It seems that everyone who enters the melee in the middle can evade one missile but then has no energy to evade another, so someone else comes in to finish them off and ends up in the same position. Effectively it's an inescapable black hole to AI. The American speed/range advantage just dictates where the black hole begins but the capabilities are similar after that. It would need entirely different tactics with this sort of battle that the AI can't do, at least not yet.

as an f15 crew chief your pretty spot on about the flight hours of the f15 the only thing you missed was there getting phased out by the brand new f15ex (solid looking acft is you havent seen it yet)

Cap, one of my biggest gripes is that "for reasons of fairness" ya always set the Russian skill levels at expert when we have clearly seen that they're not as well trained or maintained as their western counter parts. That makes a big difference. So 'for reasons of reality' I'm going to lobby for setting Ruskie skill levels @ something less the settings for western forces. That would be for all platforms, pilots, anti air, ground units, etcetera. To fair that's just the truth.

Damp Sock: No where near the contested zone flying in circles not threatening anything Also Sock: "I'm winning."

Is Damp Sock actually BRAGGING about winning by sitting out of the fight hiding behind his SAM batteries? It may be a valid tactic, but not one to be especially proud of, methinks.

That was fantastic. Easily one of the top 5. Grump is still a legend. The core GR group is really impressive. I had no idea that Violet was new to DCS. She is a serious talent.

Damp if you fly around in your own SAM net, the humans aren't gonna fight you. That's not a win.

the AI tactics favoured the Russians with the extra missiles. after the first wave the Americans would retreat and let the second wave do the same. remaining first wave doing a chain saw to re-engage at speed. the Americans gave away their energy advantage and manouver space at the edge of the sam net. good example of fighting the wrong type of fight by the Americans.

"It's not a draw!" claims Damp as he flies around his SAM net not doing anything while the inevitable wave of B2s come in to wipe Russia off the map.

Simba. I didn't realize you spend so much time behind the scenes working out stuff like this with Cap. Thanks for the time and hard work. It leads to a lot of good entertaining and informative videos. 🙂

Thanks for pushing the technology envelope, I know it's time consuming but it makes war games something uniquely realistic.

American jets have better combat records than anything Russia has, by far. Exceedingly far. The war in Ukraine has done one thing for certain; proven that Russia's capabilities are no better now, than they were in the 1980's, despite what they like to claim.

I’m sure the US would not have used that tactics

Everything about this was really cool. But one point of improvement I would recommend is not giving the RED TEAM info when u spectate. I noticed on more than one occasion when you would pass on info which is just unfair.

I think some F-4 Wild Weasels, F-4 for MigCap and some A-6 would be enough at this point.

Your live action commentary is the best part of the video

I'm trying to decide if the time and energy spent on these vast battles, is a work of love or lunacy lol. Great vid as always. I know I keep making suggestions but, I've got 1 last idea. Spain plans to take Gibraltar but don't want a Falklands style counter attack. So, while the QE is sailing through the Med, they launch a surprise attack with their air force and navy. Why would win?

Another Morning GR video and coffee lets goo! I love when Cap gets excited haha, Awesome work GR's! This battle was something I have been wanting to see for so long.

I know the US doesn’t have a whole ton of F-15 EX platforms, but I’d love to see what difference they might make in a situation like this

Absolutely LOVE IT when Cap goes into Heavy Breathing when things get exciting!!! 😆

Wonderful simulation Cap, was just as surprised with the results as you. Thank you. 👍

Great idea to nerf s400, the 250 mile missile in real life would presumably have so many friendly fire concerns that the site is probably more effective this way! Presumably the USAF would also have a few if its 400 tankers airborne too? Haven't watched fight yet but guessing some fuel issues will occur! Would love to see a dynamic war games like china Taiwan again, maybe here as this map with sead and sea combat would be awesome!

