The C variant burns longer, which means fighting targets out to 30km+ will be more effective. I’ve had a few kills out in long range that would likely not be given for the A/B variant.
The enemies just does not have as much time to notch because of the speed.
And the C variant may actually be better for constantly maneuvering targets because the missile has to move too, draining speed that would require fuel to push it up to speed again.
People say, but AIM-120A is better for close range; I don’t think there’s too much differences. They’re 35G missiles, and in close range (10-15km) they likely don’t have enough time to dodge/notch anyway.
That said, Aim-120, even A variant are some of the best in the game. I’ve never got a kill outside 10km with the R-77 (now that’s a truly bad missile)
Aim-120A/B are better sub 10km because they accelerate faster (less mass, same motor) which makes them better at close quarters. Past 10km… There isn’t really much difference.
C5s are better at long range because of the longer burning motor.
The issue. Any AMRAAM fired at ranges where the C5s longer burn time would come into account are so easy to defend against, that it’s very very rare to actually get a kill. Usually the target has to not even try to defend for the missile to hit.
This means that a majority of AMRAAM kills occur at closer ranges, where the C5 advrange is heavily mitigated and the A/B be just as successful. The only area where C5s might also outperform A/Bs is rear aspect shots, but only just
Well it’s just like Fakour 90 in this case; on itself it’s not that good of a missile, but it will kill alt tab players faster than others…
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Perhaps these were the kills I was getting; if that was the case, I still gladly trade better CQC performance for better long range.
Fair enough. I find derby quite Ok at 15km though, whereas I’ve never got a kill with the R-77 outside 10km; it has this airbrake that even other “bad” missiles lack.
I much prefer the Aim-120 because I find it more reliable at slightly longer ranges. I’ve had numerous times in chase/partial chase situations where PL-12s have not had enough speed/range to catch the plane. They also seem to lose speed a lot quicker too.
A vast majority of fights occur well within 20km. I rarely get kills past 10-15km.
AMRAAMs only meaningful advantage over everything else is range. Unfortunately, after everyone learned how to defend without 100m MP… It became the least important attribute. Maybe if AMRAAM had a better seeker (Several reports in for that) it would be better, but its just too easy to defeat
And the only meaningful advantage the C5 has over A/B is also more range.
or they could just give it a realistic fin AOA, currently it is too low and prevents the missile from pulling enough to hit shots that AIM-120 has hit in testing
Yeah that too. Though the kinematic buffs wont necessarily change how easy it is to defeat at medium+ ranges. Only seeker buffs would do that.
But would help a lot at closer ranges
Though I will be honest. Im intrigued about how the Contrail changes will impact AMRAAM slingers. They can be far more sneaky up high. I know I quite often target the highest contrails first, figuring they’ll have the hardest time getting into the notch
It won’t make any difference for me since at range I don’t even look for the contrails, only to my RWR with adjusted sensitivity to avoid false positives.
Yeah, but contrails would make no difference there because you would not be looking up then, and if you do, at short range its too late to do anything.
Never happened to me but I do it a lot to others endgame. Turning the radar on and off just to know the position for a second or if IRST is an option use that instead within 20km or so.
I had people trying to do that to me but failed because I’m a cautious bastard late game.
No. But are capped to 30km? (I think? I know they have an artificial max, but I cant quite remember what it is off the top of my head) and obviously the aircraft is hotter from rear-aspect and so the further you can lock
No, you can pick up at long ranges if they are afterburning even in frontal aspect. In rear or side aspect you can sometimes pick up stuff at like 30km if skies are clear and the target is hot enough.