CAS Support: Flying the Falcon in Halo Arma 3

There are only a handful of games that allow you to properly perform Close Air Support (CAS) missions, even if they are still a thing on most flight simulators.

They just never feel right, or give you any feedback from the troops you are supporting. That's when milsim titles with their multiplayer nature really shine, especially games like Squad or, in our case, modded Arma 3.

As one of the most modded games out there in the milsim genre, Arma 3 offers a lot of different experiences depending on what the players want. If you want to completely ditch realism, you can do so by modding sci-fi factions from many universes into this usually realistic game.

That is what my friend Neppy did with our current short-term campaign by modding in the entirety of the Halo universe factions into the Altis map. We are playing as the small insurrectionist faction against the Covenant and the UNSC, which might sound like a terrible idea for those that know about Halo. I have become the default pilot and artillery operator, which has led to me being able to fly as much as I have realistically could. Everything from tactical insertions, CAS and precision strikes against armor and buildings; I've flown them all. Likewise, I've been flying most of the missions with the UH-144 Falcon which I consider to be Halo's version of a UH-60 Blackhawk. It's a small yet nimble twin-rotor VTOL aircraft that can hold its own against most of the threats that we have faced so far.

UH-144 Falcon as seen in Halo Reach

It can carry guided and unguided rockets, small caliber mini guns, chin-mounted 20mm cannons and door-mounted gunner positions. All of this makes it such a versatile aircraft that it has become the workhorse of most air operations we have needed during the campaign.

---

ONE ENGINE, NO PEDALS AND A DREAM

My most memorable fight wasn't one that ended in glory, but a flight that ended in a close call. We had planned an air assault on a small island where the enemy had three objectives: an outpost, a small military base and an even smaller sea port.

We flew in at night, I dropped my friends down at a beach south-west of the enemy outpost and proceeded to provide CAS while they were fighting their way in.

I retreated after engaging some enemy armor, and then came back as soon as possible after rearming. I landed the aircraft at the now captured outpost and proceeded on foot with the rest of my friends.

Things get a bit hazy from this point forward, but I do remember that we had to destroy some enemy air defenses that were placed at the enemy base. After capturing the base, we also had in our hands a brand new MH-144 Falcon, a heavily armed version of the standard Falcon.

I proceeded to airlift the armor crate we got from the attack, which had all its loot, and headed back to our HQ. That is when I heard a radar lock and an immediate impact on my aircraft, turns out, the UNSC still had some air defense nearby.

I lost an engine and all control of my yaw axis was gone, so I started spinning around like a top all over the sky. That's when the hundreds upon hundreds of hours of simulator time kicked in and I released the collective, which lessened the uncontrolled spin. This allowed me to turn toward the HQ and, slowly but steadily, approach it without losing the cargo which was hanging underneath me.

Somehow, I managed to get it down at HQ with the crate still intact. The Falcon was very damaged, with all of its components being either partially or fully destroyed.

This experience reminded me that I don't have to be in a simulator to get the same sensations that I get while flying missions in DCS or any other simulator.

If you have a group of friends, and you all are into flying and milsim, then you should give any Arma Antistasi campaign a chance, I've been playing them with my friends for years and they are very fun.

---

About the Author

Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos

Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000s, leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities, but only started being active around the mid 2010s. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as a writer and the co-founder of Skyward ever since. Twitter | Discord: Cubeboy