I can’t really figure it out. The R-Darters seem to do a whole load of nothing… I launched them at targets head on at 6 - 7 KM, and they decided to go into the dirt… I launch them at range; they fly off into space… I launch them rear aspect and they do nothing. I use the AIM-9Ms… 2km rear aspect launch on a slow flying F-15 full afterburner… flared… it always gets flared. What am I doing wrong? Every kill I get is with guns and rarely happens in this missile meta
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Personal experience is that the JAS39 generally does well while sneaking in on unaware enemies, the smokeless AIM9M does ,really well as the enemy doesn’t see it coming unless they have MAW.
I have not used the darters so i cannot say anything on those, but generally ARH does well when launched from an altitude that is above what you are aiming for and in TWS to give the enemy as little warning as possible.
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I just launched at an F-15C 4 KM away, had a hard lock the whole way, he WASNT multipathing, and about 2 seconds before it hit, it did a hard curve off to the left. Unlike AIM-120 which is undodgeable at that range, you can chaff the R-Farter with a single pop.
I mean, usually I like to fire radar missiles first, which alerts the enemy. Then I’m close enough for sidewinders, but they’re watching me now so whoopdie doo might as well just go in with guns. It would be fine to sneak up on people EXCEPT 90% of the maps are just flat barren land to favour the AIM-120 slingers
Lol. TWS with an R-Darter? horrible idea. They need a hard lock to have even a 40% chance of hitting. At 5 KM perfect launch.
I appreciate the help it’s just, none of that has worked for me so far
I don’t know what else i can offer in this case then.
The only thing i have a reaction to is this:
This sounds like you are too locked in on one target (like tunnelvision), i almost never follow the same target continuously. i launch 1-2 ARH missiles per enemy at a few enemies and then turn defensive to avoid their missiles, then i turn back to engage again with IR missiles at unaware targets that have dived down to the deck. I’ve been playing the F-15E lately and i think i on average per game go for 5-6 different targets just during the first engagement, 3 with ARH and then two different ones with IR and depending on situation one last one with guns or RTB.
I purposely hang back at the start of matches, because I know I’m not a good player. I pick off people in either solo or with another because I can pretty confidently handle that.
yeahhh thats great and all but AIM-120s are the best ARH in the game, and the F-15 doesn’t only carry 4 ARHs. Plus I’m genuinely not good
Highly recommend MiGan hes very good and has plenty of videos on how to play aircraft. JAS39C is very difficult because of the limited ordinance and slow speed.
Great video showing in his opinion the best Gripen the SAAF version so i hope this helps.
Ill check it out, but its one of the worst because of R-Darters. When it had the SkyTrash it was so much better.
Eh Darters are strange but if you can get solid locks they performan better than 120’s in close range but again thats if you can maintain a solid lock so a big IF
I doubt that, as I’ve stated, I’ve had 5km shots with a hard lock, and about 50% of the time they just fly off into space or into the ground at the last second.
Target your plane upwards so it doesn’t fly down immediately upon launch and into the ground.
They don’t, they used to awhile ago when they had an excessively high loft. Nowadays the only detriment for long range is drag, as this missile has quite a lot of it.
There’s your problem. don’t launch Aim-9Ms in rear aspect. They have suspension IRCCM, not Gatewidth. It shuts off its seeker temporarily and reactivates when flares are out of its view. Essentially it makes it better than the Aim-9L for front aspect and side aspect tracking, but somewhat worse in rear aspect compared to its ability to track in other aspects.
Learn their launch parameters, they work in rear aspect for tracking, the only real detriment is range, so know when to launch them. Take into account your speed, the targets speed, and the missiles range with that info.
I do that whenever someone is flying low.
I don’t mean space as in high, I meant it as go somewhere comepletely different to my HARD lock. Apologise for the mistake.
It should still be fine launching it at an approx 30 degree angle above behind an enemy? Shouldn’t it?
I am aware, my issue is that they always just lose the target for whatever reason. The best way I can find to use R-Darter is a 2.5km rear aspect shot on someone not close to the ground.
I appreciate all your help though.
I found them okay, if you rely upon the range display on the radar and fire the R-Darters in the LSZ, they were okay. But far less forigiving than the Aim-120
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Realistically its just the Gripens don’t fit into the air Meta. Having too few missiles also doesn’t help them considering they have the loadout of a 13.0
Yeah, there is that these days as well. Definetly time for Gripen Buffs
Again pretty unlikely, look how long it took for them to buff the Su-27 FM
Good, but I fail to understand why it would ever eat dirt if you do that. So long as you do that when an enemy is flying low or diving, it should be fine.
Ahhhh I see, that’s a different thing then. It usually happens with SARH missiles, but it is possible with ARH. I can’t tell you why it happens, but what I can tell you is that it happens to all ARH missiles at the moment as they use the exact same stats for the seekerhead if I remember correctly.
It can be, but it’s still ineffective at an angle like that. Preferably 60 or high should do the trick. The Aim-9M/AAM-3 is notably the easiest to flare in a rear aspect setting, so try to avoid launches of that parameter if you want a high probability of kill. Side aspect is always going to be the most effective, and usually front aspect shots turn into side aspect shots based on how the targets maneuvers after the launch or based on the missiles trajectory. Rear aspect can work, but it’s always going to be less reliable that way.
Are they notching and chaffing by chance? Chaffing is rear aspect, while although it’s not as potent in a notch or side aspect, is more effective than front aspect chaffing. That could be the reason, and ofc hard locking the target can also help it continue to guide itself, since the missile still receives datalink updates if it loses the target momentarily.
It doesnt just eat dirt, it can fly up, to the side, anywhere EXCEPT the plane
Thank you!!!
Sometimes they do sometimes they dont, all I know is that most of my R-Darter kills are close range rear aspect