Air to Ground Munition Selection

[Kipper]

I saw a reference to guided AGM in another thread, figured we hadn't really seen any mention of it and wondered what peoples thoughts were on it.

So, I present to you a selection of air to ground death dealers, which would you like to see implemented - tick all that apply!

Machine/Chaingun: You can fight other aircraft with them, or you can strafe with them, likely to be pretty crappy vs armoured targets but plenty of ammo stores.

Heavy cannon: A meatier gun with a larger, heavier caliber. It has a much shorter range with a higher rate of bullet drop, but will damage armour or take down aircraft more quickly if you get close enough.

Iron bomb: High explosive but unguided, the laws of physics control the descent of the iron bomb which is designed to be dropped from medium/high altitude, it no guidance systems once dropped, but you'll get the benefit of a bomb aiming reticle on the HUD. Hitting anything unless flying pretty much straight and level at a constant speed won't be very easy though.

Retarded bomb: Like an iron bomb but with retardation to slow descent, designed for low/medium altitude attacks, giving the aircraft time to vacate so that it isn't destroyed by its own weapon but putting it at risk because of its low altitude. If dropped from on high, its likely the target will have moved on by the time it lands.

Cluster bomb: A primarily anti infantry weapon that ejects lots of little bomblets over a large area (determined most likely by the launch altitude or a pre-launch setting). Friendly fire casualties are likely if dropped on a battle in progress, but great if there's a bunch of enemy infantry massing somewhere for an attack. Maybe the option to add in a few mines too?

Dumb-fire Rockets: You aim them at a target, you fire them, and they fly straight and true directly from the aircraft to the target with a resultant explosion. Whether you kill anything or not depends on how well you aimed, and whether what you aimed at moved out the way. No guidance systems allow this rocket to pack more warhead, cheap to buy.

Wire/TV guided: A wire or optically guided missile. They can change direction in flight, but the pilot or gunner controls them directly, otherwise they act like a dumb rocket and just fly straight. Likely to be of more use over a longer distance given the speeds involved. Lower yield because of guidance systems, more expensive than a rocket but cheaper than a more elaborately guided missile.

Laser guided: The first lockable ordnance on offer, but you must maintain the lock - you need to either have a clear line of sight to target and keep a lock until impact, or you need a ground unit to be painting it with a laser designator. If at any time during the missile's flight the lock is lost, it reverts to dumb-fire (but will attempt to correct if you can re-acquire and there is time to adjust). Good chance of hitting, but more expensive, and you can carry less before needing to go back to base to re-arm.

Fire & Forget - Radar/IR guided: The creme de la creme of missile technology, you acquire a lock with the missile and fire, and it tracks and adjusts automatically, as soon as you launch, you can turn away or go find a new target. The only way this is going to miss is if its launched too close to the target, shot down by defensive guns/missiles, distracted by appropriate countermeasures or blocked by another object (which it will duly slam into). Again, very expensive to obtain and few can be carried on an aircraft so re-arming often is key.

Anti-Radar: A defensive guided missile that locks onto the source of radar emissions, can be evaded by er.. turning off the source of radar emissions. Used as anti SAM. Obviously can't track the source of a heat seeking missile or flak gun, etc. Medium cost, more of a deterrent unless the target is stupid enough not to break his radar lock....