Aircraft Engaging Distance - Test Results

I know awhile back someone (I don't know why I'm thinking Swingkid or Britgliderpilot) ran tests and documented distances at which military aircraft engaged hostile ground/naval and aerial objects with/without assigning them as targets.

Does anyone know?

I did some useless testing as well, testing the aerodynamic distances missiles travelled while being unguided :p

Here are my findings on reaction distances against airborn targets:

Fighter Sweep - 100 km

Intercept - 150 km

CAP - 125 km

Escort - 30 km

GAI - 60 km

This is only true against targets that have actualy been dedected. So a CAP fighter will not engage a enemy at 130 km even if he has him dedected while a fighter with the intercept task will not engage a target at 90 km that he hasn't dedected yet etc.

Thanks - M

Here are my findings on reaction distances against airborn targets:

 

Fighter Sweep - 100 km

Intercept - 150 km

CAP - 125 km

Escort - 30 km

GAI - 60 km

 

This is only true against targets that have actualy been dedected. So a CAP fighter will not engage a enemy at 130 km even if he has him dedected while a fighter with the intercept task will not engage a target at 90 km that he hasn't dedected yet etc.

Hi Marc,

what does GAI stand for? I suppose something with Ground ;)

Ground-Alert Intercept (meaning you have fighters sitting ont he runway, ready to take off at a moment's notice)

Here are my findings on reaction distances against airborn targets:

 

Fighter Sweep - 100 km

Intercept - 150 km

CAP - 125 km

Escort - 30 km

GAI - 60 km

 

This is only true against targets that have actualy been dedected. So a CAP fighter will not engage a enemy at 130 km even if he has him dedected while a fighter with the intercept task will not engage a target at 90 km that he hasn't dedected yet etc.

So how does AWACS or EWR figure in all this?

AWACS and EWR will only affect target dedection but the reaction ranges remain the same. So with AWACS on air, a Fighter Sweep will always react at 100 km and CAP at 125 km etc. AWACS basicaly gives the AI a all around situation awareness. Of course the AWACS needs to see the target on radar itselfe, so with the new AWACS modeling since 1.11 patch this is a bit more differated.

The different reaction ranges are a nice tool to limited script the air war ( as a substitute for better editor tools ).

What I like to do on ground attack missions is position a enemy flight with 'intercept' task some 140 km away from the target. This means that as soon as the player reaches the target area the fighters will react and intercept the player. It takes some minutes for them to travel the distance, so this gives the player a short time to do his task and return home without getting intercepted. If the player hangs around the target area too long he will be engaged.

Of course there must be friendly SAM or fighters behind the front to create safe airspace since the enemy will hunt down the player until the end. Good advice is to have a friendly flight with escort task some 30 km behind the front, so they will engage only after the enemy fighters have entered friendly airspace. There must be AWACS or EWR present for both sides for this to work flawless.

You see there are some small possibilitys to "script" missions in Lock On. Just just wish there were more...