A/F-35 + other NATO air assets

[Ex3B 266]

 

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2747026822

 

 

Hello all,

    I've been slowly turning an F-35C model into a pseudo- F-35B model. This comes from Ollie's original MakeArmaNotWar entry of the FC-37 thunder (APL-SA), through   @AveryTheKitty's Aegis mod. (still need to change some things, particularly the nose wheel).

 

I'm dubbing it the A-35. Its got 2 variants: The A-35C (carrier version, minimally modified), and the AV-35B (VTOL version, uses Arma 2 assets as well). Each has 3 sub variants (Stealth/Semi-Stealth/Non-stealth)

Unlike other planes, each variant has a different flight envelope, so the stealth variant flies slighty better than the semi-stealth, which is itself slightly better than the non-stealth - to reflect extra drag and loading.

I also modified @deltagamer's Ah-99e mohawk (APL-SA). It is now the AH-99 (EFAMS). Instead of using 2 pylons with only the choice of 4 or 5 scalpels each (one where the original missile would go, plus 3 or 4 on the stub wing), I now have 2 variants: 

One which uses one pylon to add 8x Scalpel/ASRAAM on 2 stub wings, and the other pylon is used to add 2x Scalpel/ASRAAM.

Similarly, the other variant has a 6/4 pylon distribution.

I think this gives more flexibility in loadout.

 

V-22 (Arma 2 port)
      - Comes in a vehicle transport variant (can transport a nyx or prowler), a troop transport variant, and an AWACS variant. Now optionally armed via the pylon system with miniguns and 2 missile pylons
      - One of the pylons is slaved to the Pilot camera, so you can control a minigun turret with the pilot camera

 

LHD (From J0nes' improvement of the Arma2 version)

 

I may do just a standalone A-35 and a standalone AH-99 EFAMS

 

Pics:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think the added internals are all too covered in shadow, I need to work on that

 

 

 

 

 

[Ex3B 266]

Just realized that the last minute untested change I made broke the animations, uploaded a fix

[Callsign 128]

Looking good! I think separate releases would probably be best. Good to see the AH-99 getting more firepower - I always thought the vanilla version was lacking compared to the Kajman.

You should really rename this thread to 'Ex3B's freebies' though 😛

[Ex3B 266]

6 hours ago, Callsign said:

Looking good! I think separate releases would probably be best.

Yea, my most popular upload is the standalone LHD. I know that I don't like to load certain mods (cough CUP cough) because there's just too much that I am not interested in.

6 hours ago, Callsign said:

Good to see the AH-99 getting more firepower - I always thought the vanilla version was lacking compared to the Kajman.

To be fair, the AH-99E mohawk mod already did that.

It uses 2 pylon slots to add the stub wings (EFAMS) via pylon rail proxies. Despite using 2 pylon slots for this, one only gets to choose between 8-10 scalpels for thise 2 pylon slots (the other 4 pylons function as normal).

My change is that you can now select mixtures of scalpels and ASRAAMs, in addition to a new short range arm missile inspired by the real anti-radar sidewinder variant.

You can now have 8 scalpels, 2 ASRAAMs, and 4x DAR/DAGR pods (48 rockets), for a loadout a little better than A2's AH-1z.

 

My other issue is that the sensors to stealth ratio of the Blackfoot is inferior to the kajman.

They both use only LG or infrared guided weapons, but the kajman's IR ground sensors have 50% more range. A 30% radar sug reduction and no IR reduction for the Blackfoot doesn't offset this.

So I buffed the visual and IR sensors of the Blackfoot to be equal to the kajman's.

At the same time, the stealth variant got some buffs to IR and radar sign.

6 hours ago, Callsign said:

You should really rename this thread to 'Ex3B's freebies' though 

I mean... it's a mod, all mods (except cdlc if you count those) are free.

That title seems less descriptive.

Plus I want to make another small pack with some CSAT assets.

[Ex3B 266]

Ok, standalone "A-35":

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2754316499

Incorporates some minor tweaks/improvements.

 

Standalone AH-99:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2754318278

 

 

[odie0351 67]

Aside from smaller mod size is there any difference between the standalones and the base combined mod?

[Ex3B 266]

 

4 hours ago, odie0351 said:

Aside from smaller mod size is there any difference between the standalones and the base combined mod?

The base mod hasn't been updated with small tweaks to the AV-35B.

The base mod also includes the LHD (already available as a standalone, although I should update it with a tweak to the optional ViV piece), and the V-22 variants, which I haven't put up as a standalone yet.

[RS30002 28]

Owwwww...i've been looking for a new F-35B!!! Nice work! 

 

The standalone link doesn't work tho and idon't want to download the whole thing because you wrote it doesn't include the tweaks of the standalone...

