I’ve been grinding for the past few months to get the squadron vehicle version of the Sea Harrier, and, as the title might suggest, I would appreciate some help with it. I’ve watched a few videos, reviews, that kinda thing, and from what I’ve gathered, it has a pretty big learning curve.
I’ve been tryna get into Air Sim for a bit now, and I figured that this would be a pretty good plane to do so (A lack of a joystick makes aiming pretty hard, wanted something more reliant on AAMs)
Furthermore, it would be great if someone suggested an ideal roadmap–what modifications I should research first, the kinda ordnance I should use, etc.
A more specific guide regarding the Harrier’s radar (I’ve found general guides on YouTube and such, but nothing focused solely on the harrier) would also be greatly appreciated
It certainly has its moments, but is unfortunately, rather outclassed at 11.3 in ASB at the moment (there is 0 reason for it to be at 11.3 and should be 11.0). So you may have a tough time fighting the Mig-23MLDs and Su-39s that dominate that bracket. (FRS1e is in a far far stronger place at the moment at 10.7)
It does have some strengths at the moment, but does also have some rather colossal weaknesses, especially in SB, such as the total lack of any form of gunsight.
It does have a rather large learning curve, and the harriers come with some inherrent challenges at the moment. For example. When defending against even an R-60, unless you are at high airspeeds, you will need to throttle down to idle and deploy a large number of flares to defeat that missile. The Harriers get hotter , the slower they are, and at around 420kts, if sat at max thrust, you will not be able to flare an R-60 at any range.
The key to the Harrier is maintaining energy and using the VIFF (Vector in forward flight) at the right time to tighten a turn to bring guns to bear. Im a tad bit rusty in this regard, but @MatrixRupture has been playing quite a bit of Harrier of late, and should be able to help far more there.
As for Mods. Id grab Flares/chaff first so you can take some chaff (though Id recommend weighting yourself towards more flares and having a keybind for both flares or chaff or both.)
Then id grab the 1000lb bombs. In SB this makes stock grinds stupidly easy (note, CCRP should be the easiest way to employ these bombs, but the CCRP interface on the SHars is bugged and doesnt currently work, so you’ll have to stick with CCIP)
Id then grab G-Suit. You can pull a lot of Gs in a Harrier when needed.
Then 9Ls.
After that, just get them all in any order Probably best to start with the engine/FM stuff, as you wont be using the guns much.
There isnt much to tell really. It has 1 mode, SRC, it doesnt work that well when down low or when looking down, but does work well at higher alts. You can angle the radar up slightly when low to reduce ground clutter, but it will still struggle to detect anything hugging the deck.
The Radar does have IFF.
The SHar HUD does now have a proper set of radar symbology, so its well worth using the radar to locate a target. Though do note, everything you will be facing, will have an RWR. So leaving the radar off can be rather effective, but having the IFF is great for using the Aim-9Ls as Aim-9Ls (all-aspect). The radar will also give you range indications for your Aim-9Ls if you are locked onto something.
Can’t stress how helpful this guide has been. Thanks man! Been gradually learning things that, as a primarily Ground oriented player I didn’t understand before. Been following your recommendations for modifications, about to get AIM-9Ls. Gotten a few assists and what would be a kill had everything not gone all whack with Leviathans (I tore a pretty large HEI sized hole in a Su-24’s wing) before officially getting a kill just now.
Unfortunately Matrix has been perma-banned (he accidentally shared a classifeid AV-8B+ doc) so hes not gunna be able to help with advice directly. So i’ll see what advice I can give in this area, but might also be worth dropping in the Harrier threads and asking for help there too.
For just increasing your rate of turn, you can use about 30% nozzle to help tighten the turn, but this also bleeds speed, so you want to use it sparringly. You can also fully use VIFF and slam on the brakes. Putting the nozzles to 100% will bleed speed really fast and you can force some aircraft into much much slower and lower fights than they can handle. An IRL tactic was to barrel roll at the same time, if something was on your tail. This would force an overshoot and allow for a rear-aspect missile shot on the target. I’ve had mixed success with this tactic in game, but if all else fails, it can work.
When you are low and slow, take-off flaps + a bit of VIFF helps keep you flying and handling rather well
Just remember, the lower your airspeed, the more vulnerable you are to IR missile. So its generally good to try and learn how to fight in the Harrier without VIFF and then only use VIFF when you are loosing the fight.
Im sure there are also much much better guides online for this and more experienced dogfighters than me that can articulate this all much better as well. I know the theory, but never 100% mastered the practical.