AAM-2: It’s a AIM-4D with a proximity fuse and limited all aspect capabilities.
AAM-3: This is where Japanese aam’s get better from now. AAM-3 is essentially a 9L with almost same burning time as the 9L with better all aspect capabilities, IRCCM, and has high Off-boresight capability.
AAM-4: The Mitsubishi AAM-4 is a medium-range active radar homing Active radar homing air-to-air missile It is a modern beyond visual range missile Beyond visual range missile developed in Japan and intended to replace the semi-active radar homing AIM-7 missile in service. It has been operational since 1999.
Specifications of AAM-4
AAM-5: Unlike the AAM-3 guided missile, the AAM-5 does not have canard control surfaces, using thrust vectoring for high agility. Also addition of a triaxial gimbal to the infrared seeker has increased the field of view, and an infrared focal plane array multi-element seeker allows infrared imaging. In particular, the addition of an INS means mid-course updates and LOAL (Lock on after launch) is possible. Terminal homing is via infrared imaging (IIR). In terms of generation, it is placed in the same generation as missiles such as the Aim 9X and IRIS-T
Detonation Mechanism: laser proximity fuze and impact
Range: 35 km
Speed: Mach 3+
Thank you for reading! It’s my first time making such a “detailed” forum post and i’ve no clue how this works. But thank you for reading. Hopefully in next update we’ll get to see the XF-2A with AAM-3’s! Have a good day!
No problem. Personally, I would enjoy some more aams to spice up the game play. Everything getting the same two groups, or same but different name, of aams gets a bit stale.
AAMs 1 and 2 are both obvious additions at this point, not breaking any real ground. The AAM2 in particular could be a very welcome buff to the F4EJ, which has been horribly powercrept at this point. It depends on the exact performance characteristics, but even a limited all aspect capability would be very useful as a analogue to the MiG-21 bis’s getting R60MKs. And before anyone says the bis’s lack of good SARH missiles means it needs the MKs, I’d point out that basic AIM-7Es without pulse doppler is borderline unusable at 11.0 in it’s current state. They can’t be used at close range, and a single blob of chaff is enough to spoof it.
The game isn’t yet ready for the AAM4 or 5, but I expect we’ll see the AAM3 soon when Japan gets either it’s F-2 or F-15J, whichever comes first.
I agree with the AAM-2 as it would be nothing ground breaking, but i’d love to see the AAM-3 getting added along with the XF-2A in the future or near updates. As i think it would even air battles.
Depending on when the AAM-3 comes it should probably start on a less capable airframe like the EJ Kai as it is a massive upgrade over the 9L. Its capabilities lie somewhere in between the 9M and the 9X. Compared to the 9L the AAM-3 has ~3x wider seeker size, “bank to turn” for better agility and turning, IRCCM, better range, and a larger 15kg warhead. The actual G pull is unknown but at the very least its 35G+ with 40G probably being a safer estimate. Some reports also claim the AAM-3 can achieve speeds of mach 3.5.
Most of this info comes from the old forums, it had some info and good speculation if anyone wants to take a look.
Always makes me sad they never added AAM-1 or 2 but most of the fault is due to little data. But Japan has a surprisingly good history of missile development dating back to ww2! Sad that none of them have been showcased.
I’d be cautious adding it to something as old as the EJ Kai. It’s already overtiered as it is for the airframe, being carried entirely by the AIM-9Ls and AIM-7Fs, paired with it’s F-16 RADAR. Give it something superior even to the AIM-9M, and you’d have to tier it even higher, where it’s airframe would hold it back even further. I don’t want the Kai to turn into another A-10/Su-25 situation, where it’s at a tier where it’s airframe cannot compete all because of the missiles it carries.
I understand the concern about forcing the Kai into an even higher BR as it is heavily limited by its airframe, however if we want to see the AAM-3 anytime soon I would expect it to show up on the Kai first.
From Gaijin’s words, they seem to think the XF-2/F-2 is too far a performance jump for us to see anytime soon and the F-15J is essentially an F-15C so we likely won’t see it introduced with the rumored F-15As that may show up sometime this year or early next year. Even if we did see either of those aircraft this year or soon after I can’t see Gaijin giving such strong aircraft what would be the best IR missile in game. Thus, I assume it would be tested on the Kai first.
Japan is in an unfortunate spot when it comes to their future. Either we are stuck with the Kai/AJ for a while, and they’re forced to introduce better missiles and up their BR or introduce better aircraft than the game may be ready for / adding them in a nerfed state. Neither option seems to be a great solution.
Seems to me we aren’t that far off the XF-2. It’s likely we’re going to be seeing later blocks of the F-16, with AIM-9Ms and AMRAAMs, in the upcoming patches, and Gaijin’s responses were to people comparing the XF-2 to the A block F-16s. The lack of improved SARH or true active RADAR missiles on the XF-2 would somewhat balance the higher performance IR missiles, IMO.
I’d expect to see the XF-2 in the patch after something like the C block F-16s, with AAM3s and AIM-7F/M. The AAM4 would come a couple patches later with the F-15J and F-2 Late. AAM5 would be many patches out, since it’s basically a contemporary of the AIM-9X.
Why would they jump to the F-15J which is essentially a F-15C? It makes more sense for them to start with the early models of such a competitive aircraft.
Also nobody is saying the Kai is useless but there is a large performance gap between it and the 4th gens it fights.
In my experience, it’s in an OK position for now. Having top tier missiles and RADAR is enough to carry it for the moment. Especially against the 11.0 premium spawm. But the second you have to use the airframe for anything, you’re mostly just screwed. Ending up with an F-16 or Mig-29 on your 6 is usually a death sentence, as they outperform you in literally every way.
Regardless, it’s performance is only going to get worse as more and more powerful planes are added at or above 12.0. Keep in mind it isn’t currently fighting the strongest planes it will be fighting, expect it to see F-15As, F-16Cs, possibly even early F-18s in the future. Depends on how willing Gaijin is to decompress the BRs as new planes are added.
Cause there’s no functional difference between F-15A & C for balance purposes outside of flares, and 3 tech trees can get F-15C instead of 2 with F-15A.
I find it more likely to start with the A/ MSIP A model but at this point we are no longer discussing the original topic and are just speculating about future aircraft additions.
To loop it back even if we did get the F-15J this year or soon after I strongly doubt the AAM-3 would be added to it as it would currently be the best IR missile on a very competitive aircraft.
Yeah, no AAMs quite yet.
I was just using F-15J as an example of a 12.3 we’re getting with 9Ls and 7Fs, with the potential of EJ Kai still being the first to get AAM-3s.
