PARS 3 LR is the first fire and forget helicopter launched missile added to the game and it would make sense to be nerfed on release to make it balanced against other helicopters and their missiles but now that many more fire and forget helicopter launched missiles are added, the German EC-665 Tiger UHT is in a disadvantage compared to them in all aspects (the helicopter itself lacking a chin mounted cannon and DIRCM, only having 8 missiles which is very inconsistent and often times require more than 2 missiles to kill a vehicle and having the lowest range of all helicopter launched fire and forget missiles in game).
And this well deserved buff isn’t just backed up by balancing reasons, there are documents that state the missile’s ability to hit the target accurately, unlike its performance in game that sometimes 1 or more missiles miss the target and are very easy to lose the lock on target.
This follows the successful completion of the system’s validation programme for the German customer, an event marked by a direct hit against an intended target during a test firing carried out at the Meppen test range (located in Lower Saxony, NW Germany) on 20 September 2012. The target was provided by a tank moving in between houses. In the final firing, the PARS 3 LR missile struck the target with exceptional precision in a demanding urban combat scenario at a range of approximately 3 km. All test firings were carried out from a German Tiger helicopter.
source: Press-release-2012-10-09-EN.pdf
The article above indicates the existence of a system similar to IOG that followed the tank as it moved between houses and didn’t just lose lock and explode mid air due to the loss of lock.
In another test the accuracy of the missile was also stated:
In April 2011, a successful test campaign was carried out by MBDA Deutschland using PARS 3 LR missiles equipped with warheads launched from a German Army Tiger helicopter at the Vidsel test range in Sweden. All guided missiles hit their targets at the optimum point of impact.
source: pars-3-lr_background-1402662508.pdf
The missile should also be jamming resistant and have adjustable trajectory as stated in official documents:
Weapon System
• Fire-and-forget missile system, ensuring high crew and platform survivability
• Entirely passive infrared system
• Salvo-firing capability (up to 4 missiles within less than 10 seconds)
• High jamming resistance
• Selectable missile trajectories (direct or top-attack)
• Lock-on-before-launch
• Multiple target tracking
sources: PARS-3.pdf and pars3_lr_ds.pdf
But PARS 3 LR is still missing a top attack trajectory and IRCCM in game.
Overall PARS 3 LR should be functioning similar to LMUR, a top attack trajectory with IOG and IRCCM that also hits dead center and doesn’t randomly miss the target and only then it would deserve 12.3.
Reminder that Gaijin has artificially nerfed the lofting profiles of Western AGMs and thus having no top attack trajectories so that their kill potential is more or less dictated RNG but funnily enough not that of Kh-38 and LMUR, curious :)
And PARS is still missing an extra kilometer and proxy fuze as well.
Thanks to the LMUR we know that Gaijin is perfectly capable of modeling proper top attack AGMs. So its pretty clear that they just dont want non russian AGMs to be realsitic.
Even with Product 305, I personally think that infra-red fire-and-forget missiles could have some polishing, the target locking is not, all the times, accurate, considering with a lot of targets near each other can mess the lock requiring some issue-solving measures and as lock-on-after-launch still not a thing, you can lost a target by a minor obstacle in the way.
As @Ascension32 correctly pointed out, Gaijin is completely capable to do working fire-and-forget top-attack missiles, even though they’re not exactly top-attack, however the way it’s currently behaving doesn’t make the weapon less useful. I sincerly hope that at some point in time soon, despite my contraditory opinions, Gaijin finally fixes these ‘issues’.
damn i got hit by the same, i forgot youre not allowed to be open and criticize the dev team at all on biased implementation. Forums literally meant for discussions but any they think shows the devs in a bad light (usually true as well) then just gone.
Yes also just to say here, the LMUR can hit the UHT Tiger even while pre flaring (with the poor only 48 flares, the hell) and the PARS 3 LR looses lock just while flying into the general direction of the Mi-28NM. I understand that Heli has IRCM but this seems totally unfair.
The targeting of FnF weapons needs to undergo changes, currently in an effort to soft-nerf them they track a random elements like machine guns, cupolas and tracks, instead of aiming for center mass which would be more accurate.
And the top attack trajectories of Spike and PARS needs to be addressed ASAP. I made PARS perform extremely well in the test drive by first locking and then pointing the launchers upwards to simulate the lofting of LMUR, and it was a guaranteed kill most of the time.
It goes to show that a simple adjustment to the trajectories of FnF makes them extremely powerful.
These missiles have been artificially nerfed since their introduction, but now that LMUR has foregone that limitation altogether, there is no reason for the rest of the FnF family of missiles to be nerfed in such way.
I just feel like they have an entire department for Russian equipment but whoever is in charge of everybody else is either some freelancer or some severely understaffed team with their hands tied behind their backs…
