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Flares are pyrotechnic devices used to illuminate environments at night, for signalling, and as a countermeasure against infrared-guided weapons and projectiles.
Overview[]
Flares are used either for signalling/illumination purposes or are employed as defensive countermeasures:
UGL[]
UGL-fired parachute flare (Reforger)
Used for both signalling and illumination, these kinds of flares slowly fall back to the surface with a parachute extending the amount of time it illuminates its surroundings. Notable examples of UGL flares include Star Parachute Flares fired from underbarrel grenade launchers like the U.S. M203 or Russian GP-25.
In low-light situations or during poor weather conditions, they can be used to illuminate areas if friendly troops do not have night vision equipment or to signal friendly aircraft for a pick up. However, if carelessly used at the wrong moment, then a lit flare will quickly give away the user's position.
Countermeasures[]
Aircraft-launched countermeasures (ArmA 3)
Vehicle countermeasure flares on the other hand, are launched by aircraft as a way of warding off incoming infrared-guided missiles. The effectiveness of such flares against IR-guided weapons varies on the aircraft's heading and elevation.
They can be either highly effective or completely useless if the aircraft remains stationary, since the missile will continue to home in onto the largest heat source regardless of the flares. In addition, because countermeasure flares are only capable of deterring IR-guided munitions, they are naturally redundant against radar-guided weapons. As such, they are almost always paired alongside chaff dispensers.
ArmA: Cold War Assault[]
In Cold War Assault, Flares are only available to underbarrel grenade launchers. Either the U.S. M203 (M16A2) or Soviet GP-25 (AK-74/AK-47) grenade launchers have the ability to load and fire parachute flare shells. Flares are fully interchangeable between launchers; a Soviet GP-25 can load and fire the same flare shells used by the U.S. M203.
Multi-colour flares launched by a GP-25 UGL (Cold War Assault)
Due to their wide area-of-effect (>300 metres radius), flares are useful not just for signalling purposes but also as an alternate means of lighting the surrounding area if night vision goggles are unavailable.
It should be noted that squad leaders/officers are the only infantry classes that have access to flares as part of their default loadout. Otherwise, flares can only be obtained through the use of scripting commands or ammoboxes/supply crates that have flares stocked in their inventory.
Flare[]
| « | Standard-issue chemical flare. Used for signaling or as an emergency light-source. Item Description
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Flares are available in four colour varieties: white[CWACfgA 1], red[CWACfgA 2], green[CWACfgA 3], and yellow.[CWACfgA 4] Regardless of colour, flares will occupy at least one primary weapon magazine inventory slot per flare.[CWACfgW 1]
Flares are always launched with a muzzle velocity of 80 m/s.[CWACfgW 2] Once launched, an individual flare will last for up to 15 seconds until it expires. Alternately, the flare will instantly burn out if it comes into contact with a hard surface.[CWACfgA 5]
ArmA: Armed Assault[]
White flare launched by an M203 UGL (Armed Assault)
GP-25 Flare[]
M203 Flare[]
ArmA 2[]
Green flare launched by an EGLM (ArmA 2)
Aircraft-launched countermeasure flares (ArmA 2)
GP-25 Flare[]
M203 Flare[]
ArmA 3[]
40 mm UGL-fired flares (ArmA 3)
Aircraft-launched defensive flare countermeasures (ArmA 3)
Flare Round[]
ARMA Reforger[]
Red, green and white flares fired from an M203 (ArmA 3)
M203 Flare[]
GP-25 Flare[]
Variants[]
ArmA: Cold War Assault[]
| Flare name | Classname | Icon |
|---|---|---|
| Flare | Flare |  |
| Flare (Green) | FlareGreen |  |
| Flare (Red) | FlareRed |  |
| Flare (Yellow) | FlareYellow |  |
ArmA: Armed Assault[]
| Flare name | Classname | Icon |
|---|---|---|
| M203 Flare White | FlareWhite_M203 |  |
| M203 Flare Green | FlareGreen_M203 |  |
| M203 Flare Red | FlareRed_M203 |  |
| M203 Flare Yellow | FlareYellow_M203 |  |
| GP-25 Flare White | FlareWhite_GP25 | |
| GP-25 Flare Green | FlareGreen_GP25 | |
| GP-25 Flare Red | FlareRed_GP25 | |
