ISAF 2009-2013 - ACO Building - Air-to-Air Refueling Areas - CombatFlite Template and Kneeboard (3/x)

In the previous post, you've seen how to place your tanker areas, and how to setup your tankers in DCS to reflect real life parameters.

The next step is to build a whole coherent template. You'll find attached my version for CombatFlite, that will be integrated directly into the overall Afghanistan template mission that is under progress.

You can note that this template include the CGRS grid for the 2009-2013 era, that differs from the one used at the start of OEF in 2001, as it was proposed here.

In order to support the practical use of these AAR Areas, you'll also find the usual kneeboard pages. Once again, keep in mind that these are useful tools both during the planning phase and in flight. Some pages might be seldom used in flight, but still be very useful before the flight!

Useful information that you can find on the kneeboard page summarizing the AAR Areas of the ACO.

I'm sure you will easily find what theme was used to name the AAR Areas... I preferred it to the original "Muppets" names that don't ring a bell for me.

Regarding the AAR Areas and the associated kneeboard page, we can note:

• the planned altitude blocks: 5,000' can accommodate only one tanker at a time, that's why there's only one A/A TACAN frequency in this case. When you have a 10,000' block, you can place two tankers simultaneously if needed. It is recommended to place the BOOM tankers higher then the MPRS tankers, that have lower optimal refueling altitudes and speeds. If you need to use a BOOM and a MPRS tanker is the same area, you need to do it sequentially: you have to make sure that one tanker is done refueling before letting the next one enter the area. If you intended to simulate the transit to or from the AAR Areas, you can simply let the tankers follow the IFR routes that are generally next to the tanker tracks.

• the Control Point (CP, or ARCP) is where the receiver is supposed to be in astern/observation position. To simplify, you can consider that it is where you meet the tanker (or Rendez-Vous (RV)) at the Control Time (CT, or ARCT). In Afghanistan, with a loose refueling schedule leaving a lot of time between two receivers, timings where not strictly adhered to. But in return, tanker crews were very flexible, and were always willing to modify their track to facilitate the intercept geometry, but turning towards you for example. In DCS, we unfortunately don't have this flexibility yet, and since it's difficult to force regular ARCT, we need to anticipate the necessary time (and fuel) for the rejoin phase. Keeping the AAR holding patterns short is a way to reduce rejoin times: a 35 Nm leg is less impacting than a 70 Nm one when you're chasing the tanker...

• the routes are given in True headings, in order to remain true for any period, since magnetic declination is varying along time.

• normally, a tanker track is defined by an Initial Point (IP, or ARIP) and a CP: the IP is the last moment for the tanker or receiver to get to AAR speed and altitude, if not already established. This point appears in CombatFlite racetracks, but for simplicity reasons, I did not include it on the kneeboard page.

• the color frequencies refer to the table of tactical frequencies published earlier. This way, this kneeboard page won't have to be update if a frequency change occurs. The frequency table is the only document that has to be tracked.

• the safety altitude is calculated with a 1,500' obstacle margin. It's particularly important by night or IMC: don't fly below this altitude while you are in the AAR Area unless you perfectly see the ground. This safety altitude can be useful if you loose sight on tanker during rejoin and want to deconflict in altitude, or if you have an emergency during the refueling and you start losing altitude (eg: engine power loss due to a refueling issue, like a broken probe or broken hose).

• For the potential HH-60 mod players, I included 3 HAAR Areas (Helicopter AAR Areas) in low altitude, as discussed in the previous post. The racetrack pattern is only indicative, since refuelling in these areas will generally be done in straight line only: a RV at one end of the area will enable a full refuelling before the other end of the area.

MC-130J refuelling a MH-60: soon in DCS?

I hope you'll be able to start using this template on your own missions quickly, even with a limited number of active tracks, until I manage to release a whole DCS mission template.