Recently, with the addition of the new JAS39E, I’ve decided to grind Sweden’s air tree. With the Winter sale ongoing and the JAS37 airframe being new to myself, I acquired the JAS37DI F21 Premium @13.0. Now, I for one love 13.0 BR. The SU-27 is one of the best placed top-tier planes IMO and the mix of up tiered and down tiered jets in matches feels properly balanced. Combine that with weapons that don’t feel “unbeatable” and you’ve got something going. Until recently…
I mention all that say this. 13.0 isn’t new to me, however, death by AAM-3 is. Through 50 games played I’d attribute roughly 40 to the AAM-3 alone. Where, prior to this, I’ve never even noticed the missile, its now a blaring problem i cant over come.
I feel the need explain my playing habits to maybe rule out a few factors. I mind my RWR.
When fired upon i notch, chaff & flare, go cold, multi path, terrain mask, or some combination of all. When merging i preflare as well meaning missiles coming off the rail are picking me out of flares and other heat sources. If I go vertical in a merge I preflare as well. I’ve been killed by head-on AAM-3 while pre flaring, side shots, rear shots (duh) and everything in between. Note, I have no issues dodging other IR missiles such as aim9 variants. Furthermore, I use the auto-countermeasure key bind and am quite liberal with them. I find it help multitasking but do still manually chaff and flare depending on the threat while the auto countermeasures feature does its thing.
So, my questions are as follows…
Why, until now, have i never had an issue with AAM-3’s? Has there been a recent buff or update to the missile?
Could it be a quality of the JAS37 line up I’m unfamiliar with (more engine heat or something) that makes it vulnerable to AAM-3’s.
Some necessary tactic I’m not utilizing against this missile that I’m unaware exists?
Is it something else i have thought of or that i am missing?
The Bigen’s engine runs hot, making it extremely incompatible with the AAM-3. To evade the AAM-3, you must periodically deploy flares and constantly watch your rear and overhead. The quickest solution is to spot the F-2 first and fire an AMRAAM.
AFAIK JA37Di is running BOLs for most of its countermeasures, no?
IIRC these have shorter burn time so you need to expend more of them (BOL chaff is affected the same).
If you dont have issue with 9M you shouldnt have issue with AAM-3.
Check whenever JA37Di is running BOLs, and just start dropping more of them.
I usually have same release patter with BOLs as with other flares but since with BOLs theres usually like gaijinlion of them I constantly preflare and set it to periodic and only really actively release them if I notice the IR still going for me.
I’ve read this too but the math aint mathin as they say. I’ve been able to flare off Aim9’s and other IR missiles. I cant defeat the AAM-3 so here we are. Is it pure shit luck the numbers are so heavily skewed? Or, is it something else. IDK, That’s why I am here.
Engine heat been my only hypothesis as the AAM-3 wasn’t an issue until i flew the JAS37. That said, as stated above, i preflare going in to any engagement whether its a merge, notching incoming missiles, etc etc and this has done nothing in terms of stopping the AAM-3 while simultaneously stopping other missiles. Funny enough i have just began to avoid f-2’s now as i have no solution for my problem.
Thanks. As mentioned above i am very liberal with my counter measures. In my head id rather run out and die due to being empty than die with counter measures. I’m loving the JAS37 because it carries a ton of counter measures and trust me I’m using them. As for the aim9- aam3 similarities ive read on this and have no answer as to why this is an issue im experiencing as everything common sense would say do, i feel i am doing.
The AAM-3 is effectively just an AIM-9M that can pull ever so slightly harder and has very slightly more range. That’s it. Nothing that would affect your ability to spoof it.
The same methods that can defeat other seeker shutoff IRCCM will defeat an AAM-3. It’s not as intiutive as FoV shrinking IRCCM, so do some research on it. The short version is you need to flare and drastically change your heading, as otherwise the missile’s inertial guidance will still lead to it hitting you.
That was my understanding of the missile however its performance has made me wonder if that’s the true case in game. Would any of my playing habbits above suggest something im not doing? i feel i do the things people suggest but they arent working and at an alarming rate
Check the winter sale. There’s a pack “F-2A (ADTW)” which is Japan premium, with up to 4 AAM-3s. This’s first time that pack gets its discount.
Whats more, this plane’s SARH msl is AIM-7M, which is actually not powerful enough for 13.0, so it get frags mainly by AAM-3s (yes, IR msls being main for this plane).
So, lots of purchase this plane, and each of them try to use AAM-3s in most case, and also learn to use it in most deadly way(like sneakingly approaching from the top or whatever). Therefore, u feel AAM-3s become much more and being killed by that much more.
I get that. I’m pretty good about not staying in afterburner. I enjoy bringing as little fuel as possible so naturally i have to be careful with the throttle.
I suppose that makes sense. Just a larger increase in players using the AAM-3 due to the Winter Sale. Still, I don’t feel like i notice more F-2’s flying around but will pay more attention if this is the case.