Welp, GBU-38s are useless
Question “wheres full loadout of GBU-39” will be better(you can use them at least to bomb bases)
If you had 12 GBU38s it would be 6,000lbs of bombs. Plenty enough for a base. I like taking just enough to kill one base that’s why I’d rather have 12 gbu38s than 4 GBU31s. I don’t wanna have to ripple 20 small diameter bombs that can’t even kill a base
With real value of SDB - 28 bombs, you would be able
That’s even worse. Rippling 28 bombs just to destroy one base
F-15E/I are also missing GBU-54 (500lb LJDAM) and GBU-56 (2000lb LJDAM) which should be usable in all situations the GBU-38 and 31 are employable, respectively. So are a few other planes.
Furthermore, GBU-54 (500lb LJDAM) should be employable on the dumb pylons in question as a laser guided bomb only without GPS capability.
An F-15K, as an example. Even if it lacks the MIL STD 1760 interface, the bombs 1. fit 2. would function in laser guidance mode 100% fine
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isn’t there also GBU-39 IR version of it too? i heard someone mention it long ago in the forum?
PS my bad i misunderstand it was GBU 53
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Technically GBU-53 is much more than just an IR guidance mode SDB.
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F-15K has a MIL-STD-1760 interface on the upper CFT pylon. F-15E does not.
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Regardless, it doesn’t need 1760 to function in laser guidance mode as far as I can tell.
This could be done ingame very easily by creating another type of GBU-54B that’s laser guidance only, no GNSS, no IOG, similar to the restrictions placed on Brimstone from a game design perspective.
This would require no new mechanics for weapons losing capabilities when placed on certain pylons. Just GBU-54s without GPS as a separate weapon, only usable on those pylons.
Regardless of whether we want to go out on a limb and add laser only on dumb pylons (I’d like to see it but I’d understand it not happening until we get F-15K * cough * in Japan * cough * with full capability), there are several things missing.
GBU-27, which is already ingame
GBU-54, which is already ingame and should be able to be employed in place of all of the GBU-38s actually available
GBU-56, which is a 2000lb Laser JDAM and should be employable on all the pylons GBU-31 currently is.
And, finally, regular old Paveways are missing from the upper dumb pylons. So far as I can tell, it’s missing two 500lb GBU-12 Paveways on each side.
Here’s an image proving that GBU-12s can be carried on both upper and lower hardpoints right next to each other. This F-15E isn’t carrying the full load possible but this is proof it fits.
Even with a 2000lb class weapon below it, that should be possible even if it places a restriction requiring the 2000lb class weapon be dropped before this one could. That could require some more complicated coding effort.
did any F-15E recieve such an upgrade?
Paveway II and III do not require any interfaces and can be mounted on the upper CFT pylons of the F-15E, but starting with the Enhanced Paveway series, they require MIL-STD-1760 and 1553, and if it only has 1553, it can only supply power.
However, it is unclear if this applies to the GBU-54. No data currently exists on this and it is just an assumption.
Also, the USAF official article mentions that the upper CFT pylons are only used for JDAM transportation, so this will not be implemented.
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Currently, only the export F-15E series (F-15K, F-15SA, F-15SG, 15QA) have it.
Fair enough. That said, I still think GBU-12 on those pylons should come with loadouts other than just selecting the GBU-12s for the whole CFT. For instance, 3 GBU-38+2 GBU-12 CFT, or 2 GBU-31+2 GBU-12.
8 GBU-39+ 2 GBU-12… F-15E/I are missing a lot of versatility they’d otherwise have.
And man would I love GBU-56. My platonic ideal of a weapon.
I wonder if Saudi and Qatari Emiri Advanced Eagles will go to Britain. I hope they do.
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is it just me who thought that GBU-38 JDAM was a 1000lb?
I’m guessing the F-15EX has this too?
I may be wrong but I believe they still require the connector to program the laser code to the unit.
Laser code is set manually by hand on the laser code panel (like on the Paveway series) on the bomb itself. I don’t think it can be changed at all in-flight even.
I’ve been looking through the (L)JDAM user manual and I can’t find anything about a lase-only employment mode of operation specifically, only some mention of quick laser acquisition when dropping from very close range (<4.5km). So I am not sure if the bomb would allow for it to be dropped in normal operation without GPS handoff. Because it is also mentioned the LJDAM specifically ignores input from the laser guidance unit until <4.5km from the target (using GPS data presumably). There’s also a lot of nice little features missing as well, but I digress…
So I’d say it’s a bit unclear if it can be used in laser-only mode. Especially when the EGBU user manual and brochures on the other hand specifically mentions a laser-only mode (referred to as legacy “laser-only”/Paveway II unpowered mode), likely it has this because it’s based on the Paveway II, unlike the LJDAM which was based on the GPS-only JDAM.
What probably can definitely be done is have the LJDAM preprogrammed beforehand with a GPS coordinate and dropped that way without 1760, but with 1553, interface (EGBU also supports this feature).
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This sounds like the laser is used for terminal guidance only on LJDAM. Now, as I understand it all laser guidance ranges for bombs are effectively multiplied several times for War Thunder so I don’t know if that actually puts it out of laser-only guidance for WT purposes in terms of RANGE specifically.
I think preprogramming GPS coordinates before takeoff is probably outside War Thunder’s scope.
Sounds like, overall, even laser only upper CFT GBU-54 is infeasible.
Probably. But mixed stores shouldn’t be. No reason it shouldn’t be able to take 3 LJDAMs and 2 GBUs on the same CFT.
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It used to be somewhat the case, but they rectified it at some point and lowered the laser seeker values (too much), however more recently (several updates ago now already) they upped most again to their more real life values.
IRL laser acquisition range is unlimited actually, it mentions so in the manuals as well. It is however limited by the laser’s properties and its range to the target (which is also modelled in WT, the dropoff in acquisition range roughly follows a 1/x curve, see attached picture from in-game tests). However it’s the software that specifically also cuts of the maximum allowed laser guidance range.
Laser acquisition range drop off respect to designation range in WT:
Spoiler
Specifically for the LJDAM in WT, the acquisition range is set at 16k ft (4.6km or so), meaning that compared to the figures in the manual, it is both under and overperforming in certain conditions (the latter may be more due to geomtric reasons, which WT does not model). But it means that under no normal conditions it would acquire the laser much outside the allowed real life laser guidance range, so this is not an issue really. WT got the laser mechanics fairly accurate to real life, of course standardized with simplifications.
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