VTOL VR Full Guide

Yes, this is a full guide for the game. Should cover most topics, but not any in extreme detail

Introduction

VTOL VR is a game that, at least in my opinion, is one of the best in the world. The developer (who has managed to make this entire game basically alone) has perfectly picked what to make realistic and what to make more arcade-like to create one of the best air combat games out there. Combine that with VR and you have one incredible mix. The game has a lot of attention to detail, along with a lot of features, some of which aren’t very straight forward.

This guide will attempt to explain everything I know about this game, and help newer pilots understand some of the mechanics. Most of the information I have on these things are either from the official community wiki or from personal experience.

First, my qualifications, just for peace of mind. I have 200+ hours of flight time in VTOL VR, in and out of combat. I’ve likely completed hundreds of missions with a varying success rate. I also actively design missions and campaigns for the game, and I am involved in the community discord.

However, I am not the best pilot in the community, I have actively encountered better pilots, and I am nowhere near some of the best players in the game. I am a fighter and SEAD pilot, those are the roles I excel in. I struggle in CAS and similar roles, but still know how to do them. Most of my knowledge comes from a mix of game knowledge and real world knowledge of how aircraft work and operate.

In general, I am qualified for this, but not the best pilot (Monarch I am still scared of you). This guide will help you get started on VTOL VR and help you learn the more complex things that I had to learn through trial and error. But to actually get good at the game, the only thing you can get is practice. No matter how much you read, no matter how many procedures you know, you will only get good at VTOL VR if you play the game a lot and learn from experience.

This guide will not make you good, it will simply prevent you from getting confused. The getting good part is gained through practice. Anybody can be a good combat pilot, you just need to practice, and get into the mindset of a combat pilot

What is the mindset of a combat pilot? Well, a good combat pilot focuses on the objective, but knows to pay attention to everything around them. Things will go wrong, plans will collapse, you can’t predict everything. There will be times you get confused, there will be times you get overwhelmed, but you need to keep going, and keep flying. Don’t worry about your emotions, you can deal with them later.

RWR Symbology

I will start this section with a question, what is the most useful screen in your cockpit? I’m sure many come to mind, maybe one of the MFD screens, the fuel display, maybe even the engine display, but it is none of those, it is the tiny little screen in the upper left corner, the RWR.

The RWR (or Radar Warning Receiver) is incredibly important, it allows you to visually identify incoming radar contacts. This system has been in aircraft since the start of aircraft having radar back with 2nd gen fighters, but it has become increasingly more and more advanced. Originally it just beeped when you were getting radar locked, now you can see the range, direction, and type of radar. This is so useful, one of the toughest challenges in the game is to play a mission with your RWR off, it is necessary. And while the basic info it gives you is pretty straight forward, it’s the symbology that gets confusing.

To most people the RWR screen is just a way to tell if a radar missile is coming at you when you see a red marker on it, but it's far more than that. You can use it to identify threats far easier than your targeting system, but you need to know the symbology, so here we go.

Rings
Every RWR contact will be surrounded by a ring, this ring gives you some much needed information based on what it looks like, so pay attention to that ring

A Diamond means the contact has been identified as the highest priority target currently detected, long range radars are often marked as this

A Half circle means the contact has soft locked you, often precedes a target full radar locking you. This means they have spotted you

A full ring means the enemy has fully locked you, this precedes the firing of a SARH or ARH missiles

A red ring means the contact is currently guiding a SARH missile towards you, this is an urgent marking, most commonly seen with SAM radars

A small arrow above the contact simply means it is airborne.

NOTE: Diamond and Circle rings can exist at the same time

Contact ID
Every unit in the game has an ID on the RWR, a way to see what is locking onto you. This is very useful yet goes often unknown to most people who play VTOL VR. So here are all the contacts, what they are, and what threat they pose

• M - Active Radar Missile - Immediately the highest threat, always an angry red color on the RWR, when this appears, you drop everything and evade
  
• 4 - MAD-4 Radar - The radar for the enemy mobile SAM launcher system, the MAD-4. Only the radar appears on the RWR, not the launcher. The MAD-4 is actually really scary, so it's a good target to prioritize
  
• LR - Missile Cruiser Long Range - This is the long range radar on the enemy missile cruiser, this is one of the longest range radars in the game.
  
• F+ - Advanced Fighter - The enemy ASF-58, the advanced stealth fighter. Hardened against radar locks and supermaneuverable, a very dangerous enemy
  
• F - Enemy Fighter - Any other enemy fighter, mostly pretty easy to deal with. These are quite common to see so don’t freak out when you see a lot of them
  
• DS - Dish Radar - The enemy rotating dish radar, this is a long range all direction SAM radar that can detect you from far away, a pretty high priority target
  
• SR - Short Range Fire CTRL - A shorter range single direction SAM radar, tracks much more precisely however, medium priority.
  
• MC - Missile Cruiser Radar - The aforementioned missile cruiser’s other radar, this is a shorter range radar that controls the VLS system, high priority.
  
• SA - SAAW Radar - The radar for the SAAW, the “Self-propelled Anti-Air Weapon”. This is a mobile SAM, watch out
  
• DC - Ship Radar - The radar for the other large ships of the enemy navy, the missile ship (not cruiser) and the drone carrier. Relatively high priority
  
• DF - Drone Fighter - The radar on the enemy drone fighter, the Manta UCAV. The Manta cannot launch missiles, so this is low priority.
  
• HC - Carrier Radar - The radar of the enemy carrier, controls the anti-air missiles, this is dangerous if you are close.
  
• A - AAA Radar - The radars used by AAA or CIWS on ships. If you are too close to these contacts, you will be riddled with lead, be careful with these
  
• AE - Enemy AWACS Aircraft - This is the enemy AWACS aircraft, while not a threat
  itself it will direct other threats to you, making it a high priority target.
  
• E4 - Allied AWACS Aircraft - DO NOT SHOOT THIS! This is the friendly AWACS aircraft, it appears on the RWR, but do not be worried about it. Luckily it will never lock onto you so it will not set off your alarms.
  
• 26 - BLUFOR F/A-26 - Friendly F/A-26 (Multiplayer Exclusive)
  
• 45 - BLUFOR F-45 - Friendly F-45 (Multiplayer Exclusive)
  
• 94 - BLUFOR AH-94 - Friendly AH-94 (Multiplayer Exclusive)
  
• 55 - BLUFOR T-55 - Friendly T-55 (Multiplayer Exclusive)
  
• 24 - BLUFOR EF-24 - Friendly EF-24 (Multiplayer Exclusive)
  
• FA - REDFOR F/A-26 - Hostile F/A-26 (Multiplayer Exclusive)
  
• FS - REDFOR F-45 - Hostile F-45 (Multiplayer Exclusive)
  
• AH - REDFOR AH-94 - Hostile AH-94 (Multiplayer Exclusive)
  
• T - REDFOR T-55 - Hostile T-55 (Multiplayer Exclusive)
  
• EF - REDFOR EF-24 - Hostile EF-24 (Multiplayer Exclusive)

Aircraft

There are currently 3 aircraft in VTOL VR, along with 3 DLC aircraft. So, what are all these aircraft, what are they good for, what are their ideal scenarios, that is what we will be going over in this section. Buckle up, this is going to be a lot of text

AV-42C “Kestrel”
The AV-42 is a tilt-jet strike VTOL, with capacity to carry up to 8 infantrymen. It is a good multirole air-to-ground aircraft, with a good amount of munitions capacity and the ability to hover in place, it is a great aircraft for CAS, almost any role that involves destroying ground targets the AV-42 excels, although it struggles in air-to-air due to the lack of a radar (and thus inability to use radar guided missiles) and overall more sluggish maneuvering than other aircraft, but do not underestimate it, as in the hands of a competent pilot it can easily beat another aircraft in a dogfight. It is the poster child of VTOL VR, being a major part of the branding and the namesake of the game

F/A-26B “Wasp”
The wasp is one of the most useful aircraft in the game, able to fit almost any role, from a light and fast fighter to a slow, heavy attack aircraft. It lacks any VTOL capability, but makes up for it with munitions capacity and raw engine power. In the hands of a good pilot a single F/A-26B can secure entire islands. It is the main frontline fighter of the allied Navy, and no major air offensive is complete without it.

F-45A “Ghost”
The F-45 is the stealth aircraft of the lineup, with a stealthy design at the forefront and the most advanced systems of any aircraft, it is capable of incredible things, but requires much more practice than other aircraft. It is capable of equipping some of the most powerful munitions but is limited because of its single engine design. If equipped with a light enough loadout it is capable of vertical take off, but normally is restricted to STOVL ops. This aircraft takes a lot of skill to use, but can either be the most invisible predator imaginable, or the most powerful standoff aircraft in the battle.

AH-94 “Dragonfly”
The first DLC aircraft, a 2 person attack helicopter. One of the most unique aircraft in the game, capable of changing the entire battlefield on it’s own. Much slower than any fixed wing aircraft, but is capable of carrying some of the most powerful weapons in the highest quantities. With a skilled crew, this little helicopter can be the final word in any ground engagement. It is also incredibly durable for an aircraft, capable of taking multiple direct missile hits if maneuvered correctly. It takes a skilled crew, but when it has a skilled crew, it is deadly effective.

T-55 “Tyro”
A small 2 seater training jet, also DLC. It cannot carry very many munitions, but what it can carry is powerful, being very similar to the F/A-26, not having VTOL, but has the bonus of having 2 pilots, meaning it is quite powerful in Air-To-Ground battles as one player can focus on flying while the other targets and destroys ground units. It is a powerful aircraft in the right hands, and an even better aircraft for airshows, as it’s low thrust to weight, in combat a weakness, allows it to pull off some absolutely stunning maneuvers during airshows, as well as having access to aerobatic smoke. The T-55 is a bizarre aircraft that doesn't really fit in with the others, but is welcome nonetheless.

EF-24G “Mischief”
A two seater EW aircraft resembling a modernized F-14 “Tomcat”, this aircraft is a very unique one. It is perfectly designed for both Electronic Warfare as well as interception and CAS. The aircraft, despite its comparatively sluggish maneuvering, is a powerful tool on the battlefield, both through its EW and through its munitions capacity. Its tandem seat design also provides unparalleled situational awareness, making it surprisingly hard to sneak up on

Loadout

Selecting a loadout is a key part of any mission, deciding what you need and what you don’t is very fun and engaging, and it’s far more satisfying to beat a mission using the equipment it you chose rather than the equipment the mission gave you. But it is hard to choose your loadout, you need to factor in what you want to do, how long the mission will take, what types of targets you will encounter, and a lot more, so. Here is a guide, a list of all the munitions in the game and what they are good for, so that you can make a more educated decision for what to equip. Along with that I will rank all weapons with a DTD rank, this is Decision To Deployment, and is a rough estimate to how much prep you have to do to effectively launch a munition.

