Aircraft Lovers Group
Hobbies & Interests
This group is open to everyone who likes any kind of aircraft
Courtesy of Matchstick101, who asked: Just for fun lets say your a mercenary pilot looking to start out in the world and you have a cool $10,000,000 to blow on your first combat aircraft. What aircraft would you buy?
me personally, I would get myself a Mirage IIIS.
------------------------------------------------
So maybe post-societal collapse? So lots of PMCs + a few isolationist superpowers/regional powers, heaps of resource wars, border conflicts etc.
Rules are as follows:
$10,000,000 starting balance, so nothing to fancy. You can have any aircraft within in this price margin, so if you want to buy a kitted out Cesna with some M2s strapped to the wings, you can (although I think Matchstick was meaning something a little more competent).
Munitions costs don't factor into it, as long as your aircraft can historically take them, you can have em. (Nothing stupid like tac-nukes or bio-weapons, WMDs in general).
RP the hell out of repair, fuel and general logistics costs.
Post comments down below.
Personally I would go with a MiG-21bis, which fits in the price margin well enough.
Is also about as easy as it gets in the logistical sense.
Armament would be: Full-load of S-5, S-8 rocket pods, and FAB-250s on the 5 suspension points.
Also take the extra set of flare and chaff dispensers, because most ground forces will be stacking MANPADS by now.
Primary targets would be light armor and logistic convoys, operating in a low threat environment with very low probability of hostile air cover.
I'll be hauling *** in and out, with the ability to make multiple sorties in a day.
Ex-Luftwaffe MiG29 or F4ICE because of the avionics upgrades and would fit the margin well enough. (Possibly even a late model Skyraider for ground attack)
I feel like all of these would be a good choice, all combat proven with mostly good records.
Armament would be twin 30mm Gunpods, versatile enough for air and anything up to medium armour, for any other jets I'd want to pack 4-6 AIM120's, if I had to switch up for dedicated air-to-ground I'd want to have a pair of CBU105 and some Hydra pods.
ECM might be a bit expensive at this point so some chaff will have to do the job.
I think I'll still stick with the Mirage IIIS. The Mirage III is still a solid fighter. Maybe if I had money for it after my Mirage III. I would get myself a A-7E for a better ground attack aircraft but the Mirage would come first.
The (S) model Switzerland used had some great upgrades over the years like the TARAN-18 radar, RWR, chaff/flare dispensers among other things.
I think my main two loadouts would be
CAP: 2x AIM-9, 2xAIM-26B, or export counterparts of the two
CAS: 2x AIM-9, 2xMk.82 bombs maybe 4 with modding to the pylon used by the AIM-26B.
my main roll would be CAP seeing how the Mirage is in its element but I could do some light CAS, mainly gun runs with the twin 30mm on soft targets and using the Mk.82's on a few harder targets like armor.
Seeing how we are going with a post societal collapse theme. I would doubt heavy armor would be a common sight on the battlefield.
A MiG-25R just doing some high altitude recon or MiG-25RB doing both tho I would personally modify them to have better ECMs...and better chaff flare dispensers and obviously upgrade them to N standards (for night operations) and would hope to have competent escort during strikes...tho I would wish not to be sent to places were THAADs Patriots S-300s or S-400s operate they would scarce anyway right :P neither where F-14s or MiG-31s would operate.
Armament for this would be Cameras for recon and Dozen of Bombs for bombing.
Or a MiG-31BM while sitting as radar operator will be interesting just doing some interceptions (No Dogfighting obviously) and possibly acting like semi AWACS or kinda airborne radar warning operating in safe places and over friendly territory, Armament for this would be Amos or more expensive Arrows (R33s or R37Ms) under fuselage or Archers (R73) underwing for self defense tho I would wish the plane not to be put for such situations, or obviously just a spam of R-77 Adders.
RIP Costs and hell of maintenance XD
The demand for capable recon craft would be huge, assuming satt-intel and most drone fleets had been wiped out.
MiG-31BM is a big ask for 10mil, BM upgrade alone was ~7mil. xD
BVR king though.
on a side note to the RP side of things I came up with a great Idea as a baseline for price of aircraft. first we need a year for all this to happen. 2020 maybe? then take the unit cost of your aircraft when new (Mirage III was 7,000,000)
then go here Online-calculators.co.uk its a Depreciation Calculator. Use Straight Line Depreciation with how many years old your aircraft is by 2020.
example: Mirage III would cost $118,644.07 by 2020 (59 years)
example2: A-7 built in 1965 at 2.86mil by 2020 would be $52000.00 (55 years)
A Polikarpov Po-2, probably the U-2LSh variant. Also blow some of the cash on a anti-material rifle & a supply of grenades. Total will still be under $100k somehow...
Yep, I'm going for the cheap & durable route (assuming the post-apoc setting).
2-op
I like to live dangerously. ;)
Would go with a Embraer EMB 314 Super Tucano. Cheap to operate and easy to handle. It also has the needed defenses system to tackle most primitive AAA.
I mean seriously the chance I will have of being in the receiving end of enemy air power is pretty slim. Most people will hire pilots of ground support, not air superiority.
An I the situation DO comes it, I will just say that I am not flying without air cover and cancel the contract if necessary.
If you're going down that route why not get a Super Pucara for dedicated Air to ground? From what I understand they're pretty easy to maintain as well... :P
I would probably get a Chengdu J-7G, Mirage III or Mig 21bis with modern avionics, armed with IR all aspect missles, 52mm Rocket pod or 500kg bomb. 10,000,000 is not a big budget, highly advanced western aircraft is out of the question as aircraft maintainance is a major issue. Also I get nervous easily, thus chaff and IR flares is a must in my chosen aircraft(Mirage III and Chengdu J-7G got that covered, but have to shoehorned into Mig 21bis with modification)
Would prefer J-7G as it has a larger wing for better maneuverability and far lower maintainance cost. It also have the most modern avionics of all budget aircraft, with the lowest of cost among the 3.
Will get hired into group air combat and air cover mission. Or a quick lonely bombing run for harassment/assassination for those who can cash on service so no warning when its going to happen (sorry, I might be that kind of disrespected scum pilot)
Will not stick with the cheap aircraft for too long though, sooner or later save up to get myself a F-15B or Su-30Mk for better more significant missions, save up for ammunition, fuel and maintenance cause mercenary have to pay those.
One day might get a F-22, but by that time I am most likely dead, killed by enemy fighters, Advance Surface to Air Missiles or Shilka heavy cannon fire, or killed by hitman who know my scummy profile.
Dog's life will be of mine.