The hornet mod isn't mine to update I'm afraid!

Is it possible to have some loadouts for the F/A-18C and D, specifically the Desert storm F-18 addon, I am after Anti Ship with 2 * AIM-9's, 2 AIM-7's 3 tanks and 2 AGM-84D's, The AntiShip Heavy with the same but 1 tank and 4 Harpoons, and finally Precision strike with the same as the Antiship loadout but with a pair of AGM-84E SLAM's

thanks for the extremely quick fix, love this mod!

Try it now Grzmot :)

There was an update so I need to have a little look at what the devs changed

mod currently causes board & serial numbers on new HSLs to be invisible

@baronjutter - the way the mod works is it replaces the regular seasprite file, there's nothing you need to do once it's enabled - any ship with seasprites will have the new loadouts available.

@Shane Martin, just updated to add the compatibility checker, the mod shouldn't throw up any errors now :)

If I download this mod will it mean existing vanilla ships with seasprites will have these available loadouts, or I'll have to do some deep ini scripting?

Yes once I figure out how to do that (shouldn't be too hard as this mod isn't complicated)

Hi, will this be updated to include compatibility for the latest version of Sea Power?

86 Seasprite no longer have them now.

Did they take that out again?

89 Seaprite in NTU doesn't has Anti Ship or Strike loadouts. Can you please add it.

I see 3 ways to translate this into a mod.

1. Add an A2A loadout with Sparrows (and radar modding for guidance) to the SH-2F as a fun reference to the Sealite and Sparrow fit trials.

2. Make a little alt-history timeline where the USN liked the capabilities that Sealite offered, but didn’t want to adopt a new helo. Thus they instead integrate these capabilities into the existing (and larger) Seasprite airframe to create a more capable LAMPS platform than OTL.

2. Make a ‘new’ Sealite helicopter using the SH-2F model able to deploy on DASH ships. This features all the nice goodies Sealite was supposed to have (Sparrow, defensive ECM/countermeasures), those that are needed to mimic its intended CMD role in Sea Power (short-range offensive ECM to jam AShM’s), and a few that would likely have been integrated into it (Shrike and Maverick), balanced out by its downsides (less sonobuoys, single torpedo, likely less range/loiter time).

An A2A loadout on the Seasprite is not that unrealistic. Kaman (the Seasprite’s manufacturer) proposed a derivative called K-820 Sealite which was supposed to carry Sparrows for cruise missile defence (aka shooting down Styx and the like), and at least 1 Seasprite had Sparrows trial fitted, and flew with them (likely captive carry models, there’s no indication that live rounds were ever carried or fired).

Sealite had a new fuselage and three-blade rotor to reduce weight, apparently the plan was fit them into DASH hangars. Compared to the Seasprite it had less ASW capability in exchange for both a credible A2A capability (with secondary A2G role) and better defensive systems.

For more into on the Sealite see this thread on secterprojects: https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/kaman-sealite-lamps.489/

In conclusion, A2A loadouts (with Sparrow) on the Seasprite are not completely unrealistic, since the USN did historically look into it.

the ideas i had are somewhat unrealistic

i thought of a air-air loadout with a pair of sidewinders
and a loadout with one sidewinder and an other weapon (torpedo AGM-65 or AGM119)

I can do, its pretty easy to add more missiles etc. but I wanted to keep it relatively balanced (sticking to what a Super Seasprite can do) but if you have any suggestions I'm open to them!

will you ever add more loadout options for the seasprite? love the mod !

Awesome, Thank You!

Mod updated to remove the NTU version as that is no longer needed and to add in the active sonobouys.

yeah, including missiles

Including missiles? Of very nice I’ll have to have a look

fyi, NTU has its own loadouts for seasprite so you dont have to include them anymore

Ah ok I will have a look - thank you!

The one is the original SH-2F and the other is the added one by NTU. Your mod I believe modified the loud-out of both. I cannot find the new Active Buoys under the helicopters to use.

Are those added by NTU? I'll see if I can get them working

Hello, I noticed last night that when I select any of the SH-2F or SH-2F (86) helicopters, I get your load-outs, but for some reason I only get the one type of sonar buoys. Is it possible for an update that adds the active ones to the load-out as well please and thanks! Your mod is at the top of my mod list fully.