Air-To-Air Missiles

• AIM-9: A relatively good missile, has a long range and seeks via IR. The best missile for close range dogfighting, and can reach very high speeds right off the rail
  DTD: Low
  
• AIM-9E: An older rear-aspect version of the AIM-9, useful only if you are under budget restraints
  DTD: Low
  
• AIRS-T: An advanced IR missile, capable of tracking and intercepting incoming missiles as well as aircraft, but has shorter effective range.
  DTD: Low
  
• AIM-120C (F/A-26, T-55): A powerful active radar guided missile, very good for BVR dogfighting, and can be launched against multiple targets very quickly.
  DTD: Mid
  
• AIM-120D (F-45, EF-24): An enhanced version of the AIM-120C, capable of being launched to a certain area to then lock onto targets on its own. Better in pretty much every way, but only available on two aircraft
  DTD: Mid
  
• AIM-54 (EF-24): A very long range interceptor missile. Active radar guided and extremely powerful in the right hands, lacks in maneuverability
  DTD: Mid
  
• AIM-7: A semi-active radar guided missile, useful for budget restrictions and for catching people who are only used to ARH missiles off guard
  DTD: Mid
  
• AIM-92 (AH-94): A MANPADS missile put into a wingtip tube, the only air-to-air missile available for the AH-94.
  DTD: Low

Air-To-Ground Missiles

• AGM-65: A optically guided anti-tank missile with a heavy warhead capable of destroying bunkers. Useful for single targets. Can be launched laser guided, useful for buddy lasing
  DTD: Low
  
• AGM-114: A laser guided air-to-ground missile, useful for stationary targets. Very lightweight so easy to carry a lot of them, but has a relatively low yield
  DTD: Low
  
• AGM-126: A modified AIM-9 converted into an anti-radiation missile. Useful for close range SEAD and self defense.
  DTD: Mid
  
• AGM-188 (AV-42 & EF-24): A long range anti-radiation missile, has a very unique top-down attack technique, useful for taking out SAM sites from afar without risk
  DTD: Mid
  
• CAGM-6: A large cluster munition that launches 6 independently tracking sub-missiles. Very useful for taking out convoys of vehicles. Optically guided
  DTD: Low
  
• AGM-89: A hefty anti-ship missile, very effective against ships but bad for anything else, recommended to train before using it as it is rather complex
  DTD: High
  
• AGM-161: A powerful air launched cruise missile, has automated terrain avoidance and a large warhead. Useful for taking out targets from afar.
  DTD: High
  
• AGM-88: A long range anti-radiation missile, has longer range than the 188, but does not have the unique top down attack, making it more vulnerable.
  DTD: Mid
  
• AGM-88S (EF-24 & F-45): A shortened version of the 88, has less burn range but can be fitted on smaller pylons. Most useful on the F-45, as it's the only ARM the F-45 can equip
  DTD: Mid
  
• AGM-145 (F-45 & AH-94): A smaller optically guided missile, basically just an optically guided variant of the AGM-114. Good for the same things, but is optically guided and thus fire and forget.
  DTD: Low
  
• AGM-27 (AH-94): A laser guided Hydra 70, useful for taking out large amounts of soft targets or enemy armor. Cannot be carried in as much numbers as the Hydra 70
  DTD: Low
  
• BGM-71E (AH-94): A command guided anti-tank missile. Acts identical to a laser guided missile. Useful for striking targets quickly due to it's incredibly fast acceleration right out of the tube
  DTD: Low
  
• BGM-71H (AH-94): A bunker busting variant of the 71E, very useful for taking out bunkers, as the only other bunker buster the AH-94 has access to is GPS guided
  DTD: Low

Bombs

• CBU-97: A large bomb that can deploy up to 40 weak submunitions that each track targets. Useful for large groups of infantry or APCs.
  DTD: Low
  
• GBU-12: The most precise bomb in your arsenal, a laser guided free fall bomb, useful for bunkers or other small targets. Can be carried in large amounts.
  DTD: Low
  
• GBU-38: A GPS guided bomb, useful for taking out multiple targets in one pass with precision. Has a high yield of 500lbs, and has pretty good tracking accuracy.
  DTD: Mid
  
• GBU-39: A GPS guided small diameter bomb, useful for groups of targets that need a bit more punch, but cannot hit moving targets because GPS is static
  DTD: Mid
  
• Mk. 82: The standard unguided bomb, has nothing special about it, just a big boom packed into an aerodynamic shell
  DTD: Low
  
• Mk. 82AIR: A Mk. 82 with a drag chute attached to it, useful for very low altitude bombing as the bomb moves slower than you after being released
  DTD: Low
  
• GBU-53 (F-45): The only optically guided bomb, fire and forget along with being incredibly fast due to its aerodynamic shape
  DTD: Low
  
• GBU-39ER (AH-94): A modified GBU-39, turning it from a bomb into a high payload guided rocket. Still GPS guided but very powerful in the right hands
  DTD: Mid

Other

• Hydra 70: Unguided rockets, you can have a lot of them, and they hit pretty hard. Useful for close air support as the explosion isn’t super big
  DTD: Low
  
• GAU-8 (AV-42): A high caliber high fire rate Gatling gun, famous for its use on the IRL A-10 Warthog. It is just as powerful here, but has limited ammo, so use carefully
  DTD: Low
  
• M230 (AV-42 & AH-94): A gimbal mounted chain gun, capable of laying down heavy fire while stationary in VTOL. Overall better than the GAU-8 but isn’t as fun
  DTD: Low
  
• M61 Vulcan (F/A-26, T-55, & EF-24): A powerful aircraft cannon that is capable of taking out aircraft in only a short burst, very accurate.
  DTD: Low
  
• GAU-22 Redeemer (F-45): A lower caliber lighter cannon that is still strong, less useful against ground targets, but better for air targets
  DTD: Low
  
• GAU-94 (AH-94): A gimbal mounted gatling gun that can fire a lot of bullets in a short amount of time, weirdly enough good for air-to-air
  DTD: Low

Non-Weapon Equippables

• 4400L EFT: A 4400 liter external fuel tank, equippable on the F/A-26
  
• 2200L EFT: A 2200 liter external fuel tank, equippable on the F/A-26 and the F-45
  
• 1700L EFT: A 1700 liter external fuel tank, equippable on the T-55
  
• 1100L EFT: A 1100 liter external fuel tank, equippable on the EF-24
  
• 870L EFT: A 870 liter external fuel tank, equippable on the AH-94
  
• CFT: A 6400 liter conformal fuel tank, equippable on the F/A-26
  
• AN/AAQ-28: An external targeting pod for the F/A-26 & T-55, as they do not have an integrated targeting system. Recommended to always equip if possible.
  
• AN/AAQ-34: The upgraded SNIPER TGP exclusively available to the EF-24. Includes improved systems, making it more reliable than the earlier AN/AAQ-28
  
• AN/ALQ-131: A small single target self defense jammer equippable on the F/A-26 and T-55. Can only jam one target at a time, but useful for emergency DRFM or noise jamming
  
• AN/ALQ-245: The primary EW pod, can jam two targets at once and up to four of them can be carried by the EF-24. Incredibly powerful in the right hands

When selecting a loadout, there are many different things to consider. Hopefully this guide into what munitions are good for what scenarios has helped you make a more educated decision while selecting a loadout.

Startup Procedures

Now that we’re through all that selection stuff, now to actually start the aircraft. VTOL VR definitely expedites the process of starting up aircraft, so this will not take as long as it does IRL. But, it is not as simple as pressing a button that says “Start Plane”, although once you get good at it it kinda does feel like that. Anyway, let’s go through each aircraft, and explain how to start it from a full cold start.

AV-42

• Pay attention to the right panel, this will be your power & engine controls
  
• Turn on the Main Battery, confirm the light is green
  
• Turn on the APU, wait for the dial to move into the green
  
• Turn on your MFDs, HUD, and set lights
  
• Back to the right panel, activate your engines. You can do both
  
• Wait for the engine dials to be in the green
  
• You have now started the AV-42

F/A-26

• Pay attention to the right panel, this will be your power & engine controls
  
• Turn on the Main Battery, confirm the light is green
  
• Turn on the APU, wait for the dial to move into the green
  
• Turn on your MFDs, HUD, and set lights
  
• Back to the right panel, activate your engines. You can do both
  
• Wait for the engine dials to be in the green
  
• You have now started the F/A-26

F-45

• The F-45’s cockpit is far more sparse, the switches stand out a lot more
  
• Turn on the main battery, confirm green light
  
• Turn on the APU, wait for the dial to go in the green
  
• Turn on your HMD and MFD, also set lights
  
• Activate the engine, wait for the dial to be in the green
  
• You have now started the F-45

AH-94

• Engage the APU, the switch is once again on the left panel
  
• Wait for the APU dial to be in the green
  
• Disengage rotor brake, confirm rotor unfolded
  
• Set throttle to idle
  
• Engage the right engine, do not engage the left engine until the right is on
  
• While waiting, engage MFDs, HMD, and set lights
  
• Once the right engine is fully spooled, begin left engine startup
  
• Once the left engine is fully spooled, bring the throttle up to “Flight”
  
• You have now started the AH-94

T-55

• Pay attention to the right panel, this will be your power & engine controls
  
• Turn on the Main Battery, confirm the light is green
  
• Turn on the APU, wait for the dial to move into the green
  
• Turn on your MFDs, HUD, and set lights
  
• Back to the right panel, activate your engine.
  
• Wait for the engine dial to be in the green
  
• You have now started the T-55

EF-24

• Pay attention to the lower left panel, the power controls are here
  
• Turn on the Main Battery, confirm voltage dial is in the green
  
• Turn on the APU, wait for the bar to fill
  
• Turn on the primary display, HUD, and set lights
  
• Move to the lower right panel, this is your engine controls
  
• Start both engines, you can do both at the same time
  
• Wait for engines to be fully spooled and responsive
  
• You have now started the EF-24

While starting the aircraft is a very easy step, it is crucial that you do it right, although it is quite hard to screw it up. Unlike real life, starting the engines before the APU is fully running will not damage the engines, it will only yell at you and force you to retry the step. VTOL VR isn’t an aircraft simulator, it is an air combat simulator.