You always set these fights up for "fairness", but real life ain't fair. Crew training, airframe maintenance, logistics, ground support... the US has MASSIVE advantages in all of those, especially considering that Russia has been fighting a very real war for over half a year now and racking up the corresponding casualties. Most of their front line fighters and ground attack planes are probably not in perfect fighting order

Something that currently PC AI cant replicate is the emotion of combat. In games like the original F.E.A.R it was common for the enemy to withdraw if they took casualties but it was a simple piece of code using percentages. Anybody reading this will understand how much of a difference unit/individual morale can and will make in combat. The current conflict in Ukraine has brought this home to even the general public, numbers, competence and equipment quality mean little if unit morale is low.

Note: F-16s are known to the pilots as 'Vipers" not "Falcons"

UK has more Eurofighters than Russia has SU-35 .

Gotta love a new Grim Reapers vid. Great content Cap, keep it up!

Matrix, the man of the hour. Well done today :)

33:30 Skynet: Bruh, I feel personally attacked..........

Love the work yall do, but what cant be modeled in DCS are the 70 years of training, cycle after cycle. The generational knowledge gained from this experience would destroy Russian air force. Money spent on training is money that wins engagements.

For stuff like this, when it's all about the air war, it might be better to not let the humans respawn.

"You can´t notch at that aspect - ... Shows what I know..." Made me laugh hard...

Simba, 421 TFS black widow here, I don’t play but watch your vids. Capt I find your entertaining

Great battle, need to add Wild Weasel planes to force the slackers into the fight sooner.

Excellent video and it appears the human factor played a huge role even when they are such a minority of the force. I think this shows why the US has the F-15E and F-15EX jets too, as they are the US missile trucks carrying 10+ long-range missiles. As Cap said, a large-scale air war like this is not likely to happen, especially just heading straight into each other. But, if this ever did happen, the USAF has the numbers to go up against any opponent at a 2-to-1 advantage, whether it's 4th-gen or 5th-gen.

Violet didn't say Hi, because you only asked the guys to say Hi.,.lol Thank you violet.

I think the correct term is wipe the floor with.

My only real critique on this simulation is that, I don't think either side would wander into the MAR. I think the US would stage their flights at 40 mile waves. They would come in with their tanks on, maximize their speed, fire the first, maybe second wave of missiles, and then go back to the tanker and let the next wave take over.

Is the F15EX modeled? If not how do you think they would do in this scenario being missle trucks for F22s?

Well boys, as far as this virtual battle is concerned, the F-15 just lost it's zero combat loss record that it once held.

I know you said you don't see much point in a bigger version of the stealth vs Russia air but what about a full stealth airwing vs a full Russian air wing defending a Russian carrier group.

On the ai, I wonder if Nvidia could do one of their machine learning experiments with DCS instead of Minecraft.

Great fight CAP! Your progress is amazing and such an interesting outcome, here are just a few ideas I thought of while watching, I'm by no means an expert but some thought led to these, they may interest people. I think this shows the Russian numbers doctrine vs the USAs tech doctrine is really interesting in a defensive role for the Russians. A bit like the stealth f35s for attack and murder for mass defense. If the Russians were attacking, then they would have to sacrifice missiles for fuel like the F15s in this vid having 6 AMRAAMs not 8. That would maybe be a delta of min 32 missiles maybe up to 64 for the American's advantage in defense. Then again, a sprinkling of maybe 4 F22s with 24 stealth AMRAAMs would also create a big difference in result. I completely understand how much time and effort these sims take to make but a few different scenarios based on this one just with different aggressors or slight changes in airframe models would be fascinating to watch! I can only hope they are made one day!

I wonder how Mig - 31 would perform.

With the way things are going in avionics and aircraft costs, I could see the F-22/F-35 being the "High" in the mix and reduced observability versions of legacy designs (F-15, F-16, and F/A-18E) making up the "Low" in the mix.

Mod suggestion: AT-37 Flying Dog Whistle. Cessna AT-37 Dragonfly was a side by side trainer used forever by USAF. Combat tested I believe in Vietnam. Good video. Cheers.

Matrix showing off why he is a real Ace

I'm stationed at Spangdahlem, i see the F16 pilots everyday interesting scenario.

