Mithril is supposed to be using the cream of the crop technology. AV-8B are not, they were put into service in 1993 and a report detailing their rather serious combat defiencies was published around 1988.
I'll give you the Snyopsis and then the link for the sticklers.
AV-8B's were suppposed to fufill 4 missions : close-air-support (CAS),Deep-Air-Support (DAS), helicopter escort (HE), armed reconnaissance' (ARMRECCE) , and limited anti-air-warfare
(AAW).
To able to fufill these missions, you need a good bombing system operable day or night with precision accuracy, and good manuverability to avoid losses from SAMS or AAA guns.
However the Original AV-8B is not equipped with even an adequate bombing system. Instead it uses ARBS (angle rate bombing system) with linkup with INS (Internal Navigation System), it's still not that good.
ARBS is designed for clear daytime conditions with limited night attack.
During the day, the Pilot has to waste critical time before he releases his weapons by getting a Television designation of his target or area with his DMT (dual systems mode tracker). Until that happens the Pilot cannot get a targeting solution, and cannot release his weapons. Like a target lock, except the pilot can't even calculate delivery info until he aquires this.
The bombing system is also restricted by vertical and lateral gimbal limits (measure rotation of an object in three dimensions.) If the pilot has to manuever and reaches the gimbal restrictions, he loses the data on the HUD he needs to bomb the target. This is similar to the same princples as the Sparrow or AIM-7. Keep your aircraft pointed at the target until the target is destroyed, otherwise you lose the lock. That's dangerous as we all should know.
The modern battlefield is a chaotic environment. Obsecured by smoke and dust FEBA (Foward edge of Battlefield) will be an extremely trying environment for the ARBS. The target will be visible to the naked eye, but with all the smoke, dust, etc, the necessary contrast for the ARBS to distinguish it won't be there. So the harriers will be sitting ducks waiting for it to aquire a target designation, this is even worse at night, because they have no terrain flying capability, and will have to fly higher to hit the general area.
Survivability wise the AV-8B suffers because of reduced speed and manueverability, because of it's aerodynamics and engine thrust capability. The design limits it's max speed and engine thrust does not allow to manuver agressively. So against SAMS the harriers will not fare well. In addition the AV-8B has a large radar cross section, and does not have self sealing fuel tanks, add to fact it only has one engine, and it survivability does not look good.
In air to air combat, quite simply the AV-8B sucks. When compared to pure fighter aircraft (F-16, F-15, Mig-29 etc...) it does not have the capabilities needed. It doesn't even have air to air radar. Instead the pilot has to rely on visual range.
For close range support the AV-8B is woefully unpowered. It may be close to the FEBA but that's actually a disadvantage. A soldier could destroy these aircraft on the ground, and the sheer amount of fuel and ordnance: "An example is that six harriers forward based flying 24 sorties a day will require 100,000 lbs of ordnance and 100,000 lbs of fuel. That's the majority of fuel and ordnance for a ground force.
To quote an expert, Mr. Anthony H. Cordesman comes to a different conclusion; he states:
"The F-18 aircraft at 150NM radius can deliver twice as many MK-82SE/MK-20 bombs as the AV-8B can operating under short takeoff conditions and have more time on station. At 200NM radius, the F-18 aircraft maintains its payload advantage ever the AV-8B and can remain on station three times longer."
So the AV-8B sucks in other words. The model I can Mithril using is the AV-8B II+ which rectifies alot of the problems and is the latest model. IOC of AV-8B II+ was 1997. The current Radar/Night Attack Harrier, or Harrier II+, has all the improvements of the Night Attack aircraft plus the AN/APG-65 multi-mode radar. The fusion of night and radar capabilities allows the Harrier to be responsive to the MAGTF's needs for expeditionary, night and adverse weather, offensive air support. The AN/APG-65(V)2 tactical airborne radar system is based on existing specifications for F/A-18 Aircraft; it provides the AV-8B multi-target tracking capability and the ability to perform air-to-air and air-to surface weapons delivery in conditions of marginal visibility, day or night.
I decided to write this because of the night attack on Khanka and I remembered that their was a later version of the harrier. These are only problems with the AV-8B, and says nothing of the problems with the AV-8A/C.
The Link
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ ... 88/DFS.htm[/i]
edit
Since I can't edit it immediately. The link is sans the italics.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ ... 88/DFS.htm
My apologies for practically double posting. Let me you what you guys think of this.
