Csla 2

[Bobby - CSLA team 0]

@Keller_777: You are right, SOME BTR-50s had pintle mount LMG, but MAA is right as well. Some of BTR-50s which you showed are very old top opened vehicle of first series or not CSLA vehicle.

BTR-50 in PK version has roof over cargo space and in some cases pintle mount of 7.62 mm. Actually it was used in Czechoslovakia army WITHOUT weapons. It was used as a prime mover for artilery towing as well. For APC purposes CSLA used much better OT-62B armed with 7.62 turret and 82mm recoiless gun.

[Bobby - CSLA team 0]

All members of CSLA have met again. Complete team had an opportunity to visit military chopper base of Czech Army in Prerov.

We able to take hundreds of photos, crowl through the choppers and discussed with pilots and ground crew members. Our main targets were Mi-17 Hip and Mi-24 Hind in several versions, which were fully accessible for our team.

If you ask us how is it to sit on pilot/operator or in pilot/captain chair of Mi-24 Hind, we would say ....

IT IS AMAZING!!!

More pics on our page. Check our "in cockpit" pics.

[Cpt. FrostBite 0]

lucky bastards! ( )

I would have paid big money to be able to do that.

Keep it up guys!!!

[sanctuary 19]

This Hind is looking really big, it is an impressive monster.

What addon are you using in that screenshot ?

[Thunderbird 0]

Who's Maa ?

[fingolfin 1972]

Will you also add an BTR-50 for the russian side for the update?

[BlackScorpion 0]

Avon about FIA

You all sure it's English? They might be the same name but in some other language...

[Tomislav 0]

i guess such an action would be impossible in germany, or very expensive

[miles teg 1]

Wow! That must have been great! You should ask them if they'll let you fly on a training flight.

The Mi-24 is still my favorite helicopter and I still believe its one of the most effective helicopter gunships in the world and is relatively inexpensive for what it does.

What is funny is that in Iraq, US Army and Marine Apache and SuperCobra pilots are now using the same tactics as Mi-24 Hind pilots....fly fast, never hover, and conduct high speed strafing runs on targets.

Anyhoo.... I look forward to any new CSLA updates!

Keep up the good work guys!

Chris G.

aka-Miles Teg<GD>

[Tomislav 0]

Anyhoo.... I look forward to any new CSLA updates!

Keep up the good work guys!

who does not

[agent556 5]

id say that tactic would be more effective for hinds as I read somewhere that they are the second fastest helicopter in the world. (too bad opflash doesnt show this)

[Bobby - CSLA team 0]

We also solved problems concerning armament of M-24 Hinds and its combinations. Weapon/Ammo load will be made according to discussion with ground crew members and pilots...

BTW. We will have one ...ehm...specialty for you...Mi-24 Hind armed with 16 pieces 122mm Grad rockets..."Tank buster"...

[BlackScorpion 0]

Is The Hind really so well armoured as in OPF? I mean, can it withstand/avoid e.g. a Stinger?

[Gordy 0]

Is The Hind really so well armoured as in OPF? I mean, can it withstand/avoid e.g. a Stinger?

It is called a flying tank if i'm not mistaken.

I doubt that it could withstand a stinger.

[T.S.C.Plage 0]

I saw a video taken in Chechnya where a Mi-24 is shot down by an Sa-16 Igla. The rocket explodes directly at the rotor-head and covers the whole helicopter in an explosion but the pilot managed it to land the chopper via auto-rotation. I was told that nobody was harmed in this action but can't say that's 100%ly true.

Interesting is that it seemed like the countermeasure of the Hind didn't worked at all...no flares and no irritation of the rocket by an IR-jammer. But maybe they simply weren't mounted or functional. I heard the Russians had some "support problems" over there.

From the Russian war in Afghanistan we know that Stingers are able to shoot down Hinds but I'm sure this really depends on the situation (position of the missile-launcher and the helicopter, countermeasures etc.).

Long time ago I saw a vid on tv where some Muhjaheddin (sp?) were shooting down a Mi-24 flying in very high altitude from nearly directly under it's back and in this case the Hind felt down like a stone...but for this reasons the Russians invented all this nice equipment like new flare-dispensers, IR-jammers and the "coolers".

I think for OFP it would be great to have a Mi-24 that could be shot down by only one rocket but it should have some countermeasures which are irritating the missiles so it has a chance to survive.

Greetz

Plage

[Taconic 0]

Is The Hind really so well armoured as in OPF? I mean, can it withstand/avoid e.g. a Stinger?

The Russo-Afghan war proved that the Hind doesn't do too well when hit by Stingers.

Ultimately, I'd say it depends upon where it got hit. A hit to the bottom of the fuselage could well be survivable for a Hind due to its durable construction. I seem to recall a number of accounts from that war stating just that.

A direct hit with a SAM anywhere near the rotor or tail rotor is likely to make the pilots have very bad days, though... in any chopper. That's the problem with choppers: the rotor is the largest feature on them. It's also completely exposed and is what is responsible for keeping the aircraft flying. Even if the main rotor isn't hit, you still have the tail rotor to worry about. If either of those components receive signifigant damage, you have a big problem no matter how well armored the fuselage is.