Emergency Procedures

In combat aviation, emergency situations are extremely common. Sooner or later you’ll take a missile and have to deal with losing an engine, this is what to do for the most common situations. Situations are variable, so most responses will have to be thought up in the moment, so don’t panic. Think clearly and logically. First, some ground rules for emergency situations

• If you are below 5000 ft and you have experienced terminal damage, eject immediately, do not waste time trying to fix it at low altitude.
  
• If you are above 5000 ft, pay attention to your descent rate, if you are uncontrollably diving you will have less time than if you are in a flat spin.
  
• If your aircraft is still alive, enemies will still target you. If the airspace is busy, watch out for incoming missiles, a target that can’t maneuver is a dead target, eject if you see another missile coming
  
• If you have recovered but have still sustained damage, RTB. There is no point fighting if you have lost an engine or have sustained airframe damage
  
• If you are flying damaged, be ready to eject at a moment's notice. Aircraft can lose control surprisingly quick once the airframe is compromised
  
• The F/A-26 & EF-24 can fly without wings if they have positive TWR. It’s extremely difficult, but they can
  
• The AV-42 is extremely susceptible to wing loss, and wings loss will result in unbalanced thrust, losing a wing is a death sentence for the AV-42

In general, following these rules will keep you alive. Anyway, onto what to do to potentially fix problems

Engine Damage
In the case of engine damage, perform these steps in order to attempt to fix the aircraft

• Turn off damaged engine
  
• Check for fire in the engine visually. If fire present, abandon restart
  
• If no fire, Attempt to start the engine again
  
• If that fails, attempt once more with APU active
  
• If that fails, the engine is dead, abandon restart.

Asymmetrical Wing Damage
If you have taken damage to the wings but it is not symmetrical, take these things into consideration

• Flight assists will try to keep you level
  
• Stay out of combat, fighting with asymmetrical lift is how you get into a spin
  
• If you can, land at an airbase, avoid carrier landings unless necessary
  
• Keep maneuvers gentle and slow, rapid maneuvers will just make things worse

Symmetrical Wing Damage
If you have taken damage to the wings but it is symmetrical on both sides, take the following into consideration

• Symmetrical wing damage will keep your flight profile relatively intact
  
• Deploy flaps if possible, this will make up for the lift decrease of wing damage
  
• Combat is possible, but should be avoided. You have reduced lift and thus reduced turn rate
  
• Avoid flying low if you can, sudden loss of control can happen

Total Power Loss
If you encounter a total power loss, which is the loss of all thrust sources on your aircraft, perform the following actions

• Attempt engine restart for each engine
  
• If that fails, activate APU and attempt a glide RTB
  
• If a glide RTB is impossible, eject.

Again, follow the general rules. Remember that every situation is different, and most situations will rely on pilot discretion. Remember how your aircraft works, use that so you know what to do. Also, a few things to remember about the aircraft you will be flying

• All aircraft use electronic control systems, if you lose electric, you can no longer control the aircraft
  
• The F/A-26 is horrible, in comparison, at gliding, due to its high stall speed. It relies on it’s engines to keep it flying
  
• The EF-24 is the best at gliding with its wings fully extended. If you have encountered any type of major failure, slow down and extend wings
  
• The F-45 is extremely susceptible to damage due to its light airframe and single engine design. Be ready to eject if you take any type of damage
  
• On the AH-94 and AV-42, the belly of the aircraft is far stronger than other parts. If there is no way to avoid the missile, maneuver so the missile hits the belly of the aircraft
  
• The T-55 is naturally unstable, and losing a wing will likely result in total loss of control. It’s single engine design also means engine loss is dangerous

Munitions Deployment

There are many different types of armament, and some are more complex than others, whether through difficulty to deploy or a very specific operating envelope, some munitions are just harder than others. So here we will go through every type of munition, and give you a guide on how to deploy them. As well as a few tips and tricks for each weapon type.

IR AAMs
IR AAMs are the most common air-to-air missiles, the AIM-9 and AIRS-T are the two you will become very familiar with. To start you want to change the missile to work in Head Tracking mode. Deployment is super easy, look at the target and fire. Both of your available IR AAMs are very high maneuverable, so they are good for dogfighting

ARH AAMs
ARH missiles use Active Radar Homing. The AIM-120 and the AIM-52 are the two ARHs you have. They are less maneuverable than the AIM-9 or AIRS-T, but have a much longer range. To deploy you need to get a radar hard lock on the target, then once you have that you can start guiding the missile. Once the missile is close enough to the target, you will hear a “pitbull” callout, this means the missile is now self-tracking and you can pull off. Hopefully, the missile will hit the target with its powerful warhead, completely destroying it.

SARH AAMs
While these are much rarer to see on the battlefield, they are still somewhat effective, so you need to know how to use them. They are pretty simple, it’s just like an ARH, except it never goes Pitbull, so keep the target locked

Optical ATGMs (And GBU-53s)
Optical munitions are super easy to use, just put your targeting on the enemy you want to hit, and then release the missile. It will remember the actual shape of the enemy, and move towards it. The bonus to optical weapons is that they are “Fire And Forget”, meaning you can move the targeting to another target and fire on that before the other missile has impacted, this is super useful in congested battlefields.

Laser Guided ATGMs
When it comes to laser guidance, it is rather simple. Put the targeting on the target, and then fire. You MUST keep targeting on the enemy until impact, or it will miss.

Unguided Bombs
Unguided bombs are both easy to use and hard to use, you can use them in two ways: CCIP (Constantly Calculated Impact Point) or CCRP (Constantly Calculated Release Point). CCRP is more practical but gives you less accuracy, while CCIP is very accurate but requires dive bombing the target, very dangerous with AAA or ships. CCIP is simple, just put the target in the bomb reticle and drop it, it’s a constantly calculated impact point, but CCRP is a bit different, lock the target with your targeting, and then fly straight towards it, you will see a line and two arrows appear on the HUD, line up with the line and fly straight, you will see a diamond start to come down from the top of the HUD, wait until it is between the two arrows, you will see “RELEASE” appear on the HUD, this is when you drop the bomb. This system is very accurate, and when dealing with multiple targets. Select the first in the line and just keep dropping after the release marker passes.

Laser Guided Bombs
The GBU-12 is the only Laser Guided bomb at your disposal, and it’s pretty simple to use. When selected you will see two circles on your HUD, one large circle and one small circle. When a target is locked with your TGP, it will be represented by a diamond on the HUD, the outer circle represents the maneuvering range of the GBU-12, if the target is in here it can potentially hit the target, the inner circle is where the bomb is almost guaranteed to hit, so you want the diamond to be there if possible. Just put the diamond in the circle and release, the bomb will do the rest as long as you keep the target locked.

GPS Guided Bombs
GPS Guided bombs are much harder to use, you need to get the enemy’s GPS location, this can be done on the NAV map, TSD for the F-45 and EF-24, or through the targeting system if needed. Then you need to select that GPS point, and now it will work very similarly to the GBU-12, put the diamond in the circle and release. The bonus to GPS guided bombs is that GPS points are “stackable”, so you can deploy many GPS guided bombs at one to hit multiple targets, as deploying a GBU will automatically cycle to the next GPS point in the group. They are also very precise, so that’s a bonus.

Land Attack Cruise Missiles
The AGM-161 is a land attack cruise missile, capable of delivering a large payload over a long range. It works off of GPS points, but is super simple. Just set the GPS point on a target and then fire, as long as it has enough space below to deploy it will automatically evade terrain and move towards the target. It is very fire and forget, so it’s good for taking out long range radars as you can just fire it off and then go do something else.

Anti-Ship Cruise Missiles
The AGM-89 is an anti-ship cruise missile, and it is very complex. First you need to select a mode, there are a few modes. Direct is simple, it will fly straight from your aircraft to the target. SeaSkim is a bit more complex, after launch it will dive to the deck, and fly along the sea to it’s target, this is good for evading CIWS but it cannot go over terrain. SSEvasive is sea skim but better, when it gets near the target it will quickly maneuver in a zigzag formation, trying to evade CIWS. This is a greater chance of hit but lower range as it uses more fuel during it’s evasion. Finally we get to Popup, this mode is the most complex and the highest chance of hit with the lowest range. It will fly in SSEvasive until it gets close to the target, where it will fly up above the target ship and slam down onto the deck, dealing heavy damage to the ship and almost guaranteed to destroy the radars and CIWS. This missile is always radar guided in it’s terminal phase but is GPS guided during it’s cruise, allowing you to set up large paths avoiding terrain if possible. Make sure to launch it from high up, both to give it more energy and to give it time to level out and figure out what it’s doing

Unguided Rockets
Hydra 70s are a very fun weapon to use, because even 5-7 hydras can easily take out a convoy if you have good aim, or you can load up almost 50 and just absolutely annihilate anything in front of you. Remember, in your EQUIP MFD you can select the salvo and ripple of the Hydras, basically how many you want to fire and how quickly, if Ripple is set to single, you will fire one salvo per trigger pull, if it is set to 600, you will fire 10 salvos per second, if salvo is set to three, you will fire 3 rockets per salvo. It’s pretty simple really! (The max rockets per salvo is decided by how many separate pods you have)

Guns
Guns are a multi tool, you can use them pretty effectively for air-to-ground, but you can also use them with varying success for air-to-air. Remember, these aren’t your movie aircraft cannons where they have a nice and chunky sound to them, these are REAL cannons, where they fire so fast the sound merges into one big BRRRRRRT. Use short bursts of fire, even a 1-2 second burst can tear a plane to shreds. If you can, achieve either radar or targeting lock on your target, this will provide a very accurate gun pipper, if the target is under this pipper, it will be hit. This means you won’t have to use gun rails or the reticle. The gun rails are very simple, put the enemy's wings in the rails and that should be roughly right on them. For ground targets, use the reticle and adjust for drop

Carrier Operations

Carrier operations are fun, really fun. The feeling of being accelerated by the catapult to insanely fast speeds is wonderful and the tension release of catching the 3 wire and slowing to a stop is matched by nothing else in the world. In this section we will go over carrier operations and how to perform them, as they are crucial to VTOL VR, a navy flight sim.

In VTOL VR there are two types of carriers, Aircraft Carriers and Assault Carriers, from this point on these will be referred to as CATOBAR Carriers and STOVL Carriers respectively. These two carrier types can support different aircraft. The CATOBAR Carrier can support any aircraft in the game, even the AH-94, but the STOVL carrier can only support the F-45 and the AV-42. It can theoretically support the AH-94 but it’s not very practical. Let’s start with the simpler of the two, the CATOBAR Carrier

CATOBAR stands for “Catapult Assisted TakeOff But Arrested Recovery”. Basically, planes are launched with catapults but need help to land, that help is performed by arresting wires, big steel cables that aircraft grab onto to slow down. Let’s go through how to take off from a CATOBAR Carrier

• Confirm launch bar is down (All aircraft except the AH-94 has a launch bar)
  
• Taxi to the catapult of your choice, try to touch the front gear to the catapult car (the little block on the catapult rail)
  
• Confirm aircraft is ready for takeoff, wings unfolded, master arm on, etc.
  
