[Airborne Rifles]

So this thread got me thinking about using strike aircraft to target enemy helicopters. I set up a test and ran it. I modified US F-22s and F-16D COIN fighters to carry sidewinder ATA missiles. I then sent them against some stationary Chinese scout helos on a flat map. The missiles never launched at greater than a 17-18% probability of hitting. I tried modifying the aircraft's stabilizer, fire control, etc. ratings. This helped with the Gatling gun on the aircraft but not with the missiles. It didn't seem to matter to targeting or accuracy whether the missiles were weapons 1, 2, 3, or four. Regular vs. COIN aircraft didn't seem to make a difference either (I interspersed some low value ground units in among the helos to check).

These anti-helicopter fighters would probably be even less effective in more realistic conditions with terrain and moving targets, but even so a scenario designer could make good use of them to give the player an option to punish an opponent just hovering his gunships stationary some place. They might even be more effective then some SAM units if the player could target them effectively.

Anyway, just shows the versatility of this game to do things not even really within its scope!

Edit: Just to clarify- I'm not suggesting these be added in to any OOB. Just pointing out that a scenario designer can easily create a strike fighter to target helicopters, at least in the US OOB.