Military Air Component Commander
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How It Works
While the Military AI Commander is responsible for commanding operations on the ground, the Military Air Component Commander takes control of all air assets in theatre and issues Air Tasking Orders to available aircraft, with the exception of helicopters assigned to logistics taskings. ATOs are prioritised depending on the tactical situation and available air assets. They can include Combat Air Patrol (CAP), Defensive Counter Air (DCA) and Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) as well as support to ground ops such as Recce, Close Air Support and Strike missions on the current ground objectives.
The ALiVE MACC module creates an Air Component HQ at the nearest airbase to the module location and optionally spawns Air Defenses in the vicinity. MACC uses existing aircraft spawned by the ALiVE Military Placement modules or, if none are available, can spawn additional fixed wing or rotary aircraft. MACC is also capable of conducting naval aviation operations from the CVN-83 USS Freedom.
Usage
Place the Military Air Component Commander module in the editor and sync to the Military AI Commander(s) of the same side. Only one MACC is required per side. MACC will radio broadcast the progress of current Air Tasking Orders to all players on the same side.
- Persistence: NOT YET IMPLEMENTED.
- Faction: Faction of air assets to be controlled by MACC. By default MACC will inherit from synced AI Commander modules but this field can be used to override with different faction aircraft.
- ATO Types: array of Air Tasking Orders available to MACC. See below for a full list of available types. Example: ["CAP","DCA"]
- Air Space: named marker defining the Combat Air Patrol area. If no air space is defined, the whole map is used by default.
- Create HQ: places a composition for MACC HQ or uses nearest available building.
- Place Air: MACC uses aircraft spawned by Mil Placement modules by default. If none are available, it will spawn at least 1 armed fixed wing and 1 armed rotary wing asset. If no aircraft are spawned by Mil Placement or MACC, then empty assets can be placed manually in the editor.
- Place AA: places Ground Based Air Defenses (GBAD) in the vicinity of MACC HQ.
Air Tasking Orders
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Note: Only CAP and DCA are functional in the first release.
Primary taskings are assigned by MACC independently. These include:
- CAP - MACC assigns a single fighter to establish a Combat Air Patrol in the CAP area in order to prevent ingress of enemy aircraft.
- DCA - one fighter is held in reserve at the nearest airbase for Defensive Counter Air, ready to scramble and intercept inbound enemy strike aircraft.
- SEAD - Suppression of Enemy Air Defense. MACC will periodically task strike aircraft to destroy enemy Ground Based Air Defenses (GBAD).
- OCA - Offensive Counter Air missions against pre-planned targets such as runways and hangars in order to reduce enemy air capabilities.
- AS - Anti Shipping strikes against naval and maritime assets.
Secondary taskings are assigned by MACC in response to requests from the Military AI Commander for air support. These include:
- CAS - Close Air Support for troops fighting on the ground.
- Strike - bombing runs on specific ground targets such as key buildings at an objective.
- Recce - Reconnaissance missions to report location of enemy ground forces to the Military AI Commander.
Editor Notes
MACC uses aircraft spawned by Mil Placement modules or, if none are available, the MACC module itself. You can also hand place empty aircraft in the editor and ensure they are profiled via the Virtual AI System for use by MACC.
To have MACC conduct naval operations off the USS Freedom, manually place some empty air assets on the deck, ensure they are profiled by the Virtual AI System, and place the MACC module on top of USS Freedom so the carrier is used as the MACC HQ. Do not select Place Air in the MACC modules.
Ensure that any empty aircraft that are meant to be used by players are excluded from the Virtual AI System.
