The time for ECM is long overdue. This next patch is a perfect time for the snail to implement aircraft with internal ECM capabilities. This would greatly help with the current BVR Meta. Yes, I understand true ECM is a much more complex system than simply blinding and spoofing seekers. However for early adoptions they should start simple. We already have aircraft with RIO/Electronic Warfare officers on board which also makes this a no brainer. The ECM for the early adoption would come in 3 modes:
Off/Active/SPJ (Self Protection Jamming)
Along with this, the down sides should be implemented as well. The Lock On Jam feature of many missiles should come at the same time as internal ECM abilities. This can be done with near zero model changes, or the need to implement pods in the first iteration. Plenty of aircraft have internal ECM systems:
A4-Skyhawk
A6-E
A10
F4C+
F14A+
F15A+
F16A+
UK AV-8B
Mig-29SMT(Only had it, 9.12 did not)
Italian Tornado (UK went with external for some reason)
Mirage 2000
Gripen C
KFIR
J10
Rafael
This means that nearly every nation could benefit from it at the same time. With the F18 (US, UK (Aus & Can), Sweden(Finalnd)), and EF Typhoon coming soon, that would also put Internal ECM into everyone’s hands.
This would be a nice boost to the UK Tech tree which has suffered long enough. They would get both the F18 and EF Typhoon.
And we have plenty of upcoming aircraft with internal ECM systems:
F117A
F18A+
F22A+
F35
EF Typhoon
SU-33 (SU-27 never had it)
SU-57
Mig 35
Home on Jam should come into play here. We already have missiles in game that had this feature:
Aim-7M+
Aim-54A+
Aim-120A+
F-90
Hawks
Mica RF
R27EP (only)
R77
Super 530D+
Pythons
Derbys
And some others.
It makes a lot of sense to along with adding ECM also add the Maddog or Lock On After Launch mode with its own key binding. Launching cold off the rail has some serious advantages that would balance the ECM. First off, it can burn through the ECM until its close enough to get a lock. Second, their is no launch warning, these missiles would be coming in silent, but with the HOJ feature they would be a serious risk to anyone running ECM. It would make for some good balanced counter play. You can ECM but your risk being HOJ’d. The down side is you need to get a good heading or the missile just goes into no where. Thats the risk/reward.
This would really allow some aircraft to shine in roles they were designed for, and help to balance out the BVR play.
In addition to ECM, aircraft with a dedicated RIO/EW Officer should be given “better” ECM since that is a job of that crew member. In these cases ECM should be at least 2X better on older model aircraft.
SPJ or Self Protection Jamming is a system that activates as a countermeasure. This is found in most of the aircraft listed above. This would be a wonderful feature as it wrecks havoc on missiles like the R27ER.
Spoofing should be included. Spoofing systems in the ECM create false positives on the enemy radar, but more importantly in the seeker. Having them lock on targets that are far enough off once the damage is done they can’t find a clean lock on a real target. This is a well know feature of the SPJ and would cause the missiles to act like Sparrows already do (but shouldn’t as badly as they do) in game. Spoofing also wrecks havoc on the reliability of how many and where you think you are tracking. Spoofing with SPJ would force missiles to trail too far behind instead of properly leading. This design is intentional in aircraft like the F15C we have in game that has a trailing ECM system. It does exactly that, and would make side firing on targets far less effective. The missile would lag behind until its too late to correct.
It is probably important to note late generation Sparrows, Aim-54C/C+, F90, MICA, and Aim-120s all have ECCM where they can use rear and forward antennas to counter chaff and SPJ. This isn’t perfect, but it does work some of the time and should be implemented as well. So that SPJ isn’t a guarantee.
Jittering is another feature of these internal ECMs which would be fantastic against BVRs. Jittering causes the missile to make constant course corrections that bleed its speed and range down. This should be self explanatory how this would benefit in game.
Another benefit of ECM along with Spoofing is that it would hide who is climbing and who is not. Are 8 climbing? Maybe only 2? With spoofing its hard to tell, and getting a lock at longer ranges is even more unreliable and harder especially when you might be firing at nothing.
Lastly it also makes sense because the way maps are now, no one is hiding and jockeying for position so giving yourself away with ECM isn’t a deal breaker. We already have lock sometimes on takeoff, and if not shortly after takeoff. Not to mention the RWR is giving you away on takeoff anyways.
This should come with the option in settings to spawn with ECM On or Off and in which mode.
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Add ECM, the easiest way possible to start with aircraft that already have it internally. Include spoofing abilities. Make sure to include SPJ mode.
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Add option setting for ECM On or Off when you spawn.
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Add key bind for Maddog firing missiles that have that ability.
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Add HOJ for missiles that should already have it.
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Add LOAL mode for missiles that should have already had it.
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Add SPJ mode, properly, with spoofing to help kick off Fox 1 & 3s. But also to kick off datalinked Fox 2s.
