Air Assets and Operations

AIR ASSETS & OPERATIONS

AI-flown jets and helicopters take off, fly missions, fight, and land — all directed by players over the JTAC radio, with voiced callouts. 
Call in airstrikes, fly search-and-rescue, ride along in the back seat of a jet, or set up and command a whole airbase. Fully modular and standalone; works well with Tactical Ops Mod Suite (TOPS).

Everything is placed by a Game Master and driven by players.

SET UP AN AIRPORT (Game Master)
1. Open Entity Browser and type AAO
2. Place an Air Control Tower — the brain. Set its faction (CIV = recon only; US or USSR or any RHS unlocks CAS/strikes), a name, and a radio frequency. Up to 8 towers per map, at least 1.5 km apart.
3. Give the field: either a runway (Runway Start + Runway Takeoff) OR a VTOL Pad for vertical jets — one or the other, not both.
4. (Optional) Add Taxi Points to route planes out for takeoff and back in after landing.
5. Add one Aircraft Spawner per aircraft and choose the type — up to 8 per tower.
6. (Optional) At other fields, drop Parking Spots so a visiting L-39 or F14 has somewhere to park after landing away from home.

What can I do in this mod?

PLAY JTAC — call in air support
As GM: drop a JTAC Radio for players to grab.
Carry the radio backpack, raise a tower, and task its aircraft by callsign:
- Recon/Station, CAS (gun runs), Show of Force, Paradrop, Helicopter Escort, Return to Base, and SITREP
- Mark a target on your map (label it "Recon" or "CAS") and the aircraft flies it, or task it with STATION so it's in the air waiting
- One plane and one helicopter can work the same area together (just not two of the same type)
- If you are worried you are going to be attacked F14 is excellent at protecting other assets: Use Wingman option
- Paradrop drops a stick of paratroopers on your marker, jumpmaster calling the jump — grab a Parachute Backpack to jump out with them

PLAY SAR — search & rescue
As GM: place a MEDEVAC Post to enable SAR; rescue targets can also be hand-placed.
Hop on a rescue vehicle (any) — open the SAR Net on any personal radio and pick a mission:
- Maritime or Field rescues — one-off, or an endless randomized auto-loop
- The survivor pops smoke by day / a flare by night — find them, pick them up, and fly them to the MEDEVAC Post
- NPC medics available to treat and collect the survivor

PLAY RIO — ride the back seat
As GM: select an L-39 or F14 from the Aircraft Spawner.
Climb into the jet and run its mission from the cockpit by using your personal radio, with voiced intercom callouts:
- Call Station / CAS or CAP / RTB over the intercom while the jet flies
- Stack in another jet with the Wingman option

>> COMMON ISSUE — "why won't CAS work?!"
Your tower is set to CIVILIAN. CIV airfields are recon/station-only BY DESIGN — set the tower to a real faction (US, USSR, ...) to unlock CAS, Show of Force and Paradrop.

AIR COMBAT
Aircraft can be damaged, shot down, and crash, and the skies can be contested by enemy air.

THE FLEET
A-10 Thunderbolt II · AV-8B Harrier II · Su-25 Frogfoot · L-39 Albatros · F14 Tomcat · C-130 Hercules · An-12 · UH-1H · Mi-8 — plus US (USS Enterprise CVN-65) and Soviet (Kiev-class) carrier decks to operate from.
The L-39, F14 and Harrier include OPFOR skins for use on either side.

WHAT YOU PLACE (quick reference)
- Air Control Tower — runs every aircraft at a field (faction, name, frequency)
- Aircraft Spawner — spawns one aircraft of a chosen type
- Runway Start / Runway Takeoff / Taxi Point — tell aircraft where the runway is
- Parking Spot — where a visiting L-39 parks at a field away from home
- VTOL Pad — a vertical takeoff/landing spot, no runway needed
- Carrier decks — USS Enterprise CVN-65 (US) and a Kiev-class carrier (Soviet)
- MEDEVAC Post + SAR Survivor — the SAR drop-off zone and rescue targets
- JTAC Radio — the air-support backpack
- Parachute Backpack — equip it to jump out on a paradrop
- ATC — built into players's radio accessible while in a vehicle: a compass Vector to Base, plus recon for helicopter crews

CREDITS (Sketchfab models adapted for Arma Reforger)
- A-10 Thunderbolt II — Immersive3D (CC-BY)
- AV-8B Harrier II — ruslangidziak (CC-BY)
- Su-25 Frogfoot — Immersive3D (CC-BY)
- F14 Tomcat — Marcus4rt (CC-BY) + mirage_g8 chair by helijah (CC-BY), combined & modified
- L-39 Albatros — body by CommunicationNode (CC-BY-SA) + MB-339 cockpit by helijah (CC-BY), combined & modified
- C-130 Hercules — kog_thorns (CC-BY)
- An-12 — helijah (CC-BY)
- Army Parachute — amaraklov (CC-BY)
- USS Enterprise CVN-65 & Kiev-class carrier — Muhamad Mirza Arrafi (CC-BY 4.0)
- Fighter Pilot — SoftNote (CC-BY)
- Audio — freesound.org (incl. qubodup)
Full links in our Discord.

LICENSE: CC-BY-SA 4.0 — free to use and adapt, with attribution; derivatives stay under the same license.
SUPPORT: Discord — https://discord.gg/xbZTD67MTr