• Set flaps to 2 and enable CATO trim (switch should be on the flight assist panel)
  
• Throttle up to afterburner, then grab onto the handles in the aircraft (every aircraft has them)
  
• Sit back and enjoy the ride, CATO trim will pitch you up automatically and you are set to fly.

As you can see, CATOBAR takeoff isn’t very hard, but what about landing? Well, that’s a different story. Carrier landing is regarded as one of the hardest things a pilot can do, everything is against you here. But I will give you the steps so that you can at least know how to do it

• Enter the ILS frequency listed on the comms page for the carrier you wish to land at, this will give you a glide slope on your Horizontal Situation Indicator (HSI)
  
• If you are in multiplayer, you will also have to tune to the Landing Signal Officer (LSO) radio frequency, which is also on the carrier's comms info page. If you do not do this, you will not have audible LSO callouts
  
• Line up with the carrier, the approach path is marked on the NAV map and HSI
  
• Follow the IFLOLS, it should appear on the HUD as you approach, it is simple enough symbology, when the “meatball” has an outline, you’re good
  
• Listen to the LSO, they will guide you, but remember that you have the final authority when it comes to landing
  
• When you hear “[Callsign], Call the ball”, you’ll want to respond with a quick “[Callsign], Ball”, this confirms you are seeing the IFLOLS and are ready to land. If you cannot see the IFLOLS because of weather, respond "[Callsign], Clara ball", this will give you LSO callouts immediately, regardless of range to the carrier
  
• DO NOT FLARE, it should feel like a controlled crash into the deck.
  
• Once you land, activate full afterburner, trust me, you’ll want that going

Once you land, listen for a wire call. There are four wires, if you hear something like “3 wire” then you have caught a wire. If you hear “Bolter” then you have missed all wires, take back off and go around, that’s why you throttle up when you land. The number in a wire call is what wire you caught, for example, if you get a “1 wire”, you caught the first wire in the line. If you get a “4 wire”, you caught the fourth wire.

Now for STOVL carriers, STOVL carrier operations are simpler but harder. Remember, especially with air combat, simple does not equal easy. STOVL stands for “Short TakeOff, Vertical Landing”. STOVL takeoff is simple enough, either take off vertically as you would on land, or line up with the runway of the carrier and set engine tilt to 45 degrees, this will allow you to perform a STOL takeoff, it’s very similar to a normal takeoff, so don’t worry about it. If you want to land on a STOVL carrier, you better have some practice with vertical landings on shore, because now it’s just harder, because it’s a small platform and in some missions it’s moving. And you can only land on these carriers vertically, they aren’t STOL carriers, they are STOVL carriers. Luckily, VTOL VR has mastered the feeling of vertical landing, so you can actually kinda go by feel. I recommend using the center stick cockpit layout for extra precision, even if you just switch for landing, it helps a lot.

Carrier operations are difficult, they demand the best from any pilot, the best way to get good at them is to practice. Follow the instructions, do some landings, get better at the game, that’s my best advice. But, I can offer some tips for carrier landings

Carrier Operation Tips

• For STOVL carrier landings, you can do a pseudo landing to slow down, where you do a forward landing approach and then use brakes to slow down to where VTOL is effective before you go off the deck, this is super useful in the notoriously finicky F-45
  
• For CATOBAR landings, the automated LSO in VTOL VR is extremely precise, and will tell you to wave off in all but the most perfect approaches. If he doesn't tell you to wave off, that landing was just really good. If you feel like you're going to make it, don't listen to his wave off calls.
  
• MAKE 100% SURE YOU HAVE YOUR HOOK DOWN, I cannot count how many times I’ve gotten mad that I kept boltering and then finding out my hook wasn’t down
  
• When landing in combat, do not be afraid to do a short approach and not use the IFLOLS and just eyeball it, when in combat rules and regulations go out the window
  
• In VTOL VR, you do not collide with other aircraft on the decks of carriers. This is mostly an anti-frustration feature for dealing with the finicky AI, but it also helps when dealing with cluttered carrier decks in multiplayer.

Aerial Refueling

Aerial refueling is hard, I struggle to do it and I have over 200+ hours in VTOL VR. It takes precision, patience, and practice. All of which new players do not have, so that’s why most players opt instead to just load up on external fuel tanks, and while this works, it limits your munitions carrying capacity substantially and limits your mobility. Aerial Refueling is very useful, so that’s why you should learn to get good at it, in this section I will go over everything you need to know about how to perform Aerial Refueling, both with a full tanker and the UARV (Aerial Refueling Drone)

Why?
Why is Aerial Refueling so important? Well, it allows you to stay airborne for a very long time, theoretically infinitely if it weren’t for munition stores running low. So it is very useful in larger combat operations, allowing you to use more fuel expensive tactics without sacrificing your ability to stay combat ready at all times.

How?
Aerial refueling is simple on paper, but very hard in practice. Here are the steps

• Open your fuel port, all fixed wing aircraft have one
  
• Merge with the tanker, match it’s speed, and match it’s altitude, autopilot speed hold can help with this
  
• Slowly maneuver behind and under the tanker, since VTOL VR uses the flying boom method of refueling, you must be behind and underneath the tanker to refuel.
  
• Follow the PDL, Pilot director lights. There are two strips, one corresponding to forward movement, the other corresponding to horizontal movement, keep them in the green (These are absent on the UARV)
  
• Pay attention to the boom, on the inner boom there are colors, keep the end of the shroud over the green, this is your vertical position director
  
• Stay in this position until the tanker automatically disconnects once you are full.

Sounds simple, but it’s really hard in practice, once again I recommend you use center stick if possible, it helps a ton, the precision is invaluable. Practice, practice, practice. That is the best advice I can give.

WVR Air-to-Air Combat

So, WVR air-to-air combat. Also known as Dogfighting. This is where the movie side of VTOL VR comes out, this stuff is cinematic as hell. So, how do you do it, what do you need to do to win a dogfight? Well, I’ll be honest, there is no win-all-dogfights strategy, you have to rely on your ability to see the situation and work out how to win. You need to make the strategy, but I can tell you what you need to consider when you are making a strategy. After all, is it a strategy if you have no idea if it will work, or is it just an idea?

Energy Management
In a dogfight, energy matters above all else. Energy (AKA speed) is what wins a dogfight, if you have high speed, you can turn faster, climb faster, evade faster, and just straight up move faster, so energy is important. You lose energy anytime you do anything, maneuver, launch a missile, just climbing will cost you energy, so you need to conserve it for the right moment. Also remember that your enemy is also constrained by their own energy, so you can bait them into wasting it. Energy management is the key to close range dogfighting

Missiles
As much as guns are important to dogfighting, so are missiles. Remember, a single missile can take down an enemy, or at least majorly wound them. Conserve missiles, but don’t be afraid to use them. Heat seeking missiles are notoriously zippy and high energy, meaning you can usually just launch them in the middle of a dogfight. Also, most missiles have a proximity fuse, meaning they will explode even if an enemy dodges it (So no Top Gun Maverick Su-57-ing your way out of this)

Gun Management
In a longer dogfight, you never know when you will not need to use your gun, so you need to conserve it as much as possible. For example, on the F/A-26, you have 800 rounds, that may sound like a lot, but with how hard it is to hit another aircraft with your gun and how fast these guns fire, that ammo can get real low real quick. Try to fire ONLY when you are almost absolutely sure it will hit, and fire in very short 20 round bursts, even just 5 rounds is enough to reliably take down a plane.

Post Stall Maneuvers
While most of the aircraft in VTOL VR do not have thrust vectoring, the AV-42 has the Reaction Control System for vertical landings, but it also allows it to maneuver even after stalling. This is far more powerful than it has any right to be, as it allows the AV-42 to basically ignore energy management and just maneuver anyway. Also, the F/A-26 seems to have some sort of post stall maneuvering capability, as it always feels a little responsive to controls even after stalling

BVR Air-to-Air Combat

BVR A2A, also known as Beyond Visual Range Dogfighting, is a completely different beast from WVR. The tactics are completely changed, it's no longer a battle of energy and turn rate, it's almost like high-speed chess. You need to predict what your enemy is going to do, play your counter, then hope the enemy falls for it. Instead of going over tactics and terms, I am going to go over the missiles that you will be using in this fight, and where to use them.

AIM-120C: The AIM-120 is your standard BVR missile, with a range of around 12-20nm, it is a monster of a missile if deployed right. It's best launch aircraft is the F/A-26, and you can carry a surprisingly large amount of these. One of their best features is that they do not need a hard lock on the target to guide to them, meaning with the right deployment strategy, you can launch 4 AIM-120s at 4 different targets all at once. Now, I've never had a situation where I've needed to do this, but you can do it, which is pretty cool. The AIM-120 is still quite maneuverable, and can reliably take out fighters in one hit, and on a direct hit it can take out larger aircraft. Generally, the AIM-120 is one of the stronger A2A assets in your arsenal

AIM-120D: An upgraded version of the AIM-120 for the F-45 and the EF-24. While the AIM-120C can fire on a soft locked target, the AIM-120D can fire on a target without any radar data. As long as you can see the target on your TSD, you can fire an AIM-120 at it. You can also set it to search an arbitrary point if you want to, where it will then search with it's own radar for targets. Be warned, the AIM-120D does not have an onboard IFF system, meaning if it detects a friendly before an enemy, it will lock onto them. The D in the 120D stands for "Dangerous", because that is exactly what this thing is in the hands of a competent pilot, and it's the reason the EF-24 is still a good choice for air superiority over the F/A-26

AIM-54: A long range bomber killer missile, the 54 is known by the nickname "Phoenix". The Phoenix is a powerful long range asset, able to take down almost any aircraft in one hit and at ranges upwards of 30nm (From my testing). While it starts out much slower than the AIM-120, it's long burn rocket motor will slowly but surely speed it up to around Mach 5 if given enough time. It's major downside is it's lack of maneuverability, but in a super long range BVR fight or when tasked with hunting bombers, the Phoenix is a godsend due to it's warheads power. It packs a punch to say the least, it can easily take out bombers and AWACS aircraft in one hit, and fighters are simply vaporized. The AIM-54 is situational, but great in those situations

And now for what you're here for, a few small tactics that can help in BVR dogfighting

Cranking: Upon firing a radar guided missile, one of the best tactics to follow that up is cranking, where you turn away from the enemy just enough to where you keep lock on them, but they are at the very edge of your radar scope. This is a great maneuver, because it keeps you at distance, preventing the battle from going WVR, and it also allows you to move straight into notching if the enemy fires a missile on you. Upon hearing a pitbull callout from your computer, that means cranking is no longer required, as the missile is tracking on it's own radar now. Also, this is useless for AIM-120Ds that have been fired at a non-radar track, for obvious reasons.