Hi agranel, try putting this mod quite high up, and if that does not work but it down the bottom! Not sure why the Mavericks would show up but not the penguins!

Hi, first of all many thanks for your mod. The problem I have is it only carrie ASW and Maverick missiles payloads, no antiship. Maybe is because I have installed other mods. Is there a precise order to load the mod, or what am I doing wrong? Thank you.

Hell yes, that's great.

I can make an NTU version :)

I wish this worked with NTU. NTU ships use the SH-2F(1986) that's considered a different unit and doesn't get the penguins. I hope you fix it, I love the penguins.

@Winter Sunshine,

The reason why the NTU units don't have the penguin missiles is because they have their own NTU helicopters, rather than the basegame ones which have the loadout from this mod.

in my game the NTU unit just only had SH-2F (1986) so i'm a bit surprised my ticonderoga and O.H. Perry fleet didn't have the penguin helo

This should work for the SH-2F helicopter and any ships that use it. If a ship is using a different helicopter this won’t work.

does this work for all helicopters? mine only replaced a few ships and the NTU units didn't replace at all even after changing the mod order

@frankiealaplaaja That would kill the pilot........AND the missile may contact the main rotor.

Really loving this MOD.
Might the co-pilot be carrying a manpad, so the chopper has a single shot to fire at an enemy chopper (using a very narrow firing arc consistent with an opened side door)?

Make sure it is enabled from the mod manager. Some mods that adjust the sea sprite can interfere, make sure this mod is high up in the load order.

Hello all. Maybe I dont understand but I subscribed to this but i do not see any new loadouts available. Why?

Could probably make one out of the Sea King

Love the 'Sprite optional load outs.
Was wondering if you have given any thoughts to modding the SH60 Seahawk as its IOC was 1984, so within the time frame of the game. Not sure what it would take to include the 60Bs, or if its even possible.

I LOVE this mod

Couple of things
I was an HSL-32 Pilot 80-83 and if you could put in this missing data - four slots so here are 4 squadrons east and west coast
HSL-32 Call Sign 'Invader' East Coast Atlantic, Mediterranean and Middle East
HSL-34 Call Sign 'Green Checker' East Coast Atlantic, Mediterranean and Middle East
HSL-33 Call Sign 'Sea Snake' West Coast Pacific Indian Ocean some Middle East
HSL-35 Call Sign 'Magician' West Coast Pacific Indian Ocean some Middle East

HSL-30 and HSL-31 Are east and west coast Replacement Squadrons and wouldn't deploy

Most ASW missions would be with 2 Aux tanks and Sonobuoys - maybe Ext ASW
Most Torpedo ASW Missions would be 1 Aux tank and 1 Torpedo - Ext ASW Torp
Same for Penguin etc. with 1 Aux tank

Just some thoughts - Thanks

@Brother Munro,
Well I haven't seen the game's inner workings so...
Better it works than a bit of a weird loadout designation...
I just thought it weird when I was using a ferry loadout to patrol a certain area, I noticed the absent buoys in the side. Would sailors be tasked to remove them from a chopper in a pinch, just to save a little bit of weight?

(I tried to find the weight of a buoy on wiki but couldn't find it. I did find evidence that the New Zealand navy actually equips their Seasprites with Penguins and Mavericks! so kuddos on accuracy!)

@frankie, I can absolutely do the removing of the sonobuoys but the load out names are predfined (I add a new one, but I'm guessing the AI only understands, or will understand, the included ones). My other option would be CAS I think

Seasprite POWER!

Little bit of feedback:
Remove the sonarbuoys from the anti-tank loadout, or add them to the empty and ferry loadouts. (making more sense: either load them in combo with torps or penguins, or always)
Rename anti-tank to ground attack. (most targets aren't tanks)

@S3R4PH It actually might still be a height thing, just the other way around, the Maverick has 1000 feet max launch height, maybe you were too high?

Hi Bro Munro,

I tried this mod using 3 Seasprites against 3 Rapuchkas. The range on the Maverick said 18nm. The first helo had to get within 2 nm to fire, the other two didnt fire at all before being gunned down. I had tried to increase their altitude to 10k feet just to see if it was a height thing, but they still got practically on top of the ships and got gunned down. Any ideas?