Front, rear and bottom aspect for MAWS I believe. There’s a downward-facing AAR-57 sensor on the rear end, so a total of 5 MAW sensors
Tornado version has an additional upward-facing one as well (i.e. 6 in total) so nearly full spherical coverage. But obviously that additional sensor would be useless on the Harrier variant since it’s stowed under the fuselage, where the Tornado pod is clear of the wing leading-edge
That paired with the doppler MAWS on the tail, 1000 CMs and ECM should make the GR9 a massive pain to shoot down.
This diagram implies there are 5 slots for countermeasure deepeners:
Going off this photo each slot can potentially hold 60 flares, so that’s 300 total:
Yeah there are 5 slots which is why I miscounted them at first.
But reading the Terma brochure and seeing closer photos it becomes clear that the 3 slots along the length of the pod hold 2x ACMDS magazines each like you show in the 2nd photo, while the forward firing slots hold single ACMDS magazines (visible in the Fox Two page I posted).
In effect there are 4 dispenser segments to the pod, and each segment carries 2 magazines. So 8 magazines in total for the pod, and up to 30 countermeasures per magazine - which is what the brochure states
Missed the photos showing the front. Seems the GR.9 will get 940 countermeasures then:
I need this, Gaijin plz…
Could cluster bombs actually have a use in game? maybe as an Anti base weapon because the individual impacts of the explosives would already deal quite a bit of damage due to the fact that rocket impacts can destroy bases with alot less explosive mass than bombs, so maybe as an alternative for destroying bases? it would make sense as we have GBU specially for hitting tanks, and the normal/high drag bombs could be more multipurpose and then the cluster munitions could be specially for bases?
Could cluster bombs actually have a use in game?
147 HEAT warheads, each with 220 mm penetration, raining down on an area will probably do some decent damage to tanks in the area.
Oh i thought they where just HE. Even so, probably great against bases too
Then times that by 12 for Tornado GR.1 and you’ve got a huge area of death.
Depending on which stores they model, CBU’s could appear at a very low BR(PTAB’s found on various Russian aircraft being practically the only historical example) as there are a number of time traveling Airframes so deleting entire columns of oncoming armor and bases shouldn’t be too hard the only thing I think that may need adjusting would be the effective TNT equivalence.
Though of course the effectiveness will heavily depend on how dispersion & delivery / fuse constraints are modeled as they will make determine their impact, though I could see some modification to the 3rd person torpedo sight being done as it already has most of the required elements in place.
A fairly exhaustive overview of various US designed Dispensers and Cluster bombs (also the new forums prevented me from uploading the .PDF directly for some reason), though many would carry the CBU-1/A or -2/A (both antipersonnel bomblets using the SUU-7 dispenser), not the Anti-tank CBU-3 so performance against tanks would be limited
But yeah even just getting just the Rockeye (Mk20 / CBU-99 / -100) (247 submunitions per bomb) is going to massive since they can be carried on a MER/TER meaning that say an F-4 could take 24 of them & the normal complement of Missiles, and can cover a significant area(325[100m] by 125ft[38m] at its most dense; 300ft[91m] AGL, level delivery through 400[120m] by 280ft[85m] at 3000ft[910m]) let alone if more than one is deployed at a time so the dispersion patterns overlap.
The numbers are from below source;
Rockeye was also cleared for use on Jaguar GR.1A/B and the Harrier IIs, so we’ve got a few options for clusters on British aircraft. Looking forward to it. Will make hitting vehicle columns in air rb alot easier in a single pass.
Was the CBU-59 APAM also cleared? it’s the same dispenser filled with 717 BLU-77 AP/ AM bomblets, which appear to be M118’s with a pyrophoric zirconium liner.
As far as I know the only American cluster bombs used by Britain were the:
Great Jet, can’t wait for it to be in game soon
Wonder if we will see the GR.5 as an event/prem vehicle? It’s near identical to the GR.7 so could sit at the same BR or slightly lower BR.
Harrier GR.7 might get 2nd infrared homing short-range Air-to-Air Missile this year but not sure that maybe AIM-9M or AIM-9L/i ?
I cannot see the AIM-9M or Li coming to the GR.7 at this stage. It is much more likely we will see them on later model aircraft.
Mean dev might add 2nd IR AAM AIM-9L/i or AIM-9M with Harrier GR.9A only ?
I should say I’m only speculating and this isn’t official, but I would expect better sidewinders on later generation airframes yes.