[MAA 127]

Mi-8/17 and Mi-24 can fly with heavy damaged main rotor.... It is totaly different construction as on US helis... We show this rotor balades in closer look at our meeting ;)

[hellfish6 7]

I don't think flares can detect an incoming missile. Heatseeking missiles are, by nature, passive - meaning if you don't see them coming at you, you won't know what hit you. That's why pilots are supposed to manually dispense flares when ingressing and egressing from a target.

I don't think there are any auto-detect flare launchers.

[T.S.C.Plage 0]

Yes, Hellfish you're right but there're also flare dispensers that launch flares automatically if they notice an abnormal flash/lightning somewhere. But I don't know if the system of the Hind works like this or is "manually" activated. Infact it would be nearly senseless because the crew doesn't see much of what's happening behind the chopper and manpads are normally shot from behind a helicopter so they could only launch the flares on purpose.

Greetz

Plage

[Diesel 1]

I saw a video taken in Chechnya where a Mi-24 is shot down by an Sa-16 Igla. The rocket explodes directly at the rotor-head and covers the whole helicopter in an explosion but the pilot managed it to land the chopper via auto-rotation. I was told that nobody was harmed in this action but can't say that's 100%ly true.

Where you saw that video? Any link?

[Bobby - CSLA team 0]

Talking about shooting down battle helicopter: it is not easy. I have read tons of material about Afghanistan war 1979-1989. It was easy to launch the rocket, but it was quite difficult to hit the chopper. Even with Stinger. There are reports from pilots about Strela/Stinger rockets passing harmlessly around. Such a rockets were useful to shoot down landing chopper, when chopper flight was slow and steady or hoovering chopper...Big fear among soviet chopper pilots were DShK heavy machine guns on top of moutains from where they shoot down on low flying helicopters, aiming at cockpit - through the plexiglas...

We are discussing hit case, but first you should know, that you are trying to hit low flying target at speed 250-320 km/h. Second, we should have in mind that there are many kinds of hits...SAMs generally have warhead which explodes "near" target and main effect of such a warhead is effect of fragments. This is not lethal very much against moders attack chopper (except very very close explosions) Occasionally (during landing, high altitude or slow flights) is chopper hit directly and such a hit is usually fatal...

[Edge 2]

Just a little note - Whole flare-launching system of Hind is triggered manually, the pilot can control number of flares launched in single salvo (2, 4, 8, 16 or st. like that) and what salvo to launch (the flare-launcher is able to blast some kind of aluminium foil and other types of countermeasures). The pilot is supposed to trigger the countermeasure as he either feels suspicious or get some info on being attacked by some actively-seeking weapon.

You maybe noticed the small box in teh cockpit of OFP hind - there are some reddish spots and an airplane silhouette (looking more like a switch) - this is the device which tells pilot he's being under attack, including from where (roughly).

(Unfortunately I did not hear everything regarding the subject for I was just stuck phtographing in the gear shaft. )

As far as I know, helicopter pilots in Soviet-Afghan war really feared Stingers. It was common practice to launch flares on landing or when passing through dangerous zone.

Some recently published book states that the first Hinds there were generally weaker in both construction and defences, and the improvements being made on further versions were made to cope with the flaws experienced in Afghanistan.

Some more CSLA news - Jirkus just finished optimization of Skoda 1203 civilian van for the update. He also included a armed and camouflaged version - I wonder why...

[Keller_777 0]

- IMHO, another "unarmed" CSLA unit like BTR-50 would be too much of a good thing because you already have one unarmed APC and FUG scout car. But it's your choice.

- I kind of doubt that you will make any new weapons for this release. Maybe later you could add a couple of new weapons. There's a perfect new weapon for your weapon pack – it's a Czech gun that pretty much changed the history of development of submachineguns in the XXth century. I'm talking about CZ 23 (or CZ 25) – this weapon is extremely widespread and it's "the father" of UZI and similar smgs. Why you didn't want to make these weapons before is beyond me… they no longer use these smgs. in the real CSLA? Well, give it to the FIA then. And something "silenced"… like a Scorpion SD would be a good addition too.

- AGS-17 – its ammo is too weak. You can get in a car and drive back and forth in front of an AGS-17 battery and not a single sucker will fire at you. Make that ammo a bit stronger. That same "bug" was in the original KEG_AGS addon.

- BS at cannon – really is a perfect AT weapon because for some reason enemy AI tanks won't target and attack this thing… God knows why. It's too pretty to be destroyed?

- What happened to the Soviet OSA missile boat and the Lizard AA armored truck?

- Will your new BMP-1 have the same… how should I call it? - the same inconvenient "no auto lock for AT missiles" thingy like in the previous release???

[Peter_13 0]

Any chance to see some pictures of L-39?

As I remember, there were pictures of all units long before release of CSLA I. Why now we can't have pictures of all CSLA II update 1 units?

[Tomislav 0]

i just wanted to ask how far your project is on converting the old campaign from csla 1 to csla 2, heard it a while back that you're working on that too, so i wanted to ask for an update