Have you tried the Mistral ? It’s still completely miserable. For the most advanced MANPAD in game, it’s pretty sad to see it miss straight flying subsonic aircrafts at 3km.
while the G loads are Mistral > Stinger > Igla, due to the speed difference, the turn radius are actually Igla > Stinger > Mistral, meaning the Igla still outperforms the much more modern Stinger and Mistral.
The higher speed of the Mistral does not even matter, since its booster burn is pretty slow and the speed loss of the Mistral is so slow it’s effective range is actually worse than the Igla.
For reference, the Mistral 1 on the Santal should be close to the TY90/Strela performances, and the Tiger carrying the Mistral 2 should be even better
Edit : I did not mention that while the Mistral G load was increased, either the PID or the fin AOA were not improved consecally hence the missile still does not perform its 16G reliably. Even more so because it only start guiding a few hundred meters after launch (so when the burn is already a close to finishing) and will quickly lose it’s ability to turn at 16G after the booster burn, which once again is very short, due to the poor low speed G load
their G limit, makes them work batter from behind or side than front, the key of manpads spaa is stealth attack when attackers is getting away. Stinger is the best manpad after some mobility changes, much better than HN-6, Mistral and 9K38.
But hitting something side -aspect. So for example firing a ATAS from a Lynx at an attacker flying accross the battlefield perpendicular to you is basically impossible to actually hit. But the Strela can nail such a target with absolute ease every single time. Even though the Heli launched ATAS should have the advantage in that envrioment.
I think they are still lacking Gs.
we have 2 primary sources that state Stinger should pull 20-22Gs. Now it doesn’t state average or peak, but in game they only pull 13G. I think if they pulled 20-22G out of the gate and then trailed off to 13G, theyd hit more often as they would get onto target easier. (though flame made a very good argument that that data should be taken as average not peak)
Additionally ATAS lofts wierdly and just doesnt seem to get the intercept right.
(they also can take an age to spool up, though all AAMs had a univsersal spool up time, for ATAS its like 3 or 4 seconds)
All in all. Something isnt quite right and Stingers and Mistrals need a buff or tweak still
This post shows the different turn radius of Mistral, Igla and Stinger with nerf and with real values.
As you can see, the Igla has better turn radius than current Stinger and Mistral, but would be obliterated by accurate Mistrals and even more so the stinger
that’s why strela is much higher br, and I think Strela, Chaparral and Type 81c are different kind spaa from MANPADS. IRL, they are not carried by man, IN GAME, they belongs to much higher br.
MANPADS’s booster is not very powerful, but last long, so it needs time to speed up, that’s another key, don’t shoot something too close
The Mistral is hardly a MANPAD. It uses the same guidance system, but it is not manportable, as it’s quite bigger.
As for the minimum engagement range, primary sources state that the mistral should be able to accurately hit a target 500m away, which is absolutely impossible currently has the mistral acts as a dumb rocket for at least that distance before finally starting to turn.
Meanwhile the Igla being slower can turn tighter, plus has the magical ability to autolead straight from launch meaning it can absolutely kill an aircraft from that distance
I don’t play the Igla and Stinger, but as a player that often fights against them, I can confidently state that the igla is more annoying to evade.
The stinger is still pretty dangerous because it’s faster and can actually hit targets (which the mistral can’t do for the above mentioned reasons), so you really have to lookout for them, but as long as you do some S turn maneuvers your good to go.
Meanwhile, the Igla is pretty painful to kinematically evade with subsonic aircraft’s without losing all your speed, but are easier to spot due to their lower speed and the fact that they burn through their entire kinematic range
I agree part of you guys’ idea, these manpads need some rework in their flight performance.
but should focus in fixing the weak point, better not change their g limit.
Their G limits probably won’t change. We mostly ran out of primary sources to give to gaijin and Smin told us no reports could be reopened without new sources.
However I have always advocated for low speed maneuverability (according to the 500m distance kill probability of the Mistral) and rework of its lead/AOA (which was made for the Stinger but they forgot to do it for the Mistral for a few months, then they tried something but it barely improved it).
Edit : also drag reduction for the mistral. It’s ranges are completely incorrect as well.
Also, different cariants of the mistral should be implemented
Gaijin’s way of adding this kind of thing, is to fill the gap, especially big one, if there are other choices, so probably no SU-30, but Tejas is possible, because it’s something new, and the place suits it, is GB TT.
The Tejas is something I want in the British tree (or a future Indian tree, if that ever comes), as it is a fully indigenous design. The Su-30 has no place in the British tree, however, due to the existence of the Typhoon.