Heater Range: If you want to keep the dogfight in BVR, the number to avoid in terms of distance is 10nm. At 10 miles, heat seeking missiles can start to become viable, and the enemy may decide to put you in a WVR situation. 10nm is the barrier between BVR and WVR in VTOL VR, so if you go within that distance, do not be surprised if the fight turns WVR.

Missile Energy: Just as your aircraft has energy in a WVR fight, missiles also have energy, but it's a lot easier to track. When a missile is powered, and is leaving a smoke trail, it is increasing in energy. Once that smoke goes out and it's flying unpowered, it is constantly losing energy. This unpowered state is the best time to avoid a missile, so staying at that range can almost always guarantee a missile dodge if you can manage it. Evading an unpowered missile is usually just as easy as baiting it into a climb then pulling up hard as it approaches, or just straight up going into a barrel roll maneuver (NOT AN AILERON ROLL, THAT WILL GET YOU KILLED)

To summarize, BVR dogfighting is more complex, requires more forethought, but if mastered, will always be the best route to take in an air-to-air situation, as it puts you in the least risk.

Air-To-Ground Combat

Air-to-ground combat is very interesting, it can be done in many ways, and all of them are at least somewhat effective. I will be going through the benefits and problems with every major ATG strategy, allowing you to pick one that fits the situation

1: Low & Fast
This is your classic movie strategy, fly low, strike targets with rockets, guns, and bombs (preferably drag bombs). It is very effective in situations where air defenses prevent you from going higher, but can be completely countered with a single AAA battery

2: High Altitude Bombing
Let’s say the situation is reversed, the SAM network is gone, but there is a high AAA presence, this is where you do this, you load up on GPS guided bombs, use your targeting to get the exact GPS coordinates of all the enemies below, then set the bomb ripple and hold the trigger. GPS guided bombs are best employed at altitude, where they have a lot more time to guide to the target

3: Boom & Zoom
This is a tactic known well by most strike pilots, fly in fast, hit everything you can, and then book it back to safety. This is good for targets that need to be taken out but are heavily defended. Hydra 70s, GBU-12s, and AGM-65s are some of the best weapons for this, so are GBU-53s and Mk.82s.

4: Popup
The Popup strategy involves remaining terrain masked moving towards the target before popping up right before hitting it. This strategy is good if you need to navigate heavy air defenses leading up to the target, most often seen in stealth operations.

Altitude Leveragement
In air-to-ground combat, your altitude is a very important factor. At high altitude bombs and missiles will be more effective, while at low altitude guns and rockets will be more effective. Using your altitude to your advantage is the key to air-to-ground combat

Munition Selection
Pay attention during briefings, create a list in your head of what you need to do. Do you need to take out a lot of separate convoys? CAGM-6s are good. Will long range targets be pre-marked with GPS points? Bring some AGM-161s. Listen to the briefing, if the briefing tells you something, it’s probably important.

Air-To-Sea Combat

Air to sea combat is very common in VTOL VR, and it’s really fun. Fighting the giants of the oceans will always be a cool feeling, and naval combat goes hand and hand with carrier operations, so that’s fun. Here I will discuss how to take down types of ships, what strategies will carry you through, and how to make sure you are the biggest threat to any ship in the area. So, let’s start with how to take down a ship

Long Range
You have one major advantage over ships, you are the one who decides when the fight begins. So you can attack from long range, then suddenly bomb rush the ships. AGM-89s are specialty built to take on ships, firing off even one of these guys can severely wound an enemy ship.

Mid Range
At the mid range point, you have made visual contact with the enemy ships, this is where ATGMs become effective. Aim for the radars on ships, try to disable their air defenses before you get close, but remember that CIWS is controlled by individual radars, so you will still have to deal with those

Close Range
At close range Guns and Bombs become much more effective, bombs can deal hefty damage to boats with very little risk, as bombs can be lobbed rather long distances, and guns are better for when you get even closer, as guns deal heavy damage to ship systems. Hydras are very good for dealing the last blows to ships.

What Threat Do Ships Pose
Ships pose a huge threat, they can easily change the tide of battle simply by blocking off crucial airways into combat. They also have the ability to launch what the community wonderfully calls “Super Missiles”. These are ship-launched VLS SAMs, and they are deadly. They carry strong warheads and have very good tracking as well as very high speed and energy potential. Ships are easily one of the biggest threats you can face, and on top of all that, they can move, and not slowly either!

Carriers
Carriers are a whole other beast, they have most of what aforementioned ships have, and on top of that field an air wing. Also, when a carrier is threatened, they will send up everything they have to stop you. Carriers are the center of fleets, and they are defended by every unit around them at all times. If you attack a carrier, be prepared for a fight.

Missile Evasion

So you have a missile coming after you, first things first, don’t panic. Panic clouds your judgment and you are going to need that judgment, so stay calm. Now, Identify where the threat is coming from, your RWR is useful here, with an active radar guided missile, you will be able to see what direction it is coming from, you can also use the ARAD HUD to see the radar signature In 3D space, you can also locate any other type of missile by simply looking around for the telltale smoke trail. Once you have located the missile, here is where evasion comes in. You have a few different ways to evade missiles, here are a few

1: High G Maneuvers
The simplest evasion technique, just move the aircraft around, try to waste the missile’s energy, this is a good starting maneuver, as the less energy the missile has when it gets to you, the better.

2: Terrain Masking
Terrain masking is also very simple, if you can get a mountain, hill, or any solid object between you and the missile, do it. This will break the lock, even if you only went away for a second, the missile cannot achieve lock on its own, so you're good. Player launched SARHs or ARHs can be reassigned, and may be reassigned to you if you aren't careful. Players are dangerous

3: Beaming
The more advanced cousin of High G Maneuvers, Beaming is also relatively simple, you start by turning quickly to one direction, then a few seconds later you switch to another direction, and then repeat. This quickly wastes the missile’s energy as it constantly corrects for your unpredictable movement. Beaming is best used when paired with another technique, but can potentially waste a missile’s energy enough that the missile cannot track you anymore and will just fly past.

4: Notching
A cornerstone of missile evasion, notching is really useful, as it can completely break a missile lock without much effort. All you need to do is position the missile at your 3 or 9 o’clock, then put yourself in between the missile and terrain, then full afterburn. This will confuse the missile’s targeting as it sees you moving across the terrain at almost the same rate the terrain in the background is moving, so it filters you out. Completely breaking the lock. This is incredibly useful and very easy to perform if there is terrain nearby. Also note that if you fly low enough, this can be performed over water.

5: Driving
Driving is only really effective against SAMs in their early stages, basically, if missiles want to intercept you they need to move to where you will be, not where you are, so they have an intercept path, this is guiding them to a point ahead of you that gets closer to you as the missile gets closer and closer, but if you make it so that the intercept path goes through the ground, the missile will still follow it, straight into the ground. Basically, if a SAM is locking onto you, start flying downwards, when the missile comes off the rail of the launcher, it will immediately turn and slam into the ground.

6: Going Cold
Strangely enough there is a method that has proven to be quite effective in combat, and has a good chance of making missiles have to do far more work than they normally would, this is called “Going Cold”, also referred to as running away. If you turn around and full afterburn in the opposite direction of the missile, most missiles will not have enough energy to chase you down, but take note of how I said MOST missiles, not all of them are as weak, and ship-launched SAMs are one such missile, they are referred to as “Super Missiles” by the community for a reason

7: Countermeasures & Dragging
These two measures are more of an addition to the previous techniques rather than their own technique, countermeasures are simple: You deploy them to make it harder for missiles to track you. Chaff for radar missiles, and Flares for IR missiles. Flares are extremely effective, deploying them and throttling down can completely confuse IR missiles, but Chaff is much less so, as most radar missiles can filter out Chaff, so you can use it while performing some of the other techniques, especially notching. Chaff can also be used to prevent a lock on, if you are in the sights of a searching radar and it hasn’t locked onto you, slowly deploy chaff sequentially, this will make it much harder for it to lock onto you. Dragging is super simple, just get low to the ground, the lower to sea level you are, the better. The air is much thicker down there, so missiles have a harder time accelerating and turning, this is also why you want to launch missiles from high up if you want them to travel far, so if you need a little extra help evading a particularly persistent missile, get low.

These techniques are all useful in their own circumstances, but not all will be useful in every situation. Pay attention to the situation and adapt, a pilot’s best tool is their adaptability. Remember, if these techniques are done correctly and in the right circumstances, no missile in the game can overcome them.

SEAD

SEAD is necessary for any large scale ops, yet a lot of people seem to not know how to perform SEAD. So here I will teach you, as a SEAD specialist, how to perform SEAD.

SEAD vs DEAD
SEAD stands for Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses. DEAD stands for Destruction of Enemy Air Defenses. SEAD is the act of nullifying air defenses, whether through EW or through just destroying the radars, SEAD is a blanket term for taking out air defenses, both temporarily and permanently. DEAD is specifically the act of destroying or otherwise permanently crippling the air defense system of the enemy. DEAD is usually only used as a term when EW is an active part of the battle, and they need to specify that they need the air defenses destroyed, not just jammed.

What Should You Bring For SEAD
SEAD is difficult, but can be made much easier with the use of Anti-Radiation missiles. These missiles lock onto the radar emissions of SAM radars, meaning it is basically a massive middle finger to SAM systems. Even if you aren’t on SEAD and are just a part of an assault, bring one or two ARMs, they are so useful. With update 1.9, all fixed wing aircraft in the game can carry and utilize ARMs

How To Do It
I’ve heard some people say SEAD is hard, and while I agree it is difficult, it is not hard once you understand how it works. Remember a few facts that will make your life in SEAD so much easier:

• Anti-radiation missiles are fire and forget, as they track something given off by the enemy, so you can fire one and quickly dive into cover
  
• The aircraft’s “shoot” notification will only go off if you are in range, if you are out of range for the missile, it will not tell you to shoot
  
• You can increase the chance of hit with the AGM-88 and 188 by pitching up and firing it at an upwards angle, this gives it much more energy as it uses gravity during its final approach
  
• The AGM-126 is theoretically capable of air-to-air if your enemy has their radar on, and it is deadly if the enemy doesn't realize you just fired an ARM at them.
  