 

edit: lol i downloaded it, loving it! literally went to swap the old F-35 VTOL from a mission im working on one minute into flight tests. 😂 

 

double front wheel is extra 💪

 

 

[Ex3B 266]

6 hours ago, Rok Stuhne said:

Owwwww...i've been looking for a new F-35B!!! Nice work! 

Thanks

6 hours ago, Rok Stuhne said:

The standalone link doesn't work tho and idon't want to download the whole thing because you wrote it doesn't include the tweaks of the standalone...

Sorry, it was set to private, I changed it to public now

6 hours ago, Rok Stuhne said:

edit: lol i downloaded it, loving it! literally went to swap the old F-35 VTOL from a mission im working on one minute into flight tests. 😂 

I'm curious as to what mod the old F-35 vtol mission is from? Firewill? Cup? My old "f35f"?

6 hours ago, Rok Stuhne said:

double front wheel is extra 

Double front wheel is gone in the standalone, one of the tweaks 😛

[RS30002 28]

2 hours ago, Ex3B said:

 

I'm curious as to what mod the old F-35 vtol mission is from? Firewill? Cup? My old "f35f"?

 

 

 

Firewill's. I'm missing the rearm functionality on yours, but i can script that in some way with my limited knowledge, but what sold me was the non sluggishness of the airframe. His flight model might be more realistic (at least from what ive seen in videos of VTOL landing), but it's much easier to land on the deck of the in game destroyer now. 

 

His needed literally 3-5 seconds of anticipating in advance where you'll end when you maneuver around the deck. For every press of WASD, throttle response etc etc

A lot of the times the constant correcting, correcting the corrections and the input to actual control "lag" would just spiral out of control and leave me with no option but to throttle up, abort, and go around for another, tedious try. I did learn to do much better after a few days, but the tediousness never goes away...

 

Textures on yours also "gel" better with USAF's F-35, which is one of the two options that i have as available to the pilot. (this is totally subjective tho).

The cockpit is also more aesthetic, which kinda matters to me because i fly in 1st person 95% of the time. Liking the PiP that's spread on two screens width.

 

2 cents on what it needs: rearm and more electronic features (DAS and a GPS bombing computer, mainly DAS tho, it's really a great awareness function on the USAF's F-35)

 

 

[RS30002 28]

Some additional thoughts:

 

Does it have some sort of load weight calculation??? It's pretty much impossible to lift off fully loaded. When i remove ordnancefrom 2 pylons it does take off. (i have to add here that when there's difficulty in taking off it's loaded with four x3 racks, two x2 racks, external cannon and a full internal payload)

 

Radar range of 16km is kinda yikes. 

[Ex3B 266]

1 hour ago, Rok Stuhne said:

Does it have some sort of load weight calculation??? It's pretty much impossible to lift off fully loaded. When i remove ordnancefrom 2 pylons it does take off. (i have to add here that when there's difficulty in taking off it's loaded with four x3 racks, two x2 racks, external cannon and a full internal payload)

 

Radar range of 16km is kinda yikes. 

#1) I am pretty sure that the radar range is 15km, like the F-181

#2) to my knowledge, weight of stuff on the pylons doesn't matter to Arma, it would be cool if I was wrong. That said, each variant does have a different flight model, the stealth variant has a better TWR at zero speed than the non-stealth and semi stealth (and a lower drag coefficient). 

It's meant so that the non stealth variant is not VTOL (just STOVL) but you still have full vectoring control

 

4 hours ago, Rok Stuhne said:

Firewill's. I'm missing the rearm functionality on yours, but i can script that in some way with my limited knowledge, but what sold me was the non sluggishness of the airframe. His flight model might be more realistic (at least from what ive seen in videos of VTOL landing), but it's much easier to land on the deck of the in game destroyer now. 

Well, I could make the VTOL control more sluggish 😛

 

4 hours ago, Rok Stuhne said:

Textures on yours also "gel" better with USAF's F-35, which is one of the two options that i have as available to the pilot. (this is totally subjective tho).

The cockpit is also more aesthetic, which kinda matters to me because i fly in 1st person 95% of the time. Liking the PiP that's spread on two screens width.

That comes from @AveryTheKitty's Aegis mod's development of Ollie's mod, I can't take much credit here (I did get the mfd displaying stores to sort of work)

 

4 hours ago, Rok Stuhne said:

2 cents on what it needs: rearm and more electronic features (DAS and a GPS bombing computer, mainly DAS tho, it's really a great awareness function on the USAF's F-35)

As those aren't vanilla features, I don't know how to add them.

Regarding DAS though, it sort of does have it in the form of 360 degree IR sensor coverage (much better range than found on the f-181)

[evil_brownie 17]

First off, massive props for releasing a more real-looking F-35B, it was sorely missed.

 

Small error report, not sure if just on my end or confirmable, but the rear door on the front landing gear (the one below the actuator) seems to be in the closed position while gear down and inside the wheel well while up.

Edit: Running the standalone A-35 version.

