EA-6B Prowler - WiP by IrishDeviant

Yay Looking forward :)

YES, good to know you're working on this!

Looking forward to this dude!

this will be great

Looks like a good startup, nice V shape, good luck with this.

should be great :) looking foward to it

Nice... Looking forward.

Very awesome, hearing of this. Will be watching closely.

Plan to include a UAV like camera scripting to the bottom of this thing? How many crew, 4/2/1? How about a USMC version as well as a Navy?

(I know it's early to ask these, but hell I'm just giddy now)

Very awesome, hearing of this. Will be watching closely.

Plan to include a UAV like camera scripting to the bottom of this thing? How many crew, 4/2/1? How about a USMC version as well as a Navy?

(I know it's early to ask these, but hell I'm just giddy now)

I am still looking around for scripters. As of right now, I don't have one (will likely need more than one). However, when I do find one, I will insist on a number of features that I would like included. Some examples would be a realistic radar jamming system, a target sharing system for sending location info on radar installations to strike aircraft, etc. But, I don't want to take any liberties in add/removing functionality from the actual aircraft. Ideally, I would like all of the Prowler's primary systems to be simulated as closely as possible, within the limits of the engine, as well as practical gameplay limitations.

It will be a 4 seater, and will require a full crew to get full functionality of all it's systems. As for military branch, that is pretty much just textures, and I will be making a large number of texture for various squadrons, and those squadrons will likely be for both Navy and Marines.

One question - why ECM?

That's what its role is.

One question - why ECM?

The EA-6B Prowler is a twin-engine, mid-wing electronic warfare aircraft manufactured by Grumman (now Northrop Grumman) as a modification of the basic A-6 Intruder airframe. The EA-6B has been in service with the U.S. Armed Forces from 1971 through the present. The EA-6B has carried out numerous missions for jamming enemy radar systems, and in gathering radio intelligence on those and other enemy air defense systems. In addition, the EA-6B is capable of carrying and firing anti-radiation missiles (ARM), such as the Shrike missile and the HARM missile. The aircrew of the EA-6B consists of one pilot and three Electronic Countermeasures Officers.

Most people who play Arma II, only play ''micro-missions''. In other words, missions with a very clear and precise objective with only the essential AI enemy's to directly effect that mission. For those people, the Prowler isn't for you. For those like myself that enjoy large scale missions will ''full envelope'' resistance, the Prowler becomes an essential asset to the mission objectives.

In an 'all inclusive' mission, you have enemy armor, mechanized infantry, heavily fortified bunkers, enemy fighters/bombers, and SAMs/Tunguska's/Shilka's, etc, etc, etc. For those missions, you need to have a versatile and diverse mission strategy. And, part of that strategy is having EA-6B's locating, jamming, and destroying or marking for destruction, enemy radar-based installations.

This means that a 4 man crew aboard an EA-6B flies into the area of operation scouting for possible anti-air threats, and eliminating them, or marking them for other aircraft to destroy them. Aside from anti-radar missions, the EA-6B also acts as a forward air observer. The crew of the Prowler can relay air strike requests to available strike aircraft, and prioritize and manage the strikes. As well as keeping track of the available payloads for each of the air units, and assigning strike packages suited to their respective capabilities.

These are just a handful of the capabilities that come with an 'ECM' aircraft. Sure, the mission could be completed without one of these aircraft, but the Prowler will add another role for players to engage in. Which is what I'd like to see more of in the Arma community. Having five-hundred different M4 assault rifles is great, but they all do the same thing.

For example, a ground based addon pack I'm considering making at some point is the Howe & Howe Technologies: Ripsaw MS2. It's an unmanned ground assault vehicle that's capable of taking on multiple roles ranging from patrol, scout, escort, attack, and localized defense. These types of addons not only add content, they also add new gameplay capabilities. ...Oh, and not that it's relevant to Arma II, but the Mini Rip is at the top of my 'things to purchase' list!!!

now this is a good aircraft...and im glad to see this model being made! IMHO this is perfect for Arma2\OA and will be used by me many times over once released! also this will be a great addition to the Arma2\oa U.S. Navy(to go with the New USS Nimitz WIP Addon)!

goodluck and sorry that i can't help, i would if i could but my skills are very limited, but if you need anything easy to do, that may just be annoying to do ill be happy to step in! goodluck and hope to see this out and about in Arma2\OA!!!

Dave,

Most people who play Arma II, only play ''micro-missions''. In other words, missions with a very clear and precise objective with only the essential AI enemy's to directly effect that mission. For those people, the Prowler isn't for you. For those like myself that enjoy large scale missions will ''full envelope'' resistance, the Prowler becomes an essential asset to the mission objectives.

Well I really would like to play large scale missions, I'd like to create large scale missions, but I think most people (like myself) are playing "micro-missions" because they are forced to due to their PC's performance. I hope in the near future I can afford a PC good enough to handle large scale battles, and we will have maps big enough and smooth enough to use out such assets as an ECM plane (or AWACS, J-STARS, cruise missiles, real long-ranged artillery and air defenses from ZSus to Patriots/SA-15s).

