I’ve got an idea of the current meta because I’m currently participating in it by using the M and MLD in top tier.
I’ve got toptier experience, by literally being in the top tier brackets of 12.3, shooting down various 12.3 aircraft too (i’ve died the most to the AIM-9M lmao)
Mf, I know about toptier because I watch it, I read about it, I EXPERIENCE IT.
The R-27ER, is extremely strong, but counterable. You gotta watch out because of its extreme IOG capabilities, which allows the carrier to launch it, break the lock to allow it to guide itself on intertial for a full minute, before regaining radar lock and intercepting.
You’ve got several advantages too, the AIM-9M. Whenever you’re fighting 27ER carriers, always have caution, and plan ahead.
I’ve played against 12.3 aircraft too, and won several dogfights against them despite the AIM-9M being extremely powerful in Sim Battles.
I’ve got the experience of actually flying aircraft, and knowing the aircraft I fight, including the ones that are at the top of the game.
R-27er isn’t overpowered, everything else is just underperforming by a significant margin this patch, things like Skyflashes and Sparrows should have an effective range of well over 5-10km.
Had it not been added, the MiG-29 would 10 out of 10 times get clapped by the F-16s with their AIM-7M missiles.
Thing is, the ER is kind of tricky to avoid.
If you had experience avoiding previous radar missiles, you’ll know that the ER:
Is trickier to avoid, as you have less of a time window to properly do the avoidance procedure
Can be trickier to confirm, as the ER counts with what I’ll call “lock-break-relock” capalities
The carrier aircraft can launch the missile, and then inmediately break the lock, only guiding itself on IOG, up to a minute if it’s needed! Once a radar lock is readquired, the missile will regain lock inmediatedly like if nothing had happened.
On the perspective of the defender, they’d see a brief missile launch, followed by 40-50 seconds of silence (or common pings), before getting another missile launch warning which after 5 seconds results in death.
Overall, think of the ER as the final boss of radar missiles.
Tbh, the Su-27 does have to be uptiered to 12.7, 6x R-27ERs are no joke.
I mean it was IRL. It was at that time that everyone was moving onto Fox 3 missiles. Their adoption in Russian services was hampered by economical reasons but they had the technology. The R-27ER is still in service today.
I’ve personally never done the lock and relock trick but I tend to keep shopping around for locks that maintain their closure rate. No amount of ground clutter or multi-pathing will save someone closing at 750m/s+.
On soviet aircraft I would still probably take 2x ERs alongside R-77s for those long range shots. NATO aircraft however I’d go for an entire AMRAAM loadout.
Early 120s pretty much had worse range than F/M sparrows but before the sparrow buffs, shots beyond 12ks were risky due to the self detonation and radar nerfs. Thats the envelope I use them in anyway.
I find using R-27 (all radar missiles tbh) increasingly less effective. Air RB is like everyone scratching the ground as much as possible. Almost no one flys high enough to reliably use these kind of missiles.
R-27ER in general just cemented the ground hugger meta due to being so oppressive. They can be launched later than pretty much every other fox 1 and expect to at minimum trade or kill at most distances.
Why bother with fox 1 in general when some braindead slime gets the objective best fox 1 in the game that is only counterable by ground skimming or putting in 20x the effort the braindead ape using R-27ER is using.
AIM-7/S.530D users can crank, F-pole and use all sorts of BVR maneuvers to attempt to defeat R-27ER and none of them matter, his missile will pretty much always arrive first and with more energy. Meanwhile, these other missiles will miss a perfect shot of their own volition, for absolutely no reason. Put in 20x the effort for a guaranteed loss against someone putting 0 effort into the duel? Not going to remain popular for long.
Hope springs eternal, but I doubt it. RU/East DE/CN would just get their own Fox 3 that also out-does everyone elses’. Early AMRAAMski might be sorta balanced but knowing snail, modern ultra-high speed AMRAAMski is waiting in the wings to wreck balance if the jets under the red star aren’t performing above everyone else.
R-27ER is a power fantasy missile that doesn’t perform anywhere near as good IRL
The top speed is fantasy
The tracking is fantasy
The lack of drag is fantasy
The ability to launch in CQC below 3km is fantasy
Just accept that this is how the devs want things and move on
Also yeah 7M is wank on the F-15, 7F on the 4S and 4J is great and works even with the butchered post patch PD radar
So you’re saying that with a consistent radar lock with no drops your missile should go dumb or in the complete opposite direction?
Because otherwise you just gurgled something completely irrelevant
I definitely have more of an issue with AIM-7M’s than I do with the R-27ER. The AIM-7M I would say performs how it should roughly 2/3’s of the time while the R-27ER is roughly 3/4’s to 4/5’s of the time. A lot of the time even with solid RADAR lock and no other factors, the AIM-7M just decides to cut hard right, left, or wherever even if the targeted aircraft is directly in front of me utilizing no countermeasures. This doesn’t happen all the time, but when I compare it with the AIM-7F, the AIM-7F seems to track the targeted aircraft correctly comparable to the R-27ER. I’m not sure why, I use all three missiles the same way but it is something I have actively noticed. I’m not saying the R-27ER is OP, I’m saying there is something off about the AIM-7M.
Edit: I don’t “main” anything, I use as many nations I can. Air-side I have Sweden, China, and most of USA done. Actively working on USSR/Russia. Ground is pretty much done for all nations.
