This plane is utterly trash.
Should have bought a hornet.
How is the f2 premium trash? It’s better than the hornet…
1 Like
I’m ready to bet hard cold cash it will never move up. Look at the NF5A lol. Those two jets simply make too much money, they’re never, ever moving up.
Also see a lot of people moaning about sparrows but weren’t sparrows genuinely dogwater in real life? I remember reading a report on them that stated bluntly that more than half of all launches outright failed. If the missile was a lemon irl, stands to reason it would suck in game too, maybe the US should’ve made a better sarh missile idk.
When the Mirage 2000 S4 and the MiG-21 Bison are still at 12.3, there is no reason to place the F-18A any higher. The Mirage 2000 CS4 and the MiG-21 Bison are the two aircraft you should be comparing it to, because they perform better than the F-18A in ARB matches.
Mirage 2000-CS4/S5 : 4 missiles mostly out-dated. Yes Magic-2 is good but not a freekill.
AoA wise, F/A-18A can and will pull more. (sad for a Delta Wing,… because AoA should be the prime Characteristics of such aircraft,… also it doesn’t get the FBW limiter removal (AFAIK: it have a single switch button for such thing located right in the cockpit)
MiG-21 Bison happens to be a Premium aircraft,… so if we consider that F/A-18C early should stay 12.7, there is no reason the MiG-21 Bison should go upwards,… as F-4S does have HMS (as the MiG-21Bison) and r-73 are as good as Magic-2 Missiles.
F/A-18A can and will best out both aircrafts because of it’s better Radar overall, and amount of missiles, but since you don’t trust, i’m currently seaching on the F/A-18A, then i’ll do as better than you in order to grind all modifications.
You’re trying to get me started on the Mirage 2000C S4 and MiG-21 Bison (that you don’t have),… but looking at your single stats:
Mirage 2000C S4 (Event Aicraft):
since December 23th 2025: You’ve got 95 kills for 22 deaths (42 games)
F/A-18A :
since December 23th 2025: You’ve got 111 kills for 20 deaths (49 games)
SO:
Mirage 2000C S4:
Kill per spawn; 2.261905 (best when higher)
Kill per deaths; 4.318182 (best when higher)
Deaths per games: 0.523809 (best when lower)
F/A-18A:
Kill per spawn; 2.265306 (best when higher)
Kill per deaths; 5.55 (best when higher)
Deaths per games: 0.408163 (best when lower)
you’re then perfoming better in F/A-18A than Mirage 2000C S4.
how so, since:
1 Like
Are you saying the f18a should be 12.7 with its garbage level sparrows? 12.7- 13.7 is playing out 90% of games ATM… pretty sure it would even take the kfirs crown of worst time on WT
AirRB is in that bad of a state RN iv started playing ground… I hate ground.
c7, c2 or c10? the first two seem like a horrible, no good, very bad time but the c10 is peas ngl.
(I am a massive kfir c10 fanboy)
1 Like
That is just my personal statistic; it is not reliable reference data. And even if you base your judgment on it, their kills per game are almost identical, even though the Migrate 2k has four fewer IRs than the F-18A… Other stats depend heavily on the matchmaker.
And moreover, why don’t you consider that I might simply be bad at playing the Mirage2k?
And even if I’m wrong in saying that the Mirage 2000 S4 does not have superior performance compared to the F-18A, you still have to prove that the F-18A is “completely superior in combat performance” in order to justify it being at a higher BR than other aircraft. And that is something you cannot prove, because personal combat data is subjective.
Just the kfir canard. Not played any of the others.
The rest are probably great as they have a working RWR and the impossible to aim rudder is fixed.
Probs wont get to try the other Kfirs…canards that bad il.loose my mind if i kept playing it.
aw man, sorry you had such an awful time… :C
yeah I test flew the canard and I was like… damn this is the jet everyone’s gassing up to grind pissrael? no thanks i’ll stick with the A4E. But if you ever want to give the kfir a chance again, pick the C10, that thing is stupid fun to use, I was shocked by how insanely quick it is, like half my deaths in the thing are from overspeeding lol
1 Like
Decompression would fix a lot of thing not just the premium , in fact fuck all the premium cause people who own F18/F2A have one goal is to basebomb and contribute literally nothing else and it is actually fking over other tech tree over.
God can give these people good FM and AAM but they still choose to do the most basic thing and basebombing until they get what they want.
For f sake the Op literally complain about such a non issue if he bother to learn how to play the thing.
Somehow always the plane fault but not the player. You can fix all the issue and there will always be someone blaming the vehicle.
And yes if anyone ask. I am stock grinding Mig-29G and seeing all these knuckler dragger in their shiny premium play does not make me happy with the state of 13.0 MM.
F/A-18A have better acceleration time under Mach 1
which translate here:
F/A-18A Better sustained turnrate from 360km/h to 900km/h
best instantanous turn rate being the Mirage 2000C S4 (but as many all delta wings, this is lost fast)
F/A-18A have higher coefficients of Drags because it also have an higher maximum AoA (allowing easier gunkills at anyspeeds, because the nose will move around more freely)
translating also there:
the Mirage 2000C S4 does have a similar AoA limit (slightly under the F/A-18A), but at much slower speeds in comparison.
