So situation where i am is very bad. Like really. I dont understand anything of what happening.
My fox3 (sometimes fox1) cant hit anything. I tried launching it from 50km, 30km, 15km
But nothing ever happens, i dont turn 180° until its 16km for rocket to lock in. And still nothing.
Enemy just doing 3-9 without chaff and here it goes.
Same time when i trying to do 3-9 (chaff or without it) im still being neutralized. The only when its really working its when my distance is 40km from the launch point and i did full 180°. And nothing helps when its <20km.
Im using AIM-120-C5 and few days earlier start using AIM-120D.
I really need someone to explain me this properly because im at 3300h and its just shame for me.
Fox3s should generally be fired from around 20km or less. 25 if you are feeling lucky that day or have alot of closure.
most fox1s will sturggle with anything above 15km.
I wouldnt reccomend going cold you are better off learning to notch imo ,there are alot of tutorials on how to do that.
To guage when to fire, look at the radar screen. It will tell you all you need to know about when is best to fire.
Read this guide for all the details on what the radar is telling you:
As for how to use Aim-120Ds (and I would always use them over any other AMRAAM)
Fire Fast, the faster you can fire the better. Mach 1.5 is the point where they go from being a little meh, to actually half decent. Of course, heavily depends on what airframe you are talking about, F-18 and F-16 wont get up that fast, but F-15 might just about scrape it.
Fire high. AMRAAMs like being up high, its where they perform best. So try to be at or around 20k ft. Id stay below contrail height, as it just tells the world you are there, but how high after that is up to you. The higher you fly, the better the AMRAAM will perform, but the worse you will handle, and so the harder it is to defend. So its finding the sweet spot between the two that works for you.
Range is highly subjective. The radar is your friend here, learn to read it and it usually wont lead you astray (Do note, there is a bug at the moment with the LSZ box, so it cant always be trusted, but might be fixed in the next major). If you can, always fire in the LSZ, this means the target will have to defend via a notch, and cant do any other trick to defeat the missile, (more than a few will just try and eat the missile). Failing that, the closer to the box the better, a shot near the rMax will almost never be worth it, unless you have absolutely nothing to loose (like planning to RTB immediately after firing, I have scored a kill before under that exact circumstance)
Looking for the right target is also key. Aim-120Ds are very good at dealing with anything in look down. So hunting anything flying below you is a good start. But also looking for things in weak positioning is also quite useful. As mentioned before, the higher you fly, the harder it is to defend. So if you see someone not just at contrail height, but still climbing, they’ll turn like a brick. Fire at them (Keeping in mind what your radar is telling you and the first 2 points as well) but these targets are usually worth a cheeky longer ranged launch.
After that, you just need to find people who are busy doing other things if you can. Turning to defend against a threat from a different direction, meaning they have to defend from 2 or more directions pretty much ensures someone will die.
Keep the radar onto target until the last possible moment if at all possible. It does help, especially when in lookdown, but also keep the target near the edge of your radar. means you are already half way into the notch if you need to defend.
But even after all that, if the target is ready, or sees the threat coming, they may yet still defeat the missile easily. Its just par the course. Most Fox-3s are simply that easy to defeat at the moment.