Edited February 17, 2022 by evil_brownie
detail missing

[RS30002 28]

1 hour ago, Ex3B said:

#1) I am pretty sure that the radar range is 15km, like the F-181

#2) to my knowledge, weight of stuff on the pylons doesn't matter to Arma, it would be cool if I was wrong. That said, each variant does have a different flight model, the stealth variant has a better TWR at zero speed than the non-stealth and semi stealth (and a lower drag coefficient). 

It's meant so that the non stealth variant is not VTOL (just STOVL) but you still have full vectoring control

 

As those aren't vanilla features, I don't know how to add them.

Regarding DAS though, it sort of does have it in the form of 360 degree IR sensor coverage (much better range than found on the f-181)

 

Ok on further testing i can lift off vertically fully loaded in the non stealth model, but you have to manhandle it a bit.....it isn't just throttle to 100 and off we go, but a little bit of S action so that the nose wheel lifts is required.

 

16km radar is super inadequate tho...idk....it's not the 1950's  🙂

(i know you said 15km, but on my screen it says 16km...2,4,8 are the other ranges.

 

The DAS on the USAF one superimposes radar targets in an augmented reality type of way onto the HMD...like where there was contact there is a red triangle when you look around.....it's pretty great for a feeling the map is alive.

 

Anyhow, great work, will use it more. 🙂

 

 

[Ex3B 266]

9 hours ago, Rok Stuhne said:

Ok on further testing i can lift off vertically fully loaded in the non stealth model, but you have to manhandle it a bit.....it isn't just throttle to 100 and off we go, but a little bit of S action so that the nose wheel lifts is required.

I will have to check that out, it shouldn't be able to do that.

Quote

16km radar is super inadequate tho...idk....it's not the 1950's  🙂

(i know you said 15km, but on my screen it says 16km...2,4,8 are the other ranges.

1) that is the display radius, not the radar range. The shikra also has a 16km display mode, even though it's radar is only 13km (I think it's passive anti-radar sensor works out to 16km)

2) I know it's short for reality, but that's the way the vanilla units are. I balanced it to fit in with vanilla units.

I would consider making a version with all sensor and missile ranges doubled... I did that for the f-35f

*Edit* well, at least doubling the range of anti-air radars+radar guided AA and ARM missiles, but then I would have to make versions of everything relevant: shikras, gryphons, buzzards, SAMS, nyx, perhaps the Tigris/cheetah (although they lack radar guided missiles, it's relevant if they are data linked to sams), etc ..

Quote

The DAS on the USAF one superimposes radar targets in an augmented reality type of way onto the HMD...like where there was contact there is a red triangle when you look around.....it's pretty great for a feeling the map is alive. 

🙂

Yea, I don't know how to add that...

[RS30002 28]

54 minutes ago, Ex3B said:

I will have to check that out, it shouldn't be able to do that.

.

 

7/10 it ends in disaster, unusable for regular use in the role i intended it for. Semi stealth has no problem but im kinda fixated on the idea of having all pylons.

 

...i read a little bit about addons on the forum, downloaded tools and opened up the files....i saw what you did, at 0 speed it has 1.001 thrust (which is criminal lol!). It needs 1:1+ to lift off empty (in reality). Semi stealth has 1.03.

 

Tried to tinker a bit with various configs (found the thrust, radar/display range entries), did edit a little, strictly intending for my own personal use (idk how the ethics around this are, if it's frowned upon i apologize).....but had no success. Working theory right now is that the entries i need to edit are in the binarized config. 🙂 

 

Also found the IR sensor, from what i understand from the configs it has 360 degrees coverage on x axis, 180 on y axis.  That's not 360 degree coverage in all directions? Not sure if you intended it this way, not criticizing, just mentioning.

 

[Ex3B 266]

12 hours ago, Rok Stuhne said:

Tried to tinker a bit with various configs (found the thrust, radar/display range entries), did edit a little, strictly intending for my own personal use (idk how the ethics around this are, if it's frowned upon i apologize).....but had no success. Working theory right now is that the entries i need to edit are in the binarized config. 🙂 

Yes, you need to edit the config.

Ethically, this A-35 is derived from an open source share-alike licence, so if I understand right, I am not allowed to stop others from editing as they want

12 hours ago, Rok Stuhne said:

Also found the IR sensor, from what i understand from the configs it has 360 degrees coverage on x axis, 180 on y axis.  That's not 360 degree coverage in all directions? Not sure if you intended it this way, not criticizing, just mentioning.

Nah, that's fine, the y axis goes from 90 up (straight up) to 90 down (straight down), as it goes from straight up to straight down across 360 degrees of the x axis, that does give full spherical coverage

[RS30002 28]

Hi...may i ask where is the LHD with included catapults and arrestor wires? ....i have the pack version of your stuff and i'd like to have both options of landing.

 

Also, are there any codes to animate the plane elevator? 🙂