Anyways, as an aircraft maniac, for me it would worth to have this bird just to fly around the maps.

Well I really would like to play large scale missions, I'd like to create large scale missions, but I think most people (like myself) are playing "micro-missions" because they are forced to due to their PC's performance. I hope in the near future I can afford a PC good enough to handle large scale battles, and we will have maps big enough and smooth enough to use out such assets as an ECM plane (or AWACS, J-STARS, cruise missiles, real long-ranged artillery and air defenses from ZSus to Patriots/SA-15s).

Anyways, as an aircraft maniac, for me it would worth to have this bird just to fly around the maps.

I certainly understand that many people have performance limitations with Arma II. I'm running a Core2Extreme QX-9650 with roughly 13% overclocking, and I still run into frame rate issue during intense battles. So, you definitely have a valid point. However, the EA-6B can be used in smaller, more focused missions. But, the mission has to be designed to include that specific role. In that type of scenario, the EA-6B becomes a cornerstone of the mission. Instead of just being one of 20 support roles, it's one of the primary support roles. In this case, the functionality available in that aircraft aren't fully utilized, but it can still be an enjoyable task for players.

Ideally, you want a mission large enough where the Prowler crew are airborne for long periods of time, constantly engaging in various support tasks. But, if you're partaking in a smaller mission, then you don't have to run a 4 man crew. Instead, you could simply have a pilot and one ECM Officer to man the weapons systems, or to man the anti-radiation systems, etc. In other words, focus down the objectives for the aircraft. As versatile as the Prowler is, it is still very effective in each of it's abilities, and each of those abilities by themselves can be useful to ground troops.

Progress images updated. Again, really can't do much on it for a couple weeks, but I'm trying to at least get a little done here and there. Expect progress to pick up soon.

you NEED proper drawings, get them here:

http://airwar.ru/other/draw/a6.html

http://airwar.ru/other/draw/a6-2.html

http://airwar.ru/other/draw/a6intruderatl.html

http://airwar.ru/other/draw2/a6a.html

Thanks! I've looking all over the place for better 3-views... Go figure that you have to look to Russian sites to find the best drawings of American aircraft. lol

Model looks good so far :) ill be keeping my eye in here. Good luck

You'd be suprised how much more information there is about our equipment on websites belonging to other countries. I found a video showing Boeing employees constructing a longbow helicopter, adding the parts and so on..later I found the same video in japanese in far greater length and detail.

An alternative is skycorner.net..technicly the same or at least made to be the same, it's just in english.

Model's looking great, are you using smoothing modifiers (turbo/meshsmooth) to help get the sleek shape?

You'd be suprised how much more information there is about our equipment on websites belonging to other countries. I found a video showing Boeing employees constructing a longbow helicopter, adding the parts and so on..later I found the same video in japanese in far greater length and detail.

An alternative is skycorner.net..technicly the same or at least made to be the same, it's just in english.

Model's looking great, are you using smoothing modifiers (turbo/meshsmooth) to help get the sleek shape?

Thanks for the link. And, yeah, info about our aircraft is everywhere. I actually downloaded the flight manuals and service manuals for the F-16, F-15, and A-10. And, no, I'm not sharing them.

As for the smoothing, well, yes and no. It does have a smoothing modifier, but only as a reference to see how the curves are coming together. The base mesh is much lower poly. Right now I'm just roughing out the general shape. For instance, in that last screen shot, the canopy is too flat, the intakes stick out too far, the curves that form the V shape of the nose aren't strait, etc. All that stuff gets tweaked, then tweaked some more, and some more... Once the 'general shape' is complete, then I add a single subdivision of smoothing and collapse the modifier into the mesh. From there, I start sculpting to get all the details into base mesh. Then, I back up the model and start in on a higher poly version for the normals, as well as for use in other more poly-friendly game engines.

It's still a long way from being done. I'll try to post an update screenshot every couple days. But, don't expect to see too much any time soon.

I'm also working on another project (unrelated to Arma), at the moment, it's close to being ready for textures. Just about a week or two worth of modeling left. I'll post some renders to show you what the modeling on the Prowler will look like when I get it to this stage:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4123/4812175080_ffee67e63c_b.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4138/4812175094_086827181b_b.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4099/4812175112_bdd942bfd3_b.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4076/4812175114_6ea0491a72_b.jpg

What aircraft is that? I'm viewing from my phone, seems a tiny bit like the hawk but I can't be sure.

Side note: The guy making the F-15 from scratch might be able to use the manual, if he doesn't already have it.

Of course, in the interests of national security it might be best to wipe your computer with a magnet... ;)

Great looking model, I especially like the sharp edges around the tail rather than a simple shading change. I did't know you could use smoothing modifiers like that, I use it to get smooth shape reference on my models but I didn't know you could use it for even more.

By the way how knowledgeable are you on Arma2's engine and such? Just in case you do not know I'll add it here: Most games I'm sure you've seen have their interior and exterior models effected in the same way, so what you see outside is what you see inside..not the case here.

You can have a simple cockpit with little detail on the outside, then in a cargo/pilot/gunner LOD have far more detail, letting you get the best bang for your buck and be performance friendly.

If you already know this then I apologize.