This all happened because gaijin for so long thought the R-60M was equivalent to 9L , even tho 9L outclassed it in every way.
They thought so highly of R-60M that on release Mig-29 had R-60 stock , not even R-60M, while F-16s were getting 5Km orbital shot kills vs Mig-29s with 9Ls while the R-60 can’t reach a target at 2KM, lmao
It always had the R-73. It’d be like adding the MiG-23M with only R-13Ms. It’s unjustifiably ahistorical to have a Soviet MiG-29 without R-73s, although giving it R-27Es in addition adds insult. Shit, even the MiG-23MLD should get R-73s (and an FM buff, and an uptier).
They didn’t see it as equivalent, they thought they could balance it out by giving the MiG-29 R-27Es that it never used because the R-73 wasn’t ready. Then they backed out on their word that it was a temporary measure and that the R-73 would come when it was ready.
R-73 is still not ready , it is in a janky ping pong state , bouncing around and spinning half the time. Even tho they had 1 year to make it and perfect it.
Hell nah , R-60M was and is a torture to use , maybe if they found sikrit dokuments for an all aspect R-13M and added that than it would be ok. But that would be complete fiction
It’s definitely not as bad as R-60Ms on the Yak-141 or R-27Es on the MiG-29A, it just irks me. In combination with the R-27E it makes it hard for me to even think about playing it, if they took the R-27E away even without giving it R-73s I’d still find it less infuriating than the current situation. As it stands the only reason it is the way it is is because of a terrible last second “balancing” decision someone made a literal year ago
Well R-14 wasn’t fictitious, it was a vanishingly rare prototype. Honestly adding the R-14 would be so insanely stupid that it’d wrap around to being funny so I wouldn’t even be mad more power to them at that point
İt’s the range that’s the worst part, I’d rather have an Aim-9G/H over the R-60, hell maybe even R-60M. İt’s pathetic range makes it very bad. And it never had CM Res close to 9L. Does it ignore sometimes? Yes here and then, but is inferior in almost every relevant way
AIM-9L used to have worse issues with dead zone, the difference is definitely still there but it no longer feels like the R-60M is head and shoulders above like it used to
Didn’t even know that a better R-13 called R-14 existed , thanks for enlightening me. I was just fantasizing when I said an all aspect improved r-13. I just love R-13 , it’s underrated as hell, it’s like an earlier PL-5B
It was the sister program to the R-73. R-14 was a R-13M replacement, R-73 was an R-60 replacement. Of course as the R-73 exploded in size and weight compared to the R-60 it stopped being a relevant distinction, and eventually it became clear that the R-14 was just worse than the R-73 in every way. Had it still made it to production in spite of that the only real boon for it would be that, if memory serves me right, it was supposed to be backwards compatible, so MiG-21Bis and such would probably have carried it
İt accelerates much slower then R-60, so I don’t think it makes a big difference unless fired during direct headon with very high closure rate , and who gets killed in headon by IR flare? lol
The R-60M is good for point blank head-ons, AIM-9L is no longer useful for this. AIM-9L does not have the turn radius or response to maneuver at point blank range from any aspect whereas the R-60 can be used in dogfights.