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Author Topic: Conventional Fighters units  (Read 2326 times)

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Ice Hellion

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Conventional Fighters units
« on: March 04, 2012, 08:23:08 AM »
I have been looking at Conventional Fighters after reading an article comparing the Ju-87 Stuka to the Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik and I thought that perhaps the Soviet organisation could help the poor fragile Conventional Fighters.

So here is a first proposal (feel free to comment).

2 Conventional Fighters => 1 Flight Element (2 Conventional Fighters)
2 Flight Elements => 1 Flight (4 Conventional Fighters)
4 Flights + 1 Command Flight => 1 Squadron (20 Conventional Fighters)
4 Squadrons + 1 Command Flight => 1 Regiment (84 Conventional Fighters)
3 Regiments => 1 Division (252 Conventional Fighters)

Does it make sense?
I didn't include a flying command unit for the Division as I think it is too big to be controlled from the air.
I think that up to the Squadron (even perhaps the Regiment), units should be made of one type of Conventional Fighters.
Personal assigned to each unit should be 50% more numerous than needed to man the Conventional Fighters (this way you can make some Pilots rest and make for the casualties).

I didn't think yet about the needed ground crew and protection units but they should be there too.
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Ice Hellion

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Re: Conventional Fighters units
« Reply #1 on: March 06, 2012, 01:01:09 PM »
No comment?  :'(
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"In turn they tested each Clan namesake
in trial against the Ice Hellion's mettle.
Each chased the Ice Hellion, hunting it down.
All failed to match the predator's speed and grace.
Khan Cage smiled and said, "And that is how we shall be."

The Remembrance (Clan Ice Hellion) Passage 5, Verse 3, Lines 1 - 5

Knightmare

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Re: Conventional Fighters units
« Reply #2 on: March 06, 2012, 03:37:22 PM »
I took a second and looked it over. I like it, though I often feel it's a little weird to overlook the "Wing" denomination. Perhaps two Squadrons are a Wing, with two Wings and a Command Flight a Regiment, etc.?

Otherwise, I think the new numerical advantages will be helpful. Although I have to wonder when we'd ever see a division's worth of conventional fighters in any one place, or unit.
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Dread Moores

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Re: Conventional Fighters units
« Reply #3 on: March 06, 2012, 05:01:03 PM »
Quote from: Knightmare on March 06, 2012, 03:37:22 PM
Although I have to wonder when we'd ever see a division's worth of conventional fighters in any one place, or unit.

In canon BT? Never. In most AUs (as they seem to go with more realistic numbers)? Pretty much any planet with a D tech rating for socio-economics or higher.
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Halvagor

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Re: Conventional Fighters units
« Reply #4 on: March 06, 2012, 11:27:04 PM »
Yeah, the industrial requirements to build conventional aircraft and vehicles are really pretty low.  They should be all over just about any planet.  And Australia, a nation of only 22 million people, easily affords a high-tech military of 80,000+ people. 30k of those are Army regulars, another 17k in trained, usable reserve.  The regulars have only 60 MBTs, but 250 LAVs, which practically are like a less-armored Vedette, while the M1A1 is more Manticore-ish.  And 450 active APCs, with another 300 in reserve status.  ~100 helicopters for your VTOLs.

The Australian Air Force has 14k people on active duty, and fields 95 F/A-18 fighter-bomber variants.  That's a lot of conventional fighters.

And this is a nation with only moderate industrialization and a population of 22 million people.  There are a lot of planets in BT which can match those figures.

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Ice Hellion

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Re: Conventional Fighters units
« Reply #5 on: March 07, 2012, 12:58:50 PM »
Quote from: Knightmare on March 06, 2012, 03:37:22 PM
I took a second and looked it over. I like it, though I often feel it's a little weird to overlook the "Wing" denomination. Perhaps two Squadrons are a Wing, with two Wings and a Command Flight a Regiment, etc.?

Otherwise, I think the new numerical advantages will be helpful. Although I have to wonder when we'd ever see a division's worth of conventional fighters in any one place, or unit.

The Red Army never used Wings :P

Would a Regiment the maximum number of Conventional Fighters on any given world (except the biggest ones)?
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"In turn they tested each Clan namesake
in trial against the Ice Hellion's mettle.
Each chased the Ice Hellion, hunting it down.
All failed to match the predator's speed and grace.
Khan Cage smiled and said, "And that is how we shall be."

The Remembrance (Clan Ice Hellion) Passage 5, Verse 3, Lines 1 - 5

Halvagor

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Re: Conventional Fighters units
« Reply #6 on: March 07, 2012, 01:24:24 PM »
Quote from: Ice Hellion on March 07, 2012, 12:58:50 PM
Would a Regiment the maximum number of Conventional Fighters on any given world (except the biggest ones)?
No.

If they're part of the "Planetary defense units" and not controlled by the Great House, then any planet which considered itself at risk would naturally have as large a defense force as it believes appropriate.  Wealthier, more technologically advanced worlds are likely to have more, but I don't think there is a reasonable upper limit.  More likely, there is a lower-limit mandated by the centralized state government, such as the Concordat's policy of having -- at minimum -- one armored battalion on each world, including "colony" worlds (which probably host less than 50,000 people). 
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Takiro

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Re: Conventional Fighters units
« Reply #7 on: March 07, 2012, 08:59:41 PM »
Dumb question in 2012 how many fighters do we currently have on Earth? might be a good baseline for a capital world of the InnerSphere. Then you work down.
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Dread Moores

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Re: Conventional Fighters units
« Reply #8 on: March 07, 2012, 10:18:00 PM »
Quote from: Takiro on March 07, 2012, 08:59:41 PM
Dumb question in 2012 how many fighters do we currently have on Earth? might be a good baseline for a capital world of the InnerSphere. Then you work down.

You have over 5,500 (combat and otherwise) aircraft in use by the USAF alone. If you start using full numbers on Earth, you will very quickly be in an AU with a combat paradigm far and away from anything that resembles current BT. That's not necessarily a bad thing, simply a note to be aware of the massive changes.
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Halvagor

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Re: Conventional Fighters units
« Reply #9 on: March 08, 2012, 02:04:08 PM »
Some 4,450 F-16s have been delivered to 26 countries since 1976.  While I'm sure that a number are not on active duty, no real equipment lasts as long as in BattleTech.  Some 950 F/A-18A/B/C/D models were in service in 2008, along with 138 CF-18s for Canada and ~500 E/F model Super Hornets.  The F-15A/B/C/D produced 1,198 aircraft (including Japanese and Israeli models), while another 334+ F-15E Strike Eagles have been built (and continue to roll off the assembly line).  These are the three major air-to-air aircraft of US companies since the 1970s, and total some 7570 aircraft.  If we include the F-14 as the fourth major fighter produced by the USA in this period, it'd add another 712; but other than a handful remaining of the 79 delivered to Iran before the fall of the Shah, these are all out of service.
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