• The AGM-126 is very maneuverable, being built on the base of the AIM-9, it is capable of very quick turns, making it very useful for close range SEAD
  
• The ARAD screen is just a more advanced RWR, I recommend having the HUD for it turned on at all times, even when not doing SEAD, it lets you visualize RWR contacts in 3D space, which is way more helpful than you think.

How to not get locked onto is important here, you need to know how to evade radar, because if you can evade radar, you can choose entirely when the battle begins. So, let’s go through that.

Evading radar is hard, but simple. Put something between you and the radar, whether that is a mountain, a hill, the curvature of the earth (yes, VTOL VR simulates that), or even allied ships and large aircraft. But remember, if you are using ARMs, you can only attack a radar if the radar can attack you, now you see why I compare SEAD to jousting, you can only attack when the enemy can attack. That is unless you bring normal ATGMs, but that's not very fun.

SEAD In The F-45
As someone who plays the F-45 an unhealthy amount, I can say with complete confidence, SEAD is honestly quite boring in the F-45. While it has access to ARMs, it's still just using its datalink to lock onto and destroy enemy radars, and it isn’t very fun. You’ll spend most of the time just slowly selecting and destroying targets without even going near them. Yes I know it is a massive technological feat to be bored while doing one of the most important jobs in combat aviation, but that’s the thing, it’s boring. While yes I am slightly exaggerating how boring it is because I’m an aviation nerd so doing anything in an aircraft can be at least slightly fun to me, it is not super engaging. Although, if you want engaging, may I interest you in…

Gun SEAD
Gun SEAD is dumb, tactically brain dead, and really just overall not a good idea, but man it is fun. The rules are simple, perform SEAD but you can only use Guns or Unguided Rockets. This means you have to get dangerously close to the one thing designed solely to take you out. Yes it’s not a good idea in any way, but for the brief while that you are alive, you will be having a great time. I know this tactic because this is how I became a SEAD specialist, I used to do this and then thought “There must be an easier way”, and then I found it, but this still remains one of the most fun things to do when bored in VTOL VR.

CAS

CAS, standing for Close Air Support, is the striking of enemy ground targets in close proximity to friendly targets. CAS is dangerous, as there is a high risk of friendly fire.

Weapon Selection
Be very careful when performing CAS, try to stick to high precision weapons like guns and rockets. GBUs are also good if you understand their range, try to stick to lower yield bombs, small diameter bombs are very good for this, as they are precise but small, so you can precision strike specific enemy units. Just, whatever you do, don’t go to a CAS call and slam a 1000 lbs bomb onto enemy forces, you will fail the objective.

Signals
When being called in for CAS, there are multiple ways to be called in. Sometimes you will be called to support friendlies by command, or by the friendlies communicating with you directly. Just remember, do not target any flare signal without checking first, most of the time the friendlies will set up a flare at their position, not at the enemy position. Even if a flare is red, do not immediately fire on it

How To CAS
If you want to provide CAS, the best way to do it is the orbit method, if you are in the AV-42 and you have the M230, you can just hover and fire at the enemies, the 230 is powerful and can take out TANKS. But if you are in a more standard aircraft like the F/A-26 or the F-45, you may want to take a more aggressive approach, try to target the enemies in a way where the enemies are between the munition’s detonation and the friendlies, this will usually prevent friendly casualties. AGM-65s and 114s are good, they are very precise and the AGM-65 has a very heavy warhead. Guns are always good, because gun rounds have a surprisingly large AOE when they hit the ground, you aren’t firing a rifle, this is a 20mm cannon. But the AOE is small enough that you are still very precise.

CAP

Combat Air Patrol, something very rarely stated as something you want to do. CAP is cool in the way that you get to be equipped for fighting and have a high chance of ending up in a dogfight, but remember, this is CAP. You will be flying around with the only purpose of your flight being to look for aircraft. You’ll spend most of the time just staring at a radar screen and turning dials to adjust your autopilot. But, it is a super important job, as CAP leads to air superiority.

Patrol
While on patrol, you’ll want to do two things right off the bat, turn on your radar and max its range. Now you’ll want to create a GPS path circling the area you need to patrol, now get autopilot working so you’ll go on that path. Now watch the radar, that’s it. It sounds boring… because it is, but it is important! Now, what do you do when you see a enemy appear

Responding
When you see an enemy appear, adjust the radar to the minimum range where you can see them, then report them. Tell everyone the bearing, range, and altitude of the threat from bullseye, you are acting as AWACS now. You can make the choice of whether to engage or not, but be smart about it. Don’t go rushing in with guns, think about it for a bit

Fighting
When engaging, start with long range missiles, like the AIM-120 or AIM-7. Fire off those and start burning hot, charge them. You’ll want to catch them off guard. If your AIM-120s miss, move in to use AIM-9s or AIRS-Ts. If those are impractical or you need to save them, use guns. Deal with the threat swiftly and efficiently, a good fighter can easily take out an unprepared squadron.

Return To Patrol
Now back to the boring part, return back to patrol and keep looking for oncoming fighters. Only you can protect your squadron, even if that means doing the most boring job in modern air combat.









In case you can’t tell, I don’t like CAP

Radio Communication

Pilots have very specific codes for talking, these are referred to as Brevity Codes, and every NATO country uses them. So, let’s first go through some of the basic words you should know

• Blue On Blue = Friendly Fire
  
• Spike = Locked By Enemy Air Radar
  
• Buddy Spike = Locked By Friendly Radar
  
• Mud = Locked By Enemy Ground Radar
  
• Nails = Enemy Radar Spotted On RWR In Search Mode
  
• Cease = Stop Fighting, Finish Current Engagements
  
• Cease Fire = Stop Fighting, Abandon Current Engagements
  
• Winchester = No Munitions Remaining
  
• Furball = A Dogfight Involving Multiple Friendlies And Hostiles
  
• Weapons Free = Fire At Anything Not Identified As A Friendly
  
• Weapons Tight = Only Fire At Hostiles Pertaining To The Objective
  
• Weapons Safe = Do Not Fire Weapons
  
• Bingo = Minimum Fuel For Safe RTB Reached
  
• Grand Slam = All Currently Detected Hostile Aircraft Down, Airspace Clear
  
• Splash = Air Target Destroyed
  
• Shack = Ground Target Destroyed

Now for weapon callouts. You will say these when you fire off the type of munition

• Fox 1 = SARH Missile (AIM-7)
  
• Fox 2 = IR Missile (AIM-9, AIRS-T)
  
• Fox 3 = ARH Missile (AIM-120, AIM-52)
  
• Guns, Guns, Guns = Aircraft Cannon
  
• Rifle = ATGM (AGM-65, AGM-114, Ect.)
  
• Pickle = Bomb (Mk.82, GBU-12, GBU-38)
  
• Magnum = ARM (AGM-126, AGM-88, AGM-188)
  
• Greyhound = Land Attack Cruise Missile (AGM-161)
  
• Bruiser = Anti-Ship Missile (AGM-89)

These next codes are just what you refer to things as

• Bogey = An Unidentified Aircraft
  
• Bandit = An Identified Enemy Aircraft
  
• Hostile = A Bandit That Fits The ROE And Can Be Engaged
  
• Friendly = An Allied Unit
  
• Home Plate = Home Airfield Or Carrier
  
• Vampire = Hostile Anti-Ship Missile

Communication
Communicating with other aircraft and with the airspace controllers is important. You need to make sure everyone knows what you intend to do and when you’re doing it. Especially with the new feature where players can act as ATC or carrier air bosses, it is important you follow procedure and know what you are doing. There are two ways to communicate with AI, the comms MFD page, and through voice recognition and the actual radio. All commands in that page are straightforward, so instead I am going to use this time to go over the basics of radio etiquette

Radio Etiquette
There are a few basic rules that you should always follow when it comes to the radio and how to communicate with it

• Avoid clutter, keep sentences short and concise, and don’t bombard people with unnecessary information.
  
• Avoid swearing, it is just unprofessional in nature and generally frowned upon. I swear a lot in my normal speech, I don’t swear on the radio
  
• Communicate with others whenever possible, announce your intentions, announce things you notice, you’re all in this together
  
• Do not be afraid to ask for help. Unlike games like DCS, the community of this game is fully willing to explain things instead of just expecting you to know them. If you have any questions, don’t be afraid to ask
  
• Make sure you are on the team channel when you want to talk to just your team, this may seem obvious, but you would be surprised how much people forget to switch off global in PvP
  
• Always give confirmation if someone tells you something. If you are called out by callsign, always respond with at least an “Affirm” or “Wilco”. Make sure they know you received it and understand.
  
• In general, if no specific callsign is stated in a message, it’s for all pilots. For example, AWACS auto callouts are for everyone, so no specific callsign is given, you only get those when you specifically ask for BRAA from your position.

In general, always follow these rules when communicating over radio, your squadron mates will thank you.

A new feature recently added is frequencies. Frequencies are nice if you want to just hot mic with just a flight of players in a full multiplayer server without cluttering the team radio, or if you have a human ATC controller. An especially coordinated group of players might have multiple flights all on assigned frequencies and then a frequency for just the flight leaders to talk to each other on. The frequency system is very useful, and it's important to remember that it is there. Also, from what I can tell, being on a frequency will still allow you to hear things transmitted over the team radio, you control what you transmit to, not what you are receiving from.

Understanding AWACS

AWACS says a lot of words, most of them are not very easy to understand. Here I will give you a guide to understanding AWACS, as they are a valuable asset that can give you unparalleled situational awareness.

Every AWACS callout has different “segments”, each segment gives a different bit of information, here is what an AWACS callout looks like:

“Alpha 1-2, Overlord. Popup Hostile BRAA: 34, 25, 3, Hot, Fast”

While this may seem like a bunch of terms and numbers just thrown at you, they all mean something.

First, callsign. The callsign for the aircraft receiving this message is “Alpha 1-2”.

Second, the AWACS says their callsign, which is always “Overlord”.

Third, they tell you it is a “Popup Hostile”, this means it is a single aircraft that was radar masked until now, if it was multiple it would be “Group”, and if “Popup” is missing it simply entered the AWACS’ radar range

Fourth, BRAA. BRAA is split into 4 parts, Bearing, Range, Altitude, Aspect. Bearing is the heading from Bullseye (A predetermined point that is visible on your map as a circle with an X in it), if you requested a Bogey Dope or picture, Bullseye is you. Then there is Range, how far is it from Bullseye (In Nautical Miles). Altitude, how high is it in thousands of feet ASL. And then Aspect, is it moving towards (Hot), away (Cold), or some other direction (Tracking North/East/South/West). For this example it is at bearing 034 from Bullseye, 25 Nautical Miles out, at 3,000 feet ASL, and moving towards Bullseye

Fifth is modifiers. There are many modifiers, they give any extra information about the target. Here are the different modifiers

• Low - Target is below 10,000 feet / 3,000 meters ASL.
  