So basically:
F/A-18A > Mirage 2000C S4 >>>>> MiG-21 Bison
the Bison rely on superior weaponnary
the Mirage 2000C S4 does have less but superior IR Missiles and not superior SARH ones.
then F/A-18A have similar missile kit (+2 AIM-9L if compared at same SARH number) than F-16AJ (12.7 BR), while the F-4EJ Kai (12.3 BR) is clearly subpar in every aspects. (as demonstrated 17 times,… AIM-7F =/= AIM-7M - there is a different gimbal limit, allowing more HOBS launches).
you wanted demonstration that F/A-18A is superior performance wise? done
Missile wise? number in this game, currently works better than quality, because players are sheeps wiating to get chopped (unlike you as it seems).
Gun Wise ? more bullet, better Velocity, more rounds (despite higher rate of fire), and more easily lead at the target at any speeds
now? what is it you want?
Im curious how the F-18C (1994) performs compared to the best Early F18
Do you know why I have a 2.2 kills per battle ratio with the Mirage 2000 S4? Because I never engage F/A-18s below Mach 1, and I never dogfight opponents that are more maneuverable.
Your skills seem quite similar to mine, so here’s my question for you: if you were flying the Mirage 2000 S4, is there any way an F/A-18A could realistically get a kill on you if you never enter a turn fight with it?
You’re faster, you have better Fox-1 capability (you don’t get out-rolled). Is there any reason you should be shot down by an F/A-18A if you don’t make a mistake?
Most players in Air RB play it the wrong way when they rush into a furball with poor situational awareness and get stuck there. No matter how strong the aircraft is, you should try the F/A-18A yourself, and then you’ll realize that most of your kills come from other players’ mistakes, even though they clearly had much better options available.
Six AIM-9Ls and two Magic 2s — which one is better is very situational. For example, if you’re behind a MiG-23ML at 1.5 km and he knows you’re there, six AIM-9Ls are completely useless, but the Magic 2s would be a very different story.
Matra 530Ds are not superior but they are “better” because they cant be out roll.
true, but when being a third party player, keeping your speed and diving down on the 4/5 low skill people trying to jump on the same poor attacker,… having 6 AIM-9L is a joy: often 3/4 hits, even from 3.5km away,…
my record kill range kill on AIM-9L being a 7.5km distance traveled (yeah, traveled!) on a MiG-23 that had no idea. launched from an higher altitude and high energy state to a MiG-23 Afterburning (while he was shooting down a Harrier if i recall correctly).
also,… under 1km separation range, AIM-9L sometimes can be diverted by flares, and regain track on the ennemy (if he keeps afterburning).
so,… i agree to you : those missiles are situationnal,…
yet, having more means more chances to do more kills, and this is quite undeniable ^^"
that’s sadly the average level of gameplay proposed by community.
same is true with MANY MiG-25’s players or any other kinds (like F-15A to E, without forgetting C and C GE, or J and J(MSIP) and any other F-15’s)
i’m trying to reach for it,… slowly i admit.
but i like aircraft able to surprise their ennemy, and F/A-18A seems to be one in many aspects.
in another kind of surprise: F-86F-40 is a surprise to any Supersonic aicraft you encounter at it’s BR (hence why MiG-21F-13 still are falling in BR,…) - but that’s another story.
Having an ennemy doing a mistake is something i often try to force on them,…
F-104’s that shouldn’t turns with a F-86F40, suddenly finding themselves in a rolling scissor, or with me right in their tail - easy
Early MiG-21’s being out-rated by a F-86F40 - really often
being slow or having less engine power doesn’t mean you can’t beat your ennemy.
Of course, if you do not engage your ennemy in a turnfight, it is possible to reduce the amount of mistakes,… but it’s not “100% Sure”
Mirage 2000C S4 (and S5-2) might be the closest aircrafts to the F/A-18A at 12.3.
but you’ve said it yourself:
meanning it have enough capability to win over your Mirage in turnfight configuration.
which is going to be, for War Thunder average player, a “forced move”,…
hopefully today, those same players are in both side, so the game remains somehow balanced most of the time.
YET,… with current ways Gaijin have made BR previously to the last 2 years of bullshit BR (premium/non-premium/event), the F/A-18A doesn’t belong to 12.3, but to 12.7.
gimme a plane in the game,… i won’t go through 2650 docs about F/A-18C of 1994 if it have no interest for the game,…
there is a F-18C Early (premium) in the game at 12.7BR, which should be similar to the 1994 F-18C you’re looking at.
you can then compare directly to Mirage 2000C S4 and F/A-18A, thanks to StatShark - See All Player, Missile, and Vehicle Statistics
As it seems right now, F/A-18C early and F/A-18A share the same exact Flight model, while the F/A-18C Late (14.0 BR) does only get better engines (better time to speed), and more mass(slightly less instantaneous turnrate performances / slightly better sustained turnrate / slightly reduced AoA), while sharing the same Drag/Lift coefficients
Finnish F-18C not the MLU the F-18C
Finland F-18C compared to F/A-18A:
Faster (both acceleration and max-speed)
Same Lift/Drag Coefficients (similar to any F-18C / F-18A)
Turn better (turn radius, instantaneous and sustained) but a slightly tiny differences in AoA in favor of F/A-18A (so tiny in fact, that you won’t feel it in game)
thanks to better engines despite more mass, and it have clearly way more and advanced weapons, aswell as avionics. - if you were finding a way to get the finnish F-18C a better BR → not possible!
Huh BR? I dont care about that i was just curious about its flight performance as its the most lightweight of the F-18Cs at 14.0 by about 440kg
I mean sure its the worst 14.0 but idc was just curious about the flight performance compared to the A model
The F2-ADTW should be receiving the AAM4s since it has them irl. The airplane is a test platform for new tech, in real life it might even carry more modern and sophisticated tech, but it|s clear this company favoritizes Russian vehicles over any.
2 Likes