AiM-7 Sparrows

[florble mcfumperdink]

Welp, I joked about it yesterday but I wasn't expecting them to be added. That being said every Phantom II having the mounting points for them from the start and also the big baguette missile the Mirage got when it was added were dead give-aways but still.

This means like every F4 Phantom II will be using them, and there's the possibility the F-104S could get them as well.

This will be a meta shake-up as far as high altitudes go, because now the MiGs and Mirages will only have the close-in advantage.

Oh also no news of chaff for any vehicles that could have had it IRL, nor bigger maps at top tier .... God help us all.

[Foxtrot39]

Difference is the Matra 550E is IR with a rear aspect only lock range of 5km max

Sparrow are radar guided, and their range exceed the total map length and lock on is only limited by radar range basicaly the first BVR weapon system of the game

Aircraft without RWR shouldn't be fighting missile wich they can be shot at from across air RB sized map, because of the range, the visual missile indicator will not even pop up at all and sparrow are, due to radar guidance, omni directional lock on capable

[florble mcfumperdink]

Originally posted by Foxtrot39:

Difference is the Matra 550E is IR with a lock range of 5km max

Sparrow are radar guided, and their range exceed the total map length and lock on is only limited by radar range basicaly the first BVR weapon system of the game

Aircraft without RWR shouldn't be fighting missile wich they can be shot at from across air RB sized map due to the range the visual warning for said missile will not even pop up at all and sparrow are due to radar guidance omni directional lock on capable

Yeah, not to mention they are confirmed to be AiM-7 Es specifically, so a mach 4 beam rider that overloads at 25Gs, has a 30km range and a 30kg warhead. Dear God.

This means going to space in the US starfighters will now be pointless as they have no RWR to warn them of being locked, so any viability they had will be gone completely.

I know the MiG 21 SMT has an RWR, and I believe the MF does too, so at least they get warning. But since the only actual way to avoid the missile without chaff is to dive and let ground clutter do the work, the 21s that don't get swatted for not paying attention will be sitting ducks for basically any and every jet at sea level.

This also makes me wonder if the FGR/FG will get their Skyflashes.

Edit: This also means that the Phantom IIs can use the Sparrows in coordination with Sidewinders, the thought of an F4E with 4 AiM-9J Sidewinders and 4 AiM-7E Sparrows is scary. Hell an F4C with 4 AiM-9E Sidewinders and 4 AiM-7E Sparrows is scary. Not to mention the UK FGR/FG Phantoms getting to use AiM-9D Sidewinders with Skyflashes in the same combination as above.

[Root]

I'm surprised they didn't use the AIM-7 early versions. They were built to only work on slow large bombers. 12 mile range, had to hold still for them to launch, required a human RIO to control the beam. Even the later version in Vietnam had real problems. Took a few seconds to launch after hitting the fire button, still had to fly straight so it could detect the radar, high malfunction rate.

[florble mcfumperdink]

Originally posted by Root:

I'm surprised they didn't use the AIM-7 early versions. They were built to only work on slow large bombers. 12 mile range, had to hold still for them to launch, required a human RIO to control the beam. Even the later version in Vietnam had real problems. Took a few seconds to launch after hitting the fire button, still had to fly straight so it could detect the radar, high malfunction rate.

Same here, I always imagined we would get AiM-7B/C at best but here we are with the Mach 4 bracket E.

The unreliability of early Sparrows really shows with the Vietnam war records too. As far as I know AiM-7D was the earliest variant that was actually used in combat and it only claimed 5 kills, and I believe all of them were MiG 17s or MiG 15s, and at that I think 2 of them weren't hard confirmation, only probables.

Meanwhile the remaining 55 of the 60 confirmed air kills were made by AiM-7E/E-2, and of those 55 I think 40 or 41 were on MiG 21s, and most of the killed went to the Army Phantoms. The Navy got to do some work too though, shot down a few 17s and the occasional 21, I also think some Navy pilots went overkill somewhere and used them on Antonov made biplanes but the memory is fuzzy on that one lol.

Edit: What scares me is when AiM-7E/E-2s functioned properly they hit like a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ train, and since War Thunder doesn't model equipment malfunction in missiles (early heat-seekers not exploding on the rail or just simply failing to ignite and falling to the ground for instance) this means that every missiles, SARH, heat-seeker, or otherwise functions at maximum potential.

Edit 2: Should I be worried for the 8.3 to 9.7 bracket since the F3H Demon could carry 4 Sparrows, specifically Sparrow IIIs (E specifically). Surely they wouldn't be stupid enough to do that right?

[Pozieres]

Before we all start having a meltdown I imagine this will only be temporary until they add in more aircraft, missiles and counter measure systems. In the long run it will be a good thing and there will always be pre-missile jets to still fly is EW isnt your thing

[florble mcfumperdink]

Originally posted by Pozieres:

Before we all start having a meltdown I imagine this will only be temporary until they add in more aircraft, missiles and counter measure systems. In the long run it will be a good thing and there will always be pre-missile jets to still fly is EW isnt your thing

Yes there will always be pre-missile jets, and always pre-BVR jets, but I wonder what would happen in the event of the F3H getting Sparrows. Since EELs and the odd J32 or MiG 17 are the only things that climb to higher than 3km in that 8.7 to 9.7 bracket does that just mean that if the Demon gets Sparrows it will just mop the floor with any lightning stupid enough to not hug the deck? At the end of the day I would prefer to not see BVR on subsonic planes though.