F111 Aardvark, when??😊

[Cris]

Do we have the SU24 in WP availability when we get the western counterpart? Type FB111 F111?

[Julhelm]

We aim to do the F-111F at the very least.

[supersound99ss]

I don't think any FB-111s ever carried conventional stores. They were all converted to G variants in the 80s which did.

[BobTank63]

Originally posted by supersound99ss:

I don't think any FB-111s ever carried conventional stores. They were all converted to G variants in the 80s which did.

He may be referring to the F-111B, the naval fighter prototype.

[Soylent_Greene]

What about the few that were converted to EF-111 Aardvark?

Basically the EA-6B for the USAF + Shrikes

[Cris]

To be precise, I was talking about the conventional versions of the Aardvark, that is, from A to D, E, F, G, since the A's have already served in Vietnam and were more than present in the USAF during the Cold War, so I hope to see them soon, including the EF111A Raven version. At least to avoid going from the F4 Phantom II directly to the B52 for strike missions, if I'm not mistaken the Warks could also carry the AGM84 Harpoons. And maybe even the RF111😉 asking costs nothing.

[Soylent_Greene]

Cris,

Way back when, in the bad old days of Ronnie Rayguns and the Big Russian Bear the FB-111s were used to perform strike missions into Libya all the way from Lakenheath AFB in the UK...
Because our French "allies" refused overflights, the strike flew south from England to the Straits of Gibraltar, and then across the Med, meeting KC-135 tankers off the Gulf of Sidra.
Those tankers were protected by F-14 Tomcats.
That same carrier supplied A-6 Intruders doing SEAD missions, as well EA-6 Jammers.
The FB-111s were carrying 2000# LGBs...
Nothing in the Navy at that point could perform the mission of lasing the target and carrying those bombs.

So the FB-111s had the payload capacity as well the electronics.

That mission was typical of the 80s era missions the FB-111s did.

Because of classification the US Army will never admit to having a SpecOps team in Libya about 160km north of Chad. Nor will they verify that this team (which wasn't there) had a GLD system to guide the strike, should the airborne Laser failed.

And the location blown to hell was supposedly an oil refinery, but had no pipelines going to it or away.

But then again, as mentioned, the US Army was never there... Just ask them, and I bet they deny it ever happened!

[Ole "Slim Jolo" the Hobo Hero]

Wikipedia says F-111 in general were used for 4000+ missions in Vietnam and more recently their desert storm service saw the most consistent 'success' ratios of any coalition aircraft involved in it

Which is to say I assume devs will add F111, seems like a pretty versatile craft for the era in general, not that I can say I really know anything about them myself (but I do live under a rock lol)

[supersound99ss]

Originally posted by Soylent_Greene:

Cris,

Way back when, in the bad old days of Ronnie Rayguns and the Big Russian Bear the FB-111s were used to perform strike missions into Libya all the way from Lakenheath AFB in the UK...
Because our French "allies" refused overflights, the strike flew south from England to the Straits of Gibraltar, and then across the Med, meeting KC-135 tankers off the Gulf of Sidra.
Those tankers were protected by F-14 Tomcats.
That same carrier supplied A-6 Intruders doing SEAD missions, as well EA-6 Jammers.
The FB-111s were carrying 2000# LGBs...
Nothing in the Navy at that point could perform the mission of lasing the target and carrying those bombs.

So the FB-111s had the payload capacity as well the electronics.

That mission was typical of the 80s era missions the FB-111s did.

Because of classification the US Army will never admit to having a SpecOps team in Libya about 160km north of Chad. Nor will they verify that this team (which wasn't there) had a GLD system to guide the strike, should the airborne Laser failed.

And the location blown to hell was supposedly an oil refinery, but had no pipelines going to it or away.

But then again, as mentioned, the US Army was never there... Just ask them, and I bet they deny it ever happened!

FB-111 did not conduct the strikes on Libya. RAF Lakenheath did not have FBs, they had all Fs at the time.

FBs were used exclusively by SAC in the nuclear strike role and started rapid phase out once the B-1Bs came online.

[supersound99ss]

The EF-111 would definitely be a good add. Also I cannot find photos of anyone but the RAAF 111's carrying Harpoons. I don't think USAF ones ever did or practiced with it.

[Cris]

Originally posted by supersound99ss:

The EF-111 would definitely be a good add. Also I cannot find photos of anyone but the RAAF 111's carrying Harpoons. I don't think USAF ones ever did or practiced with it.

I didn't say that the AGM 84 carried it operationally but that it was qualified, in fact I saw only one photo online of an Australian wark with 4 missiles mounted underneath, but it had a large arsenal to carry including the Blu 107 Durandal anti-runway missiles, which in an OCA mission wouldn't hurt to pierce enemy runways and maybe the famous mission over Libya and its use in Desert Storm could be recreated. 🙂