Dear War Thunder community,
I am reaching out to you today to discuss my concern regarding a particular aircraft in War Thunder, and a potential solution to the problem. In short, the US tech tree F-86F-2 Sabre’s current air arcade battle rating of 9.0 is far too high and should be lowered to at least 8.7. In the following paragraphs, I hope to convince the reader of my argument and would respectfully like for the War Thunder development team to take this into consideration and implement appropriate changes to help improve fairness and enjoyability without sacrificing historical accuracy.
The F-86F-2 Sabre is a subsonic gunfighter in the US tech tree at an air arcade battle rating of 9.0. The primary armament is a set of 20 mm cannons with 230 rounds each. It does not get access to missiles or countermeasures. The F-86F-25 Sabre, with the exact same engine, airframe, and flight performance, sits at a much more appropriate air arcade BR of 7.7, where it faces other jets of similar capabilities. The only difference between these two models is the replacement of machine guns with cannons, nothing else.
Historically, the F-86 fought against MiG-15s and MiG-17s in gun dogfights during the Korean War. The first flight happened in 1947, only two years after the conclusion of WWII, and it was retired from service in the US Air Force in 1958.
In War Thunder, the F-86F-2 is at a much higher battle rating than other improved variants of the same plane, and consequently, gets put in extremely unfavorable matches against faster, more advanced aircraft that it simply cannot compete against as a gunfighter.
For example, the Japanese and Chinese F-86F-40 features an elongated wing with slats for improved flight performance and maneuverability and the ability to carry two AIM-9B Sidewinder infrared guided air-to-air missiles. With all of these upgrades, one would assume that it would be at least be at the same BR as the F-2 Sabre. However, that is not the case unfortunately. The F-40 Sabre sits at a much lower battle rating of 8.3. This discrepancy is simply inappropriate and is likely and oversight from previous BR changes.
Similarly, the F-86K “Sabre Dog” is another upgraded model found in the German, Italian, and French tech trees. The Sabre Dog is a complete overhaul and improvement over the old A and F Sabres. This features a redesigned airframe, 20 mm cannons with much more ammunition than the F-2, an afterburning engine for much higher speed and acceleration, and the ability to carry 2 AIM-9B missiles, among other quality of life improvements. Yet this is at 9.0, the same BR as the lower performing F-86F-2 Sabre.
I believe that when the F-86 Sabres were first added to War Thunder, they rapidly grew in popularity due to many content creators advertising the plane and getting huge amounts of kills with it, since at the time, it only faced other subsonic jets without missiles, like the Korean era MiGs. At the time, this jet was the king of old top tier. They never had to worry about getting slammed by an all-aspect missile fired by a premium A-10 from multiple miles away. Unfortunately, now it does… a lot. It seems that these early jets were forgotten about as newer planes have been added to the game, and the effects of this have gone unattended to for quite some time. When I unlocked this plane, I was proud of myself for reaching old top tier. I was ready to dogfight MiGs just like how they did in Korea. But I was gravely mistaken. Seeing a MiG-15 is almost rare now as it would require me to be in a downtier. My typical match consists of MiG-21s, A-10s, Su-25s, and A-6 TRAMs. Rather than fight normally to my plane’s intended strengths, I have to spend most of the match hiding and worrying about not being seen by something that carries all-aspect missiles, since I am defenseless against them without countermeasures. A relatively flat map without varying terrain almost guarantees my defeat against an AIM-9L or R-60M. Without an afterburner I cannot catch most targets either. Something must be done to return this plane to the former status it belongs in.
My solution to this overtiered BR is not to give it missiles or countermeasures, because the F-86F-2 Sabre did not use missiles or countermeasures. That would not be historically accurate. The solution is simple. The arcade BR for this aircraft should be lowered to something between 8.0 and 8.7. This solution is excellent because it returns the F-2 Sabre to matches facing other subsonic gunfighters like the MiG-15 and CL-13 and makes uptiers against modern jets with advanced all-aspect and radar missiles much less common. The only IR missiles at BRs lower than 9.0 are rear aspect only, meaning that planes have a fighting chance to counter them. If the F-86F-40 Sabre is at 8.3 and the MiG-15 (and MiG-15bis) is at 8.7, then why can’t the F-86F-2 Sabre be down there with them?
Even in a full uptier, a gun jetfighter from the 50s should never face something that is still in service today. I understand that air realistic battles are much more popular and see many more players, but that does not mean that arcade players should be forgotten. I’ve been playing this game for quite some time and have fallen in love with these planes. Flying arcade is fun when I’m in a balanced lobby. The F-86F-2 is one of my favorite aircraft of all time, and it should get the treatment it deserves. Think back to when Korean era jets were first added to War Thunder many years ago.
I do not have any technical documents, but it doesn’t take an aerospace engineer to determine that an F-86 Sabre should face MiG-15s and MiG-17s, not A-10s or Su-25s. The pinnacle of gun dogfighting should be able to be used as a dogfighter against other jets of the same era without worrying about taking an unavoidable missile up the tail pipe. There should be a distinct cutoff between guns-only dogfighter battles and all-aspect missile slinging battles.
In conclusion, the singular replacement of .50 cal (12.7 mm) machine guns with 20 mm cannons on the F Sabre should not constitute a BR jump of 1.3 for the exact same airframe. I strongly urge those in charge of making battle rating changes at War Thunder to take the time to consider this situation. It is my intention that the F-86F-2 Sabre have its air arcade battle rating lowered from 9.0 to something appropriate enough to face other jets similar to it and not encounter newer, more advanced planes, that simply outclass it in performance or weaponry.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Highest Regards,
A concerned War Thunder pilot and aviation lover