Engagement ranges

[Don Maddox]

I've been keeping a close eye on how individual battles are unfolding and I've noted some problems. I'm seeing some outrageous behavior with small arms and machine guns. I had a helicopter shot down today at 2,000+ meters by MG fire. 2,000 meters? :lier:

Can a heavy machine gun reach that far? Yes, but only as "area fire," which is optimistic under the best of circumstances. Shooting at a moving target at 2,000 meters with a vehicle mounted weapons system would be highly ineffective. We're seeing regular shoot-downs in POA2 at ranges approaching 3,000 meters.

I did a test this morning in which I had the better part of an AH-64D Lowbow Apache battalion destroyed by ground fire from BMPs in open terrain, without the loss of a single BMP. In reality, those BMPs would have all been destroyed 99 out of 100 times without ever even getting a chance to return fire!

I'll send my observations along to Scott.

[HPS]

I agree this doesn’t sound right. The US .50 cal base accuracy curve gives a value of around 30% at 200 meters. So, that means one of every 3 rounds or so would hit a deuce and a half “side-on” ... which might be a little high. However, at 3000 meters (the ultimate max range) the accuracy is zero - so rounds should rarely hit anything. The CIS equivalent is less - about 20% at 2000meters, or 1 in 5.

By contrast, the 30mm has an accuracy of around 65% at 2000m - so 2 out of 3 should hit the same sized target. Plus, it should have much more hitting power.

Not to mention the BMP likely presents a larger target then the AH-64, and neither are as large as the standard sized target.

Of course, hitting is only the fist step - so many other things go into it, and any one of them could be off.

If you have those files, or others like them, I’d like to take a look at them. You’re right that we’re frying other fish right now, but this is something I need to investigate further when I get the chance.

Thanks!
-Scott