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The aircraft cannot be controlled at supersonic speeds. A distinctive feature of the high thrust and small wing of this aircraft was that it maneuvered well at supersonic speeds, including at high altitudes.
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The radar is not functional and does not work. The radar is unable to acquire a target far above the ground, even when the target is higher. The radar is not capable of locking on a target at a distance above 7-8 km, although historically it was capable of reaching the horizon.
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Dipoles do not reset enemy radar lock. Dipoles do not reset enemy radar lock. In any case, the maneuver under the dipoles never knocked down the radio missiles. Dipoles are completely useless on this plane.
While the F-104 can maintain 12G turns at very high speeds, 12G at such speeds isn’t a very tight turning circle, and below such speeds the F-104 has too high wing-loading to ever have a competitive turning circle. Never rely on turning maneuvers when flying any F-104 variant.
The radar is not very competitive, its not a pulse-doppler and is just weak. I haven’t flown the F-104S in a while though so I don’t remember exactly the best way to use it.
At the tier the F-104S is, you are often facing aircraft with pulse-doppler radars and/or SARH missiles guided by continuous-wave seekers rather than pulse-seekers. These features make chaff much harder to use on its own, you must also attempt flying perpendicular (90 degrees) to the path the enemy plane is making