Currently the F-15A and J stand no chance against the Su-27 in BVR engagements having a missile that is not only slower but with a lower seeker lock as well as effective range.
This means that the Su-27 can launch first and even it loses radar lock it can just regain it and continue guiding the missiles because of datalink but also that if both aircraft launch at the same time the Su-27 will consistently win.
That is why I’m making this poll and asking for the addition of the AIM-7P that allows for mid course correction like the R-27ER from my knowledge which will allow you to have a better chance at defeating an enemy missile while retaining the ability to keep guiding your own
added AIM-7P, I’m happy to hear that, but even so f15A/J will still lose to Su27 in most normal bvr matches. r27ER’s superiority lies mostly in its speed. So I think whether adding it or not doesn’t give the f15A/J any advantage over the su27, even though long-range aerial combat is the main strength of the f15A/J. It’s still very unbalanced with no clear advantage for the NATO representative in this update
AIM7P makes no sense against R27ER. The main problem for Sparrows facing is that the expected arrival time is much longer than the R27ER. The R27ER allows the attack to be launched in a relatively poor posture and position and still hit the target before the Sparrow. AIM7P allows the use of LOFT, which increases the missile’s terminal energy but lengthens the hit time. This would be at a greater disadvantage against R27ER.
I think ideally they would receive AIM-120A or B (I don’t actually know the differences between the missiles just that they’re kinda bad) as the R27ER was the counter to AMRAAM. For the majority of the time it makes no sense to add the counter before the thing being countered.
Still at least the P’s would be some improvement over the M’s.
AMRAAM is a much bigger step up from R-27ER than R-27ER is over even AIM-7E.
Also, ERs entered service before AMRAAMs, they were not developed afterwards.
Loft can be optimized for time of flight, so the missile actually arrives sooner as well. High altitude means less air density and therefore less drag losses.
Acceleration may be ER’s main advantage, but data link and IOG can help AIM-7s awful tracking, once it loses lock on even the easiest targets it either explodes midair or completely changes course.
I would love to see the AIM-7P get added to the F15A. It wont be as good as the R27ER speed wise but the increase in tech and HOPEFULLY the reliability (which the sparrow has not been good with recently) would make it much more competitive and I could actually have fun in it.
Lots of secondary sources mention that the AIM-7P was trialed and qualified on the F-15, despite it never actually being used operationally. There are also mentions of “Ms refitted to P capabilities”. Does anyone have a primary source for this? Are the refitted Ms just the MH?