I finally managed to use jet aircraft in CAS recently.(BR8.3)
However, when AA is present, I can hardly do anything.
This made me wonder: were anti-aircraft weapons back then equipped with auto-aim like in War Thunder, where you can hit targets just by pulling the trigger? (And was their accuracy really as high as it is in the game?)
I’ve heard that AA systems in the 1970s were equipped with targeting radar—were they actually this powerful in reality? Or is their strength in the game an unrealistic adjustment to keep things from becoming one-sided?
If what I have seen on the internet is real, they were (and kind of still are) extremely effective though the range is limited. If you were locked to pilot view like in sim, they would probably annihilate anything in the air.
depends on the system, Stinger systems should be FAR more deadly then they are in game, while the Sgt. York IRL only liked to shoot portaloos because it’s radar and fire control system loved the little spiny ventilation things on top.
I’m pretty sure tracking radars IRL don’t wander off target constantly like they do in game (without CMs being deployed at least.
also tracers are far more visible from in front (tracer is in the back of the bullet so you cant see it if its coming straight at you) and a lot of the SAMS had their smokeless motors removed making seeing the launch FAR eaiser.
although to be fair aircraft are also missing most of their ECM systems as well that would help against radars.
this is a video about the wildcat spaa from 1981, its pretty interesting to watch and about 6 minutes in it talks about the target tracking abilities which were a bit better than the gepard
If you wiggle they will still kill you. If you stay away you are useless. In the range of 8.3 ± 1.0 the worst one could be m163 but it’s at worst a meh not a bad.
They only real threats to spaa of the BR and above are from the ground. Or 10.3 hellfires.
Thank you very much!
English isn’t my native language, so it’s hard for me to find videos like this, but I found it extremely interesting. I was surprised that such an old system had automatic tracking with such high accuracy.
At this level, it seems like it could even be used for intercepting drones in modern warfare 🤔
Short answer: It depends
Long answer: Some AA from the cold war were surprisingly advanced for their time. For example, the Gepard is still being used today to take out small drones, although with significant enhancement from when they were first debuted. The thing is that War Thunder doesn’t depict air defense realistically, even in the Nuclear Thunder event. Anti aircraft systems are very expensive to buy, run, and maintain, so having the level of coverage that War Thunder depicts is absurd.
Take a minute to realize the Sky Sabre system to protect the entirety of the UK has only 12 launchers, for the entire country (Correct me if im wrong). And in order to maximize their effect they need to be spread out across only the most valuable assets like military runways, and command centers. So the job of intercepting munitions in less tactically important areas is often left to older systems, which can struggle in that role.
Now, it is entirely possible to take out small munitions with older AA systems; I saw a video of a Ukrainian Stormer taking out a drone using a LMM (Which the stormer doesn’t have in game). But if realism is all War Thunder cared about (not) then shooting down munitions and planes would be much, much harder than simply locking them up and pulling the trigger.
Ah but it will. It is pretty much aimbot. It’s just not very good due to how weird tracking radar works in this game. I have tried it and it works but for actual aircraft it’s still better to manually use the radar and shoot at them.
Can you show?
I mean, there IS a thing that moves the cannons alongside the plane, but it doesnt lock the turret in place and aims to the circle to get hits.
Im sorry, looks like i fail to create a logical mesage.
What i mean is. When you lock an airplane with a gun spaa, it starts moving your turret alongside the plane, but it doesnt aim the cannons to the “aiming point” radar creates. It only guides your turret in one flat.