Military airbases

[Guest]

Well topic says it all really, but since I'm a total non-military person I'm wondering if anyone knows. Are the Runways on military airbases lit at night, with runways lights in the same manner as commerical airports? Any bright spark out there know the answer?

Ta

[ran 0]

the answer is .... yes , in peace time at least

but i'm sure the ground markings are light-reflecting like on the civilian airports , you know like these white or fluorescent stripes on firemen's vests , and i'm pretty sure these can be seen on a NV monitor or in a pair of NVG's

[Guest]

Do you mean Scotchlite? That sort of stuff....small glass beads (in a fabric/sheet)? If that's the case then should be fairly easy to replicate in OFP

[NurEinMensch 0]

It's not like it was in WW2 when they avoided light at night if possible. Today with modern technology it doesn't really matter how much you try to cloak your AB, the enemy _will_ see it. It's not like it's a big secret where they are.

[Guest]

Yes...that makes sense to me. But in that case, would they light them up to help pilots?

[acidcrash 0]

too much light and they risk ruining the pilots (and just about anyone else for that matter) nightvision. I remember from my time at RAF Leeming there wasnt that much in the way of lighting near the flightline though but the rest of the airfield was lit up well enough

though i guess it would be a different story during a state of readiness

[Stag 0]

In a war it would be blacked out. You use every trick in the book to screw things up for the bad guy; handing him a dirty great visual reference on a platter is not a good idea. yeah, he can find the airbase by using GPS, but once there he's got to look for targets manually, unless he's using some very sophisticated weaponry currently only used by the Yanks.

And we all know their reputation for accuracy...

[NavyEEL 0]

...unless he's using some very sophisticated weaponry currently only used by the Yanks.

And we all know their reputation for accuracy...

and you also know their reputation for success

[Stag 0]

Whatever. My point is, despite the sophistication of the weaponry, there is always a margin of error. It's up to the defenders to make that margin as wide as possible.

Switching the lights off not only helps do that, it saves electricity.

[FSPilot 0]

Depends. The larger ones do, but smaller ones don't. Most use something called PCL, Pilot Controlled Lighting. You tune up a frequency, usually the common traffic advisory frequency, and click the mic a certain number of times for a certain setting (high, medium, or low intensity). If there's a control tower the lights will usually be on, if there's no tower, or it's out of operation, the lights will usually be pilot controlled.

[Guest]

Hmmmm....that one could be rather difficult to script!

Since I'm building islands for the first Gulf War....maybe imagine how the Iraqis did it....

Thx guys

[Guest DKM-jaguar]

...unless he's using some very sophisticated weaponry currently only used by the Yanks.

And we all know their reputation for accuracy...

and you also know their reputation for success  

offtopic:

well if success counts as hitting friendly (usually british ) troops then they are reaaaly sucessful...

[Winters 1]

Flame-Baiting will get this topic locked up quick, why not try just sticking to the topic instead?

[Guest DKM-jaguar]

How is it flame baiting? The americans caused more losses to the british in the last gulf war than the iraqis did. I dont see why we should pretend otherwise.

However, I can't argue with about being ontopic so:

I think that they would have airbase lights on in all states of readiness, as airbases are not normally in direct view of the enemy and would therefore have little to worry about other than air attack, but the position of the installation would have to be known by the enemy first anyway, so it becomes pointless to turn out the lights when they know it's there. Plus if these glow strip things someone was on about are visible to NVG, then even the enemy with NVG will see it, so yet again it is pointless.

I doubt that they have as much lighting as a civil base anyway.

i have noticed that aircraft carriers on TV always seem to be in total darkness, but then they are ships and are quite vulnerable if an enemy is close enough to see them..

[Winters 1]

Im not saying to pretend otherwise, i am saying thats off topic, open up a new thread if you want to discuss friendly fire casualties.

As a general rule of thumb i think the Airbase will be well lit but the runways not as brightly lit, If its a base that had been recently built i could see it being kept very dark but for instance take Baghdad airport, its location is very well known and it would only be left in the dark to maybe hide the location of some of the equipment there although that would seem like a very unlikely reason.

[Tamme 0]

The enemy definately knows the position of the airbase, but turning the lights off would make it a bit harder to hit. Again, the enemy pilots sure have NVGs so it propably doesn't make a big difference.

[Stag 0]

The enemy definately knows the position of the airbase, but turning the lights off would make it a bit harder to hit. Again, the enemy pilots sure have NVGs so it propably doesn't make a big difference.

Have you ever used image intensifying Night vision gear? It's better than nothing, but it's nowhere near as good as the Mk.1 human eyeball in daylight, and it's hard enough to aquire a target during the day when you are moving near mach 1.

Then consider that while you are looking for something to kill, you also have to watch out for AA threats of varying degrees of sophistication.

Some smart munitions would be able to take care of buildings, because as has quite rightly been pointed out, their positions would be well known. But trying to hit dispersed targets like aircraft and logistics gear could be made very difficult just by there not being a light source nearby. And that is the important stuff; the buildings could be rubble, but as long as there's a runway, aircraft, fuel and muntions, that airbase would still be able to mount some kind of offensive operations.

[FSPilot 0]

There's not a doubt in my mind that they'd turn off the runway lights if there were enemy aircraft inbound. But when was the last time that happened?

[Supah 0]

There's not a doubt in my mind that they'd turn off the runway lights if there were enemy aircraft inbound.  But when was the last time that happened?  

If your in iraq then aboot 2 months ago? Over here (teh netherlands) they only turn on the runway lights when a plane is going to land. Electricity isnt free and all those lights use allot of it

[FSPilot 0]

I think most base commanders are more concerned with operational considerations than conserving electricity.

To be fair though I only know how civilian airports worked. It's been a long time since I've flown out of an active military airfield.

[Supah 0]

 It's been a long time since I've flown out of an active military airfield.

I live near one. They get electricity bills just as the rest of us. Times are hard ... budget cuts are the matter of the day. If you can save electricity by not having your approach/landing lights on day and night then go for it Its REALLY expensive