What do these mean?

CAP: combat areospace patrol, a group of fighters going circles around a carrier
TARCAP: not too sure
BARCAP:Barrier Combat Areospace Patrol, Also known as point defence, scrambling fightes to deal with incoming bombers etc.
FORCAP: Going in front of the carrier and smacking anything in its path so that the carrier can pass safely
Wild Weasel: the destruction of turrets
 
I just looked in my WCP manual and TARCAP stands for Targeted Combat Air Patrol, in essence flying against a target that threatens your carrier, presumably another capship. Also technically Wild Weasel is air defense suppression. Basically take out a capships air defenses; turrets, fighters, any other defensive capabilites that a capship might have, little blue thingys that.... wait a minute, where did that come from.:o
 
Originally posted by dacis2
Wild Weasel: the destruction of turrets
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Here's some interesting trivia I picked up the other day. Does anyone know what the original Wild Weasel F-4's job description was in Korea/Vietnam?

You'd fly into enemy airspace and do anything you could to get SAM (surface to air missle) operators to see you. As soon as the operator had turned on his radar and began to pickle you, you would dive in full afterburners to close the distance so you could fire an anti-radiation missle (radar seeking). More often than not, this manuever took longer than the SAM operator took to target you and he would fire his missle (the missle was unguided and used the radar site it was launched from for guidence). Basically it was a race to see who could get there first, though you had the upper hand (kindof). If your missle could knock out the enemy radar before the missle hit you, the missle could no longer track you and you were okay. If he hit you first, your anti-radiation missle is self guided, therefore he is toast(the only problem being is that you are dead).

To make a long story short (too late :) ), you did everything you could to get someone to fire at you and then tried to beat him to the punch. I don't know about you, but I don't like that series of event at all!
 
Originally posted by Viper61


Here's some interesting trivia I picked up the other day. Does anyone know what the original Wild Weasel F-4's job description was in Korea/Vietnam?

You'd fly into enemy airspace and do anything you could to get SAM (surface to air missle) operators to see you.
Click to expand...


Duh. SAMs are air defense, so you would want to take them out. As a side note, F-6 Intruders (I think its F-6, memory is a little rusty, could be the F-7) during 'Nam were also tasked with taking out SAM radar sites. Definantly not the best job in the Navy.
 
Hi,

In the navy during Vietnam, the Wild Weasel missions were also know as Iron Hand missions and it fell to A6 Intruders and A7 Corsairs to do the job. It had to be one of the most dangerous - but also most rewarding jobs out there.

Cheers
 
Wild Weasel or Iron Hand

Vergil Cole: "SAM sites are the most righteous targets we got. You ever fly Iron Hand?
Jake Grafton: "No no no. Not me no I don't let 'em shoot rockets at me for sport."
Cole: "You get to kill 'em. Its gratifying."

Later on over the unfriendly skies of Vietnam...

Cole: "Simple. We're the decoys. We get 'em to turn on their radar and shoot at us. But then again we get to shoot back and kill 'em with our missiles. That way the bombers can have a pleasant SAM free evening...So otherwise its a simple deal. When the SAM's radar goes on, that's your target, you shoot. They either have to shut off and lose the missile or eat the Shrike. If they do shut off sometimes the Shrike remembers where they're at. Mean bastards eh?"

The above quotes are from Flight of the Intruder (the movie) based on a novel by Stephen Coonts. I trust that answers the Wild Weasel questions?
 
Also, Wild Weasel was the name for the EF-4 (the electronic warfare variant of the F-4 Phantom). It carried only a gun but tons of jamming stuff.
 
The USA don´t use E-A6 Prowler?
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Hi,

The US Navy does, but the airforce doesn't. Also, given the cost of the Prowler, you don't generally want to send them into a close-in fight with SAMS. You just want them in jamming range - despite the fact that the Navy has started fitting HARM anti radiation missiles to them.

Cheers
 
Until their retirement not long after the Gulf War, the Navy and Marines used the A-6E Intruder and A-7E Corsair II for dedicated Wild Weasel missions. The EA-6B Prowler began carrying AGM-88 HARMs shortly before the War, but more as a weapon of opportunity than actual intention. IOW, they were used if the enemy was unwise enough to turn on a radar site while the EA-6B was around, but the Prowlers did not go looking for direct attacks. The craft is a dedicated stand-off jamming platform.

The Navy now uses the F/A-18 Hornet for its Wild Weasel missions, though certainly the relatively few EA-6Bs still around continue to carry a HARM or two in active missions.

Oh, and the Air Force uses the F-4G variant of the venerable Phantom (not the F-4E, dacis), as well as the F-16 Falcon for its WW missions. The F-15E is also capable of carrying HARMs.
 
Originally posted by OriginalPhoenix


Oh, and the Air Force uses the F-4G variant of the venerable Phantom (not the F-4E, dacis), as well as the F-16 Falcon for its WW missions. The F-15E is also capable of carrying HARMs.
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We don't have F-4Gs anymore. I really wish we did, though!

We mainly use the F-16s for WW missions, since they're such a difficult target for most SAM sites! The most common crew chief joke against the F-15 is that "banking in an F-15 makes you an instant target."

And yes, the F-15E can carry HARMs... and nukes... dunno about pheonixes, though. All I know is that it has the capability to carry "any munition ever made." That would imply an ability to carry pheonixes, however I've never heard of nor seen it done....

With all the modern day avionics and precision-guided munitions, Wild Weasel missions aren't as frantic and scary as they once were (less exciting, if you would dare say). Kind of like how stealth technology has made bombing so much more easy!
 
Originally posted by Col.Dom
We don't have F-4Gs anymore. I really wish we did, though!
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Sorry, should have specified -- I meant during the Gulf War.

Originally posted by Col.Dom
And yes, the F-15E can carry HARMs... and nukes... dunno about pheonixes, though. All I know is that it has the capability to carry "any munition ever made." That would imply an ability to carry pheonixes, however I've never heard of nor seen it done....
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Nope. The F-14 Tomcat continues to be the only aircraft in the world that carries the AIM-54 Phoenix missile. This isn't because of any inherent size of weight limitation, but because the missiles' systems are so closely tied to the Tomcat's radar and electronics suite.
 
Thanks for clearing that up, Pheonix! I wasn't sure on that one....

I always find it a real shame the USAF doesn't fly Tomcats. If given the choice, I think I'd choose the Tomcat over the Strike Eagle.
 
While the Tomcat is nice I think one of the main reasons the Air Force bought F-15's instead was the high price of the Tomcat.And don't feel bad Dom I listened to my recruiter as well.See the world in the Army, what I saw was the swamps around Columbus Georgia for two years.
 
HAHA! Same here, Thymerlord! "See unique and exciting places... like Texas.

Take part in important taskings that make you a part of the mission... like mopping the hangar floor and dusting wooden furniture.

Do a multitude of exciting activities that none of your peers will ever be able to say they have... which is nothing we're showing here, because you won't fly jets or drop bombs or transport troops while you fire chaff & flare as an enlisted grunt."

Boo to that :(
 
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