AIM-9P bad?

[Malinarius]

I read a lot about sidewinders being very good. But whenever I put on my AIM-9P I barely hit anything and usually prefer my Matra R550 Magic above these.

What am I doing wrong ?
Any advise ?

[Jaes]

AIM-9Ps are export models of the AIM-9J, they're very good missiles.

However, there's a big difference in application between the R550 and AIM-9s and that's probably where the "struggle" is occurring if you're more used to using R550s than AIM-9s.

With R550s, you can knife fight with them and ideally, that's where you want to be when using them. Close and personal 1.8km-1.5km engagement zone.

With AIM-9s, you can get your opponent at spear distance and that's where you want to be. Long and deadly reach. 2.5km-2.0km engagement zone.

Sidewinders need a little more breathing space for course corrections when they're fired so if you try to close in on a target and fire them off like an R550, you'll more than likely miss. Lead the missile into your target before firing if you're under 1.5km and you'll hit almost every time (unless they flare), but you do need to get that lead in to ensure a hit, unlike the R550 you can practically just fire off the rail and it'll do the rest of the work.

[Malinarius]

Originally posted by Jaes:

AIM-9Ps are export models of the AIM-9J, they're very good missiles.

However, there's a big difference in application between the R550 and AIM-9s and that's probably where the "struggle" is occurring if you're more used to using R550s than AIM-9s.

With R550s, you can knife fight with them and ideally, that's where you want to be when using them. Close and personal 1.8km-1.5km engagement zone.

With AIM-9s, you can get your opponent at spear distance and that's where you want to be. Long and deadly reach. 2.5km-2.0km engagement zone.

Sidewinders need a little more breathing space for course corrections when they're fired so if you try to close in on a target and fire them off like an R550, you'll more than likely miss. Lead the missile into your target before firing if you're under 1.5km and you'll hit almost every time (unless they flare), but you do need to get that lead in to ensure a hit, unlike the R550 you can practically just fire off the rail and it'll do the rest of the work.

Hi,

thank you for the very thorough response, I appreciate that.

However, when I use the R550 I can also easily engage targets from 2.5 - 2 km distance. The problem I see with the Sidewinders is that I can only lock from rear or flanks, making it hard to get kills from the far, it seems to be more of a bomber killer ?

Also, are the AIM-9P better than the export AIM-9J ?

What would be the best nation to play if I like getting long-range missile kills and letting the missiles do the job for me ? Because I really hate using my cannons.

[Jaes]

Originally posted by H0rs3fly:

However, when I use the R550 I can also easily engage targets from 2.5 - 2 km distance. The problem I see with the Sidewinders is that I can only lock from rear or flanks, making it hard to get kills from the far, it seems to be more of a bomber killer ?

It's not impossible for R550 to engage at that distance, but they're notorious for not being good at striking targets if they're over 2km away, especially if your target uses Countermeasures. R550s are also rear aspect missiles so there shouldn't really be any difference between what you're able to lock with them vs. AIM-9Ps in particular.

R550s are potent with radar slaving (locking the target with radar before activating the IR seeker) which can give you some unique firing options over AIM-9Ps, but you're more or less going to be engaging from the rear with either missile.

AIM-9s are 100% a dogfight missile, they have no problems with tracking a fighter. It's just a matter of R550s behave a bit differently than AIM-9s. At that point, I'd be more looking at:

1. What is the target doing before you fire (evading, flying in a straight line, etc.)

2. What is your AoA against that target (are you flying straight when the target is evading, are you leading the missile against an evasion before firing etc.)

3. What's your speed in relation to your target ( ideally as fast or faster than your target is moving)

The instance where you're getting kills with the R550 at 2.5km-2.0km is the perfect engagement distance for the AIM-9 and should be outperforming the R550 in that respect so there's gotta be some sort of nuance that's being applied that's causing success for the R550 and failure for the AIM-9 when you're using them. A server replay example of a failed hits with the AIM-9 and successful hits with the R550 would probably help me better in that regard to see what the problem is.

Originally posted by H0rs3fly:

Also, are the AIM-9P better than the export AIM-9J ?

No, they're the exact same missile. There's just a designation difference because AIM-9Ps are export models while AIM-9Js were used exclusively by US armed forces.

Originally posted by H0rs3fly:

What would be the best nation to play if I like getting long-range missile kills and letting the missiles do the job for me ? Because I really hate using my cannons.

There's kind of no wrong answer here. Missiles are the primary weapon system of Jet combat so it's important to understand how each missile works so you can employ them effectively while also letting you know how to defeat them. Guns are for when you're in a position that missiles are useless and you can't cleanly breakaway from an opponent without them shooting you down with their own missiles.

If I was forced to pick one, it would be US, specifically craft like the F-4 Phantom series with their SARH missile AIM-7 and IR missiles with the AIM-9s. US will ultimately have the highest missile lethality potential as more and more modern weapon systems are added to the game, but each nation will have their own options as well that offer differing flavors of how to apply that missile lethality. Traditionally, US would crush everyone in BVR combat, but Gaijin may fudge some things about US capabilities to make it more fair for everyone else, as it is a video game and everyone should have fun with their favorite nation.