There would be no counter, but KH-38MT you can smoke. Brimstone you can’t hide from even with smoke. Gaijin chose the option to add Brimstone with one mode (SAL) rather than both modes. IRL you’d only ever use SAL brimstone in areas where you require target verification for example counter insurgency. Gaijin has represented that, the mode does exist and is historical, but its always in tandem with the ability to switch to MMW on the fly, almost like the Vikhr missiles on the KA-52 being able to switch between SAM and ATGM with the flick of a switch. In a scenario like we see in war thunder you would never use the SAL mode, it would never happen because the SAM’s pose an actual threat to the aircraft.
Unfortunately Gaijin decided to lock the missile to SAL rather than implement an ahistorical IR only mode. I understand it’s more realistic technically. But just as realistically Eurofighter would not be using laser guided brimstones vs SAM’s. It’s a dual mode seeker, and by locking it to one of two optional modes you create just as much of an ahistorical situation by omission. It’s like lying by omission.
IMO they could have best perhaps locked us to 6 IR guided brimstones as an interim. Particularly with all the KH-38 stuff going on I think it’s a bit all over the place. But I do 100% agree that MMW was too powerful. I just think their solution was not quite ideal.
I could see the blowback if they added a straight up fake IR mode too though on the other side of this argument.
or for engaging targets without a clear defined signature, like a building or infantry
Even just SAL-Only Brimstone 2s combined with GPS+SAL Spear-3s would be far better than the current Brimstone 1 nonsense we have to deal with on the Typhoon
Brimstone is immune to that IRL, so unless they make it ahistorically be affected by that, its not a solution that would work if things require being 100% historically accurate (which they only seem to care about for the Brimstone)
Not all vehicles have that, I also imagine there is some sort of chaff filter solution, and given Brimstone is primarily a replacement for clusterbombs against Soviet Tank columns, I’d also imagine they considered and developed that by now.
If they want everything to be realistic, then let it all be realistic. The T-90M stops top-tier rounds with its additional protection… That’s absurd. Meanwhile, we (fans of European vehicles) get, at best, a kick in the rear. It’s true, isn’t it? They finally added decent aviation. I’m glad the Eurofighter is one of the best planes in air battles, alongside the Rafale. But ground pounding with the Eurofighter is just sad. Aiming with a laser while dodging a swarm of Pantsir S1s from below and Su-30s and Su-34s from above is a bit too much.
If nothing else, the speed and HOBS advantage of the missile would give a bit more flexibity and require less time to loiter and could also be fired from far greater ranges on IOG, allowing more time to reposition before using the laser. Especially with the upcoming IRIS-T SLS, trying to lase one of those will be a death sentence given the usual requirement to enter about 10km before firing the Brimstone 1
Gameplay>realism. It is a game fundamentally, but where realism isn’t available, I do think they should provide an explanation, which they are relatively good for. It’s just interesting that they provided an explanation about Brimstone, but the other unnamed dominating IR guided ATGM that’s not French has been radio silent. I think addressing that might provide some higher sense of balance. As well as adding better SAM’s.
The biggest one is BOL and the fact its artifically nerfed to less than 1/4 its IRL strength. So apparently that is fine for the aircraft like the Typhoon to have a fake modeled CM but the Brimstone being even slightly different to IRL is unacceptable
Then it would be logical and convenient if all missiles were guided exclusively by laser. That way, there would be no arguments or imbalance in the game.
AFAIK spectral flares don’t actually work against IIR at least from what I understand but I don’t know enough? My understanding was that IIR almost takes a picture so if you don’t match the shape then the missile won’t decoy. Because they aren’t in the right shape and aren’t paired to the UV+IR signature of the target (though I do know they’re optimised).
BOL is kinda like spectral but also creates a huge cloud behind the aircraft so the missile then wouldn’t be able to reacquire the target unless it had some sort of built-in IR scanning pattern incase it loses lock.
Also yeah… they worked someone will find a solution, just over 20 years ago it was UV+IR flares, before that it was high IR signatures and before that it was having flares full stop.