side of the aircraft. AC130 attacks support only 5line mission type.
NOTE:
AC-130U Spooky - GAU-12 - L70 - M102 should be used as the asset type and an aircraft of the same type should be used when creating the VBS3 mission for AC130 attacks. Make sure to edit attached aircrafts "Combat Mode" to "Never Fire" state in order to avoid automatically firing to the target.
When AC130 asset is selected from VBS3Strike Instructor Control Panel, the GUI will automatically change the mission type into 5line and it will switch the attack profile into ‘Orbit’, which is used only for AC130 attacks.
∆ Image 3d.60: Creating a AC130 type orbit attack |
Under Aircraft selection panel, only one aircraft will be used when creating a task for an orbit attack. If more than one aircrafts were selected, an error message will be displayed when validating the task.
∆ Image 3d.61: Only One Aircraft Is Allowed error message |
User can insert values for Friendly Location and Target Location. Under Restrictions/Remarks panel, user can enter the firing rate of the selected cannons. The firing rate is in Rounds per minute. Apart from the M102(105mm cannon), one round will fire 20 bullets. For M102(105mm cannons), one round means one shell. The firing rate of M102(105mm cannon) is one round per minute. This rate cannot be changed.
For cannons, the default firing rates for GAU12(25mm Cannon), Bofors(40mm Cannon) and M102(105mm Cannon) are as follows
Weapon |
Rounds per minute |
Bullets / Shells |
Consumption |
GAU12(25mm Cannon) |
30 |
20 |
600 |
Bofors(40mm Cannon) |
5 |
20 |
100 |
M102(105mm Cannon) |
1 |
1 |
1 |
The firing time or duration can also be specified. If not specified, the default duration will be 60 seconds. The maximum firing time allowed is 7200 seconds.
The only available engage type for AC130 attacks is Immediate. Attack altitude (AGL) ranges from 5000ft-40000ft. AC130 supports three types of Cannon weapons. Multiple weapons can be used at the same time in AC130 attack profile.
After the task is created, aircraft will fly to an orbit shaped path which contains 36 release points. The aircraft will fly in anti-clockwise direction on this path.
∆ Image 3d.62: Orbit attack path |
If the task is not ‘Cleared Hot’, the aircraft will remain flying on the orbit attack path and the task will not be completed until it is aborted.
At each release point it reaches while flying on the attack path, it will check whether ‘Cleared Hot’ is given. If the user ticks ‘Cleared Hot’ at any instance, the aircraft will fire to the target, at the first release point it reaches after ‘Cleared Hot’ is given.
The task will be completed once the firing time elapses and the aircraft will stay routing on the same orbit path in which all the release points are removed after task completion, until a new routing location is specified or until it is assigned to a new task.
At the first time the aircraft enters the orbit, the entering point will not be considered a release point regardless of the fact whether the task is cleared hot or not, but when it reaches the same point after travelling the orbit in its first iteration, then it will be considered a release point.
NOTE:
The radius of the orbit attack path is same as the given attack altitude.
If an adjustment is given, the aircraft will not change its geometry if the adjusted target is within 10% of its current orbit radius. Manual aircraft control is disabled for AC130 asset type.