Being too aggressive costs lives!!! 1. Move in... shoot... 2. move out 3. Gain SA 4. Move in again

I think this isn't an accurate depiction. For the russian side it may be, sending up their fighters to engage the US fighters. The Americans would have sent in an air wing to engage the Russians and a SEAD strike to take down the SAM sites at the same time, if not a missile strike from their navy. The Americans don't send in just fighters. I would also call it an American victory anyway because the Russian commanders would not have allowed their pilots to cheese it and hang back while their other pilots were fighting and dying. They have this thing about their people seeming to display cowardice in the face of the enemy.

cheers for the video guys, real interested in how you tweek the game to achieve this...must learn more

Damn... Matrix went full beast mode!!!

Matrix is deluding himself. It was a draw. And I think the last 30 years of war (Gulf War, Ukraine) have shown that both the tech and training give western air forces an embarrassing advantage.

48:31 ooooooooh say can you seeeeeee

If not for the S-400 net, the Eagles and Vipers would've cleared the Flankers from the skies but they would still suffer losses.

One of my gr favourites all the top names plus up and comers ...up there with the aircraft carrier landing competition

Get well soon Cap.

@34:35 "Will there ever be airwing vs airwing?" Me: I think that's the concept behind having a stealthy human-shepherd and a flock of missile-packing drones. You get the mass number of long-range shots (AIM2xxx) on little bombtrucks while risking a limited number of humans. DAMN !! The dodges @40:00 are insane !! ... when it comes to picking a Dodgeball team, I'm taking Violet Moon. Brainz, Guts. Aggressive as hell. Matrix and Simba are great, but methinks they have less upside potential. Violet is a hyperbolic beast. (am I baiting the guys? Nah, never. LOL)

Brill, thank you. Violet is all powerful!

39:17 Grump's bitching betty sounds like it's deep fried lol

Could you make a series of videos with current and future fighterjets for European countries? For example what if the RNLAF use F35's, Gripens, and AEW aircraft compare to only F35 and it's current view F16's? Or what if the German Airforce has F35, Typhoon and Tornado compared to the current Typhoon and Tornado? So what kind of improvement happened or which technology sucks. Because a lot of EU countries buy a view 5th gen jets or 4 and 4,5 jets. So basicly a small fleet for all tasks. But if you use stealth for air superiority and 4 or 4.5 gen for the "dirty" work how effective would that be compared to some stealth jets. Wich is more cost effective, sole stealth or stealth and 4, 4.5 jets. Great video guys!

What about adding a wing of C-17s and B-1Bs with cruise and other missiles ?

I'm making this comment at the 20:00 mark where you're asking for predictions. One thing that isn't factored into this is the quality of training and the number of flight hours training each year. I don't think there's much dispute internationally (except in Russia) that US pilots have the overall training advantage. How to model that in DCS? Not too sure.

Lmao I think the nerf of the S-400 should remain! It would have been cool to see a mix of SU-30SM's and SU-35's on the Russian side and few Super Hornet's on U.S. side

Good mission set up, as always. Any thoughts of running something like this but using US Naval aircraft? Updated F-14's and F-18's?

This is the GR we all want to watch! WTG guys!!!

There are a couple of things i noticed in this video- 1) the russians now that americans have better range missiles and radars 2) the russians also know they have longer range SAMs 3) the russians won't be stupid to go and fight americans on fair terms Conclusion - the russian air force is designed to work within or near their SAMs and the defend their territory and bomb the front line they would never meet the americans in an open field like the scenario showcased (I WOULD ADVISE THAT THE RUSSIANS SPWANED DEEEPER IN THEIR SAM NET AS ALL THEY HAVE TO DO IS PREVENT GROUNDSTRIKES AGAINST THEIR ASSETS) meanwhile the americans have to attack and thus inherently need to go closer to russian SAMs.

The Su-35Ses did very well against the F-15s/16s.

I'm not surprised at the result. Aggressors typically require a 3:1 advantage.

Matrix is becoming the Ace and Violet is the number 1 Rookie

Oh god hearing for and angels in a BRAA call is like having John Wick shove a pencil into my ear

Mass of fire is a component of battle. The lack of missiles on the American planes was the deciding factor.

