Drop tanks

Dev Server "Hornet's Sting" General Discussion - Dev Server
1

External fuel tanks were added some time ago but since a few updates, none have been added to planes already in the game, only new planes receive them (I looked through the dev blogs and (unless I’m mistaken) no fuel tank has been added since Seek and Destroy).

It would be interesting to continue adding these tanks, both for planes that don’t get one yet but also for those that don’t all have theirs.

Here are some planes that could receive them

Airplane currently missing tanks
  • Mirage 2000s
  • F-4s Phantom
  • F-5s Tiger II
    image
Airplanes currently not having tanks
  • Harriers
  • F-104
  • A-4s
  • most early jets
  • most ww2 fighters
    image

Do you think that planes should receive all their tanks

  • Yes
  • No
0 voters
3 Likes
2

I think they should add them to planes for which drop tanks are needed first, such as F-104 family, while props can wait more since for them such tanks aren’t that necessary.

2 Likes
3

Harriers need them

2 Likes
4

Yeah F104 need them, you sacrifice two pylons of missiles but you have longer range, so it would be nice to have drop tanks for F-104, more aesthetic too…

5

Kinda funky considering there’s literally a loading screen with an F6F-5 dropping its fuel tank lol

1 Like
6

Note also that there is a whole bunch of the extended Mirage Family (incl. e.g. Israeli designs based on Mirages) where we have tanks in game which serve also as bomb or rocket carriers. All those do however not carry fuel, which is also something that should be corrected.

2 Likes
7

Well, they have tanks, just not the ones which are most commonly seen (especially F-5E subvariants, IIRC).

I would hope also different variants (sizes) of tanks should be implemented where applicable, the Tigers being one prime example for it, but also applies e.g. for the Hunter Mk.58 (while the other Hunters all lack any drop tanks at all…).

8

Add also A-6, A-7, F-105, … Still quite a few actually.

2 Likes
9

Yes, it is actually surprising that this has not been done even though on the Mirage 4000, the tanks used to support the missiles are functional.

10

It’s true, this is also the case for the Mirage 2000, the central tank is almost never used

11

Cause you dont need it. Even at full tank afterburning since take off you wont run out of fuel.

12

Mirages 2000 more often use 1700 or 2000 liter tanks under their wings because they have long distances to cover, I agree that in game it doesn’t do much but it’s still interesting to have

13

While there are some planes that need them, the vast majority don’t

Especially prop planes or non afterburning jets that can hold over an hour of fuel

14

I don’t necessarily agree on this point, having these tanks allows you to reduce the quantity of internal fuel, which means that in dogfight once the tanks have been released the plane is better

Having a P51 with 30 minutes of fuel in an external tank but 10 minutes internally would give it a huge advantage in the event of a dogfight, for example, in particular if he is engage in early match

2 Likes
15

Atleast the Saab J35 Draken all got their drop tanks the fuel economy was horrible.

16

The min fuel you can take is 30% which is usually over 15 minutes
Also props don’t carry as much fuel as jets so going from 10 to 15 mins isnt going to impact performance as much as in an afterburning jet

17

I’m a little biased because I mostly play in simulation so I have to take a little more fuel (usually at least 20 to 30 minutes) so the tanks would be really useful. On the other hand, it is sure that in realistic it is less useful

2 Likes
18

I am pretty sure, they all have fuel tanks… just some planes are lacking tanks under the wings

1 Like
19

This is precisely the point, these planes have not received all their fuel tanks yet (unlike certain planes like the F14,15,16 or Gripen).

20

I’m flying Sim EC almost exclusively, and rarely use external fuel for attackers and bombers, but really use drop tanks a lot in fighters, to gain an additional tactical edge if needed:

I want to have a good fuel load to be able to have enough to burn if I need to get somewhere fast, and at the same time of course profit from the possibility to ret rid of weight quickly if needed.

So for example in the Viggen I carry 30 min of fuel, plus the additional ca. 10 minutes the belly drop tank provides, and I often drop it if i get into a dogfight early into the flight.

Or in the Tigers I carry 20, max. 25 minutes internally, plus one belly tank.

But for non afterburning attackers I rarely carry more than 25 minutes worth of fuel (A-10 being the exception with 30 min because of its quite long loitering/fighting time). But with 25 min I never have any fuel worries even if I go after 2 or even 4 mission targets in A-6, A-7, AMX, Su-25,…

1 Like