| GP-25 Flare Yellow | FlareYellow_GP25 | |
ArmA 2[]
| Flare name | Classname | Icon |
|---|---|---|
| M203 Flare White | FlareWhite_M203 | |
| M203 Flare Green | FlareGreen_M203 | |
| M203 Flare Red | FlareRed_M203 | |
| M203 Flare Yellow | FlareYellow_M203 | |
| GP-25 Flare White | FlareWhite_GP25 |  |
| GP-25 Flare Green | FlareGreen_GP25 |  |
| GP-25 Flare Red | FlareRed_GP25 |  |
| GP-25 Flare Yellow | FlareYellow_GP25 |  |
| M203 Flare White | 6Rnd_FlareWhite_M203 |  |
| M203 Flare Green | 6Rnd_FlareGreen_M203 | |
| M203 Flare Red | 6Rnd_FlareRed_M203 | |
| M203 Flare Yellow | 6Rnd_FlareYellow_M203 | |
ArmA 3[]
| Flare name | Classname | Icon |
|---|---|---|
| Flare Round (IR) | UGL_FlareCIR_F |  |
| Flare Round (Green) | UGL_FlareGreen_F |  |
| Flare Round (Red) | UGL_FlareRed_F |  |
| Flare Round (White) | UGL_FlareWhite_F |  |
| Flare Round (Yellow) | UGL_FlareYellow_F |  |
| 3Rnd 3GL Flares (IR) | 3Rnd_UGL_FlareCIR_F | |
| 3Rnd 3GL Flares (Green) | 3Rnd_UGL_FlareGreen_F | |
| 3Rnd 3GL Flares (Red) | 3Rnd_UGL_FlareRed_F | |
| 3Rnd 3GL Flares (White) | 3Rnd_UGL_FlareWhite_F | |
| 3Rnd 3GL Flares (Yellow) | 3Rnd_UGL_FlareYellow_F | |
ARMA Reforger[]
| Flare name | Prefab name | Icon |
|---|---|---|
| 40mm M583A1 White Flare | Ammo_Flare_40mm_M583A1_White.et |  |
| 40mm M661 Green Flare | Ammo_Flare_40mm_M661_Green.et |  |
| 40mm M662 Red Flare | Ammo_Flare_40mm_M662_Red.et |  |
| 40mm VG-40OP White Flare Grenade | Ammo_Flare_40mm_VG40OP_White.et |  |
Trivia[]
- Before Patch 1.78 for Operation Flashpoint: Resistance (the original name of the game's expansion pack before its re-release as Cold War Assault), a bug could cause flares to be invisible to other players in a multiplayer environment.[1]
- At Armed Assault's launch, there was no tone mapping applied to launched flares. This was eventually fixed after Patch 1.01's release.[2]
- Prior to the latest Steam version patches for ArmA 2 (CorePatch), launched flares would cause the textures of all objects within its area-of-effect to experience a flickering graphical bug.[3]
- Reforger did not originally have usable flares. UGL-fired flares were later added after the game's 1.2 patch[4] (as part of content included in the Air Assault development milestone[5]).
Config/script references[]
CfgAmmo (ArmA: Cold War Assault)CfgWeapons (ArmA: Cold War Assault)CfgAmmo (ArmA: Armed Assault)
CfgMagazines (ArmA: Armed Assault)
CfgAmmo (ArmA 2)
CfgMagazines (ArmA 2)
CfgAmmo (ArmA 3)
CfgMagazines (ArmA 3)
Base trigger components (ARMA Reforger)
Timer trigger components (ARMA Reforger)
Item components (ARMA Reforger)
Entity catalogs (ARMA Reforger)
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References[]
- ↑ Raedor_bi_wiki et al. 2006, Operation Flashpoint: Resistance Version History, Bohemia Interactive Community Wiki, viewed 12 October 2024, <https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Operation_Flashpoint:_Resistance_Version_History#Fixes_&_Improvements_until_v1.83>.
- ↑ Španěl, M et al. 2007, ArmA: Armed Assault: Version History, Bohemia Interactive Community Wiki, viewed 12 October 2024, <https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/ArmA:_Armed_Assault:_Version_History#Version_1.01>.
- ↑ Mazzon, M et al. 2019, CorePatch, GitHub, viewed 12 October 2024, <https://github.com/Goliath86/CorePatch/blob/master/Changelog.txt>.
- ↑ Bohemia Interactive a.s., 2024, 1.2 Update, Arma Reforger, viewed 26 June 2024, <https://reforger.armaplatform.com/news/update-june-26-2024>.
- ↑ Bohemia Interactive a.s., 2023, Roadmap, Arma Reforger, viewed 3 November 2023, <https://reforger.armaplatform.com/roadmap>.
External links[]
See also[]
| Equipment | |
|---|---|
| Non-lethal | Binoculars • Chemical Detector • Chemlight • Compass • Detonator • Entrenching Tool • Flares • Flashlight • Fuel Container • GPS • Infrared Strobe • Landmine Marker • Laser Designator • Mine Detector • Night Vision Goggles • Parachute • Radio • Rangefinder • Repair Tool • Resupply Pack • Smoke Grenade • Spectrum Device • Toolkit • UAV Terminal • Watch |
| Lethal | Explosives • Hand Grenades • Landmines • Underbarrel grenade launcher (Cold War Assault, Armed Assault, ArmA 2, ArmA 3, Reforger) |
| Medical | Bandage • First Aid Kit • Medikit • Morphine Injector • Saline Solution • Tourniquet |