• High - Target is between 25,000 and 40,000 feet / 7,600 and 12,200 meters ASL.
  
• Very High - Target is above 40,000 feet / 12,200 meters ASL.
  
• Fast - Target's speed is at least Mach 1 (600 knots ground speed).
  
• Very Fast- Target's speed is at least Mach 2 (1200 knots ground speed).
  
• Leans on Overlord - Target is becoming dangerously close to AWACS and it fears that it may be engaged. If this criteria is met, AWACS will immediately give you a callout to the target without being prompted.

You should now be able to understand AWACS much better!

AV-42 In Depth

The AV-42 is perhaps the most unique aircraft in the lineup, a tilt-jet transport/strike VTOL. The AV-42 is often jokingly referred to in the community as the minivan, due to its size and general poor maneuverability, but where most see a slow and weird VTOL, AV-42 players see a terrifying gunship capable of winning entire battles with nothing but its cannon. This aircraft requires precision, practice, and a lot of patience to operate. But when you use it to its fullest extent, it can be the most terrifying thing in the sky.

The Cockpit
The cockpit of the AV-42 is the most open in the game, with plenty of space to stretch out. It also has a triple MFD setup, allowing it to have many screens going at once, giving the pilot very good situational awareness. You can directly look behind you into the passenger bay, so you can check up on the brave marines who may join you on some of your flights. The AV-42’s glaring weakness when it comes to the cockpit design is the lack of rearward visibility, in fact, the AV-42’s cockpit manages to both feel like the most open cockpit and the most claustrophobic at the same time, as there is very little visibility behind and to the side of the pilot.

Unique Aspects
What makes the AV-42 unique, well, it in of itself is unique from anything on earth, being a tilt-jet VTOL, we have tilt-ROTOR VTOLs, but not jets. That is because of plenty of reasons that I won’t get into but what also makes this thing unique is the lack of a radar, while definitely a downside it means that the pilot must be more situationally aware, as aircraft can easily sneak up on the thing, and if they get the drop on it, the AV-42 has no chance. But, where the AV-42 lacks in situational awareness, it makes up for in firepower.

Munitions
The AV-42 has many hardpoints, 4 on the wings, 4 on the body, and one on the nose. Weirdly enough, the AV-42 can equip a strange hybrid loadout that mixes the advantages of a plane and a helicopter. On the wings you can primarily load up missile racks and rockets, something that attack helicopters are often loaded with, while on the body the best things to load are cruise missiles or bombs, stuff that only an aircraft can truly deploy. This means that the AV-42 can act as both a fast strike aircraft or a hovering gunship. The gun choice also feeds into this, with the ability to equip a fixed GAU-8, a very heavy fast firing gun, or a gimbal M230, a slower firing gun that focuses on precision. The AV-42 is a masterclass of game design, because the player can choose what they want to be, it's only weakness is in air-to-air combat, where the lack of radar means it can only use IR missiles.

How It Feels To Fly
From my personal experience, the AV-42 feels like its nickname, a minivan. Not the most maneuverable, not the fastest, but it’ll get you where you're going, and it’ll bring along the whole crew as well. It also has a Reaction Control System that activates when it switches to vertical flight, it can be used to perform post stall maneuvers as well, which means this big bird can surprise people in dogfights if a good pilot is in the seat, but it is mostly relegated to ground attack due to it’s speed and maneuverability, or lack thereof.

What Is It Like In Combat
The AV-42 is a powerful gunship, able to take plenty of hits from small arms and AAA alike, its main weakness is missiles. Its wings are exceptionally weak, and because its engines are on the wingtips, when it loses a wing, it loses control. But, something that makes it good for urban settings is it’s compact size, it can easily weave between skyscrapers and hide below the skyline, giving it a good way to evade enemy aircraft, it’s main weakness

Main Strengths
The AV-42 excels in ground attack, CAS, and SEAD. Basically anything involving destroying ground forces, the AV-42 is the aircraft you want. It is also the only aircraft capable of infiltrating and exfiltrating friendly soldiers, making it the only aircraft that can assist ground forces with more than just fire support. AV-42s often fill a transport role on the battlefield, but can just as easily be equipped to act as a VTOL A-10 or a heavy gunship.

Weaknesses
The AV-42 is exceptionally weak against aircraft, with no onboard radar it is woefully underprepared to fight anything more than the enemy GAV-25 (The enemy equivalent to the AV-42), it’s lack of radar makes it very weak, it also lacks in terms of long range munitions, only capable of equipping the AGM-89 when it comes to long range munitions, meaning if it wants to attack ground targets, it has to get close.

Unexpected Applications
The AV-42 is surprisingly capable in SEAD, with a fully functional ARAD as well as the unique weapon, the AGM-188, a unique top-down attack modification for the AGM-88, giving it a long range SEAD asset, making the AV-42 very capable in SEAD, it can also access AGM-126s, allowing it to keep the short range SEAD ability brought by those. The AV-42 is surprisingly good in SEAD, a role where usually speed and maneuverability are king, the least maneuverable aircraft somehow stands out as a decent SEAD aircraft.

F/A-26 In Depth

The F/A-26 is perhaps the most powerful aircraft in your arsenal. Not the best, but the one that is the most offensively and defensively powerful. The aircraft has an incredible carrying capacity for munitions. When loaded up for air-to-air roles, it will still have plenty of thrust left over for maneuvering, when loaded up for air-to-ground roles, it will be far more sluggish, but it will be a monster of air-to-ground, carrying literally thousands of pounds of munitions. The only limit to this aircraft is it can only take off conventionally, but this is barely a downside with it’s carrier capability

The Cockpit
The F/A-26 has a very spacious cockpit, with the only downside being its comparatively low amount of MFD screens, with only two. The center console is mostly taken up by a cluster of analog instruments, while this can feel outdated compared to the other aircraft, it means even in the event of a HUD failure, the pilot can still get the necessary information. And its more 4th generation design compared to the other aircraft in the lineup means less use of the MFDs is required anyways. The aircraft’s cockpit also has generally good visibility

Unique Aspects
What makes this aircraft unique is its very design principle. Other aircraft focus on stealth or even speed, this aircraft relies on raw power. It has the most obvious radar cross section, throwing stealth out the window except for terrain masking. It has the ability to reach high speed, but not as high as other aircraft. But it has incredible thrust to weight, and can quickly regain and keep energy. This aircraft allows you to play aggressive, VERY aggressive. It’s raw power means you can charge in, maneuver, then dash out quickly. You NEED to be aggressive to use this aircraft to its fullest, and if you do, it’s incredible.

Munitions
The F/A-26 can carry most munitions and in relatively high quantities. It has the most amount of pylons on an aircraft, allowing for a huge variety of munitions, however the quantity of those munitions leaves some to be desired. It also has plenty of unique munitions. Overall, the aircraft is one that excels in multirole, but lacks quantity and relies on resupply to stay combat effective. The best strategy to maximize efficiency with the F/A-26 is to charge in, deal damage, then retreat to refuel and rearm, then repeat. Fly fast, hit hard, run fast.

How It Feels To Fly
As previously stated, the aircraft is powerful and has the raw thrust to perform maneuvers and quickly recover. It is a great aircraft for beginners, it has the power to allow for bad maneuvering. It is a very forgiving aircraft, and one that is just as powerful in the hands of a new pilot as it is in the hands of a super skilled pilot. If you are just getting into the game, the F/A-26 is one of the best aircraft to start with.

What Is It Like In Combat
This aircraft is very good in combat. Depending on your loadout it can be slow and sluggish, or fast and maneuverable. The aircraft is incredibly variable and it really depends on your loadout. It’s hard to describe, and you really have to experience it yourself.

F-45 In Depth

After all of this, we get to the outlier of all the aircraft in the game, the F-45. We’ve gone through the AV-42, a slower gunship. We’ve also gone past the F/A-26, an aircraft that wins through raw power. The F-45 is a tool of precision. It can’t carry as many munitions as the F/A-26, but it is theoretically far more powerful. It takes skill to use, as a stealth aircraft people tend to think they are invincible in it, far from it, you are more vulnerable in the F-45 than any other aircraft, but what makes it powerful is not it’s powerful engine, not it’s strong munitions, not even it’s VTOL capability, it’s one word, one word that changes everything for how the aircraft functions and acts… Datalink.

The Cockpit
The F-45 has a bizarre cockpit, first of all, you are basically squeezed in there, the cockpit is barely bigger than you, but more than that the first thing anyone notices when they hop in is the screen. Instead of multiple separate MFDs, the F-45 uses one large MFTD, a multi function touch display. Allowing you to navigate the displays with ease, which is good, because it’s the displays that make the F-45 powerful, specifically the Tactical Situation Display

Unique Aspects
The F-45 has many unique aspects, first of all, it is a VTOL capable aircraft, but when loaded up for anything more than light attack ops, it is only a STOVL aircraft. It also has 4 special internal weapon bays. While these bays can only carry specific munitions, they allow it to maintain stealth while carrying weapons. The F-45 works well with Assault Carriers, being one of the most powerful aircraft the Assault Carrier can carry.

Munitions
The F-45 can use most munitions, but what makes it special is its internal munitions. It can carry multiple bombs or missiles within these bays, allowing it to maintain combat effectiveness while staying stealthy. And more importantly, the F-45 has access to the AIM-120D. The AIM-120D is a special missile, a modified AIM-120. It has the ability to track targets through datalink, meaning it can track targets that the aircraft itself hasn’t even detected. It can also travel to a specific point and then look for targets there, this means that the pilot of the F-45 can basically just tap the screen a bunch of times and take out entire air wings with the pull of a trigger. Now your starting to see why the F-45 is so scary

How It Feels To Fly
The F-45 is not a dogfighter, nor is it a stunt plane. The F-45 is a stealth fighter, and it is fun to fly. It has just enough maneuverability to not feel sluggish but it doesn’t feel too maneuverable to be realistic, it can also VIFF, Vector In Forward Flight. VIFFing allows it to do some maneuvers that not even the F/A-26 can do, in the hands of a good pilot, this plane is easily the best in the game. And it’s flight profile reflects that

What Is It Like In Combat
The F-45 has two play styles; Stealth, and “Stealth”. You can either stay back, plan out every move, and perfectly strike the enemy. Or you can charge in, try to figure out what to do, and maybe survive. Both are perfectly viable, it mostly depends on how quickly you want to have to eject. The F-45 takes some getting used to, because you can’t treat it like an F/A-26, it isn’t powerful, it barely has enough thrust to keep it’s TWR above 1.0, but it has access to some of the best weaponry in the game, easily making up for its lack of other traits

Main Strengths
The F-45 has multiple strengths, it can VTOL, it has a very small RCS, but most importantly, it can win a dogfight without dogfighting. If you play your cards right, you don’t have to maneuver in a dogfight, you don’t have to do anything like that, you can just launch 1 or 2 AIM-120Ds into the fray and make sure they hit enemies. But, do not underestimate the F-45 in a dogfight, especially at high altitude where the pilot can VIFF unrestricted.