Matrix going absolute god mode

No F15C's ARE ALL BEING REPLACED BY F15EX's WHICH FEATURES AN/APG-82, Which Leverages AN/APG-81 as the base likely with couple hundred less T/R Modules, but still gives Pilot the same/similar SA as F35 as it uses same/based off F35's computer... Edit: Correction, the F16s new AESA AN/APG-83 is what's based off F35 radar...

this was the best thing I have seen all day

A fresh off the line F-14A would probably be able to achieve air superiority over the Russians at this point.

Should have put R-37M's on the Su-35.

That was really cool. 😎

That was cool!

So it's confirmed: Simba is a real guy!

An absolute joy to watch.

Hey GR! Love the content! I’ve been interested in the past vids of the US v.s. Different countries (mostly Russia) and I was wondering if you guys would ever release your Aim-120Ds and your radars so people like me could try it for ourselves? Thanks!

Matrix is so good wth

The F15 when you get hight enough, around 30-35k+ feet in altitude, can burn for damn near forever, it's a fuel truck

I'd have to disagree with Damp's assessment. The stated objective is air superiority over the battlefield...you can't claim air superiority with a single fighter, especially when it's not even over the contested territory. He's the only survivor, sure...but he didn't really pursue the mission objective, either.

A flight of Americans will always have a wild weasel bird to hit sams

yes ..have you seen how shit .there airforce is ...they could even get air superaty..over Ukraine...with a 30 to one advantage!!! ...we give them for to credit!!!

Wasn't the irbis-e able to track objectives the size of 3m^2 from near 175 miles?

the su-35 has a much more powerful radar no35, although this should not affect the experiment, thanks anyway for the interesting videos)

Can't wait till you release the mods!!

When one side has extensive ground based air defenses the other should be provided with the means to suppress or destroy those air defenses. F-15E with JASSM-ER, MALD, and HARM for example could degrade the S-400s.

Cap im sorry, this was a great video, but please stop using the word “twizzing”

There's a reason why Americans have more fighter jets while russians have more missiles. BECAUSE one of them works and thinks like an invader, while the other one thinks like a defender in case of a BIG scale war. It's kind of a stale mate, USAF cannot win against russia in their home land, not even with nato (and vice versa obviously), they could have done something like they did in the middle east, but Russia isn't middle east. That's why they're trying to hit the Russian economy. No top 9 powers can win over each other's lands, they sure can defend theirs... Nuke today is the only option, which all 9 powers in this world possess to destroy the other, 5 of them only managed to come out as global powers because of nukes because their conventional capability sucked because of smaller area or little population or poverty too.

It is not the aircraft. It is the pilot that makes the winner in a dogfight. The difference between the 4th Gen modernized fighter and a Russian 5th get fighter. Is not what you imagine. For Example the latest version of the F-16 is the F-16V. Which is a long ways away from the F-16C

Any advance on a squadron of Sopwith Camels??

Wonder what's the point of the strange grated tail fins of the adders...

Yay, he said my name.

Matrix is the Darth Vader of this game

You wanna fight me fight these SAMs🤣

I think IRL the Americans would win this fight, even if they just had 4th Gen jets. These Russians had an unrealistic level of skill, and the Russian SAMs are unrealistically good if Ukraine is anything to go on. The Russian military is apparently vastly undertrained compared to the US military, and their equipment is not only inferior, but apparently really poorly maintained. The modern Russian military is just simply not a real threat to the United States military. Also, if this were real, the US would have used stealth aircraft. There are like 500 F-35s in the US inventory, they would definitely be used. Plus both the F-35 and the F-22 are being deployed to Eastern Europe. This kind of fight is basically exactly why the US built the F-22 and the F-35. Both those planes would go through the Russian SAM net as if it wasn't even there. The US wouldn't even send in any 4th Gen planes until the stealths neutralized the Russian SAMs. As your previous videos have shown 5th Gen vs 4th Gen is just a one sided slaughter. A 4 ship flight of F-22s could probably take out that whole Russian wing, and two 4 ship flights definitely could. A squadron would be overkill.