The F-5 series of light fighter where just that lightweight fighters. They where fairly nimble compared to some aircraft of their day but their kinematic performance was noticeably dreadful. They had poor acceleration and climb compared with most other fighters at this time as well.
However the F-5s seen in War Thunder boast close to 4th generation levels of flight performance. They perform well above the mark of their IRL counterpart that its just not fair for other planes like the MiG-21. The F-5 is the most dominant gun fighter at its Br.
Below is some snippets from the F-5E manual (that is clear for use and long out of date).
The test conducted in game where flown in the Thai F-5E and that plane is Identical to the normal F-5E
The Test was flown in the conditions seen 55% fuel = 13,300 + 300 for the AIM9 weights are within 100 lbs or so.
Maximum thrust being full afterburner and the F-5E should only sustain 11 degrees a second at .45 Mach yet in game in this exact configuration its pulling through at 14.5.
F-5E STR overperforming (effects all F-5) // Gaijin.net // Issues
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Video here
F-5E STR
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lol… no where close.
The average gen 4 aircraft sustains more than 30% more in-game.
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Let me edit that lol “close to 4th gen”
Its still massively overperforming and is considerably better than most jets at this Br.
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At 11.0? Not really for the amount of missiles it has and the speed it has.
Though I support fixing it and moving it to 10.7; or lower if needed.
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Yes they would need to nerf all of them. 10.7 for the F-5A/C variants and the F-5E to 11.0
They shouldn’t be nearly as good.
The Harrier is a better turner.
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nothing just a mirage in the desert
Got to make it something people will argue over so it gets attention just look at this.
Doubt many people would want it nerfed lol.
F-5E performance // Gaijin.net // Issues
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The F5 is very poorly modeled and its in ways that only benefit it. its afterburner burns far too cold so its near impossible to lock. i have to be half the distance from them to lock them compared to its peers, its turn rate is far too tight too.
also the one at 11.0 gets the kind of CAS loadout most only get at 11.7. pretty damn OP
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No it absolutely needs to be nerfed. The F-5 is not a rate fighter IRL and was pretty bad at it. It currently sustains better turns than the F-4S at all speeds.
its a late 50s fighter not something that should be able to take on and beat peers from the 70s and 80s
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Knowing Gaijin they will nerf it and not give it a BR compensation to go along with it, leading to it being a useless plane.
its still got AGM 65B so its still gonna be insane for CAS at 11.0 even if its mid at dogfighting.
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It would not be useless you just couldn’t beat everything outright.
The way it is right now you can’t be touched.
But CAS shouldn’t affect it in air, and at 11.0 you can face Pantsirs and other top AA which isn’t the best.
They still have very exploitable weaknesses, and almost any nerf would require a BR change for the A, C, and some E variants.
I already said I agree lol.
Only by .3 - .7 at the most though.
true. give it 11.3 for Ground and 10.7 for air and it would be fair.
I fought a F5 in GRB today in a FRS1 harrier and I physically couldn’t lock a missile on him from close for a while. he outturned me (which he shouldn’t be able to do) and ran away and flared a missile while on full afterburn. its just stupid at the moment
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Defyn has a video about the F-5E and he’s basically just pulling around at near supersonic speeds without losing speed yet IRL it would be bleeding speed like a MiG-21.
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I agree. It’s quite funny how 2 afterburning jets create a lower heat signature than the F-117.
All aspects provide reliable locks in my experience, but rear aspect missiles are so inconsistent. I’ve failed to lock them with a Pl-5B at an aspect that I would’ve been able to lock any other plane.
It has incredibly good energy retention above about mach 0.8, and then it loses it all quite quickly. The only other planes that come close are 4th gens and the J-7E.
Yes the J-7E is mental but I see them far less often