Weaknesses
The F-45 is slower than most fighters, and its main weakness is its airframe, and how weak it is. One missile can completely obliterate the aircraft, so evasion is very important. You will spend most of the time flying the F-45 evasively and using terrain masking, if you are good at flying in close proximity to the ground, the F-45 is the plane for you. The F-45 is a stealth aircraft, but that means you have to play it like one.

T-55 In Depth

The T-55 is a strange jet, it's a trainer so you would expect it to be a less capable aircraft, yet it is more than capable of combat, in fact, it is sometimes better to use the T-55, a training jet, than something like the F/A-26. That is because of the two seater design. One of the biggest threats to a pilot is overwhelming situations, when you get overwhelmed you panic, panic clouds your mind. The T-55 has two pilots, meaning they can split up roles, one can focus on flying and detecting threats, one can focus on taking out enemy forces.

The Cockpit
The cockpit of the T-55 is very much based on the F/A-26, but it has one main difference, its a twin cockpit. Because it is a trainer, the cockpit is doubled almost exactly for both the instructor and pilot, and the instructor is able to take control whenever they want. The T-55 is a surprisingly good fighter, as the front pilot has a great view of pretty much everything, and can easily spot enemy aircraft

Unique Aspects
The T-55 is not very unique in terms of weapons or capabilities, but it is unique in its role, it can be anything. It is a true multirole, it can succeed in almost any major role. Fighter? You got it! Attacker? Need you say more? CAS? Already done! It’s perfect for a beginner and for a veteran, a great aircraft overall. Only limited by it’s small munition’s capacity, but that can be easily overcome by careful weapons deployment

Munitions
While the T-55 is definitely limited in terms of capacity, the variety is through the roof. The T-55 can use any weapon the F/A-26 can use, even if it can only do so in limited numbers. The T-55 is a great aircraft if you know what you are doing, even if the F/A-26 is better in many other ways, the T-55 is still super useful and a solid asset in any ground attack scenarios.

How It Feels To Fly
The T-55 feels like an air show plane, capable of incredible maneuvers and impressive displays, but not super combat effective. But then you go into combat and realize all those airshow maneuvers were actually kinda good in combat. It can do a true cobra, a 110 degree nose up with no altitude gain, and it will not lose any altitude either. This plane is a little silly

Weaknesses
The T-55 is weak in air-to-air combat, as it has a low TWR and is a little too maneuverable, often maneuvering all it's energy away too fast, but it can hold it’s own. Overall, a very good aircraft for most purposes.

EF-24 In Depth

The EF-24 is an interesting jet, being based heavily on the F-14, except with major upgrades, the aircraft fits into a very unique role, that being EW & Intercept. It is a powerhouse in the air, and a good unit for CAS, but it truly excels in a supportive role. Alone, the aircraft struggles to keep up with more maneuverable aircraft, but with support, it can become the single most powerful aircraft simply due to its absolute dominance over signals and frequencies.

The Cockpit
The EF-24 has a somewhat spacious cockpit, being about as open as the F/A-26’s cockpit. Its forward visibility is slightly reduced due to the way the front glass is constructed, but it’s barely noticeable in combat. What makes the cockpit unique is its almost F-45 like design of having a single large touchscreen for the main control console. On top of that, the rear EWO seat lacks flight controls, but makes up for it with the ability to conduct EW operations with much higher efficiency than the pilot. The EWO also has generally better spatial awareness, making them valuable during a dogfight

Unique Aspects
The EF-24 by its nature is unique, it is the only aircraft optimized for EW, and the only aircraft with variable geometry swing-wings. Its variable geometry wings are actually what allow the aircraft to reach such high speeds approaching Mach 3. It also has access to some very unique armament options that really shake up the gameplay. In general, if there is an EF-24 in play, the enemy cannot rely on their sensors.

Munitions
The EF-24 can equip a good variety of munitions, but noticeably lacks the ability to equip ATGMs, making it significantly harder to take out moving ground targets. It makes up for this with the ability to equip a ludicrous amount of bombs, along with the ability to equip some very powerful Anti-Radiation missiles, the EF-24 is a powerful aircraft in ground attack roles. But it also excels in the fighter / interceptor role, being able to equip the AIM-54 on top of the standard AIM-9s and AIM-120s. The AIM-54 is a long range high velocity intercept missile specifically designed to destroy bomber aircraft. Overall the EF-24 has access to a good variety of munitions.

Equipment
Where the EF-24 really stands out is in equipment. It can equip two non-munition equippables, both of which completely change how you approach combat. One is the ALQ-245 EW pod, allowing the aircraft to truly shine in EW. And it can also equip the ADM-160J, an air launched decoy cruise missile that makes use of special technology to make it’s radar cross section match that of an aircraft, duping radar systems.

How It Feels To Fly
The EF-24 is a unique flight experience. Due to its variable geometry wings, you need to always remember what speed you are at and what level of wing sweep you’re at. When the wings are swept back, it is one of the least maneuverable aircraft in the game, even more so than the AV-42 in forward flight, but with its wings extended, its maneuverability rivals that of the F/A-26. In general, the aircraft’s maneuverability is heavily dependent on speed. Around 300 knots is the sweet spot for maneuverability, but maneuvering will quickly bring you below this speed.

What Is It Like In Combat
Despite being an EW aircraft, the EF-24 is surprisingly good for interception and CAS. It’s great for interception because of its quick response time and ability to use AIM-52s, which are quite literally purpose built interception missiles, and it’s great in CAS due to its high bomb carrying capacity, able to carry almost 22 bombs. However, it is still the absolute final word for EW operations. Capable of jamming up to 8 targets simultaneously, as well as provide EW support for friendly units, and use decoys, this aircraft is the master of the electronic side of warfare.

Main Strengths
The EF-24 has multiple things that make it strong, one of those being its tandem design. Having two players in the aircraft does many things, but the most consistently important is it doubles situational awareness if the crew communicates well. Along with this, that second player, the EWO, has specific systems in place to allow them to perform EW at an even more efficient level than the pilot. Overall, the EF-24 is a great aircraft in almost all soft factors. The airframe is also surprisingly durable, capable of taking multiple light missiles to the body.

Weaknesses
The only thing that holds the EF-24 back from being one of the best aircraft out there today is it’s maneuverability, and lack of it. This isn’t a debilitating weakness, and can be overcome with careful planning and procedures, but it is a weakness nonetheless. You need to treat this thing like no other aircraft. You can’t rush in like you can with an F/A-26, you’ll just get shot down. You can’t do the types of maneuvers you can in other aircraft. However, if you play your cards right, fly low, pop-up near the target, and hit it hard, you can make it out.

Where is the AH-94 in depth? That thing scares me too much to write that right now, so I'll stick to the fixed wing aircraft for now

Miscellaneous Info

This is just a section for any cool facts about VTOL VR that I think you should know

• The F/A-26B is fully capable of flying without wings, this is because it has a positive thrust to weight ratio, meaning the engines alone can keep it flying
  
• The T-55’s wings are not tall enough to clear taxiway signs when loaded with munitions
  
• Almost all of the aircraft in the game are based on one or multiple real aircraft. The F/A-26 is based on the F/A-18 crossed with an F-15, the F-45 is all of the F-35 variants rolled into one, the AH-94 is a cross between the AH-64 and the RAH-66, and the T-55 is based directly on the South Korean T-50, and the EF-24 is a modified version of the real US Navy proposal, the Super Tomcat 21, a modernized F-14 Tomcat. The only fully original aircraft is the AV-42, which still shares some similarity with the V-22.
  
• The AV-42’s dry mass is only 16,750 pounds. This is extremely light for an aircraft of its size, with the smaller F/A-18 being 32,100lbs dry mass.
  
• It is unknown how many engines the AV-42 truly has, as what looks like two extra engines are positioned at the top of the body, Baha (The developer) has not confirmed if the AV-42 has 2 engines or 4 engines
  
• Infantry fire a special projectile, this projectile is a cannon round with lower damage and it’s AOE set to zero, so it will only deal damage if it directly hits
  
• VTOL VR accurately simulates that aircraft cannons only fire tracer rounds every few shots, meaning you do not see all of the shots you fire
  
• The EF-24 is fast enough to break off it’s own munitions and TGP, doing so at around Mach 3
  
• VTOL VR is currently the only game to have true radar cross section simulation, not even DCS does this.
  
• VTOL VR maps are flat, but it runs radar calculations as if the earth was curved, meaning radars have a slight curve upwards
  
• The EF-24, due to its resemblance to the F-14 “Tomcat”, has been given the nickname “Jamcat”

Most if not all info & images sourced from the VTOL VR wiki[vtolvr.wiki.gg]If you want to learn more about VTOL VR, I suggest reading through that wiki

[Adger]

Great write up for a beginner like myself, Thank you Chaotic Energy

[Thecreative8]

love this! this is the only reason i can take off and even land on catobar carriers!

[clogger]

Thanks for the guide. Very readable and looking forward to referring to it often in the future.

[BlackKnightWasTaken]

In practice, most mission creators force the merge with enemy aircraft to make the game more fun (most mission creators seem to agree that clicking dots on a screen is much more boring than a dogfight), so dogfighting is a fighting style that is just as important to master as BVR

[ChaoticEnergy37]

Yeah in my opinion this guide is not very well written and I am working on a rewrite and a general reorganization of the whole guide. I do believe that BVR should be prioritized (Dogfighting is an unnecessary risk on a modern battlefield) but yeah I could have formatted it better

[BlackKnightWasTaken]

massively overhyped BVR and massively underhyped dogfighting imo

[ziemniaki]

Absolute cinema

[ChaoticEnergy37]

So, this whole guide was actually something I wrote for my friend, and there is a google doc version of it. But now that it's on steam, I am planning on slowly updating it to add more and more info until it is an actual 100% full guide

[mallbandit]

I love you

[sd-discovery]

thanks for making this