Remove R-27ER/ER1 from MiG-29, MiG-29A, Yak-141. Add R-73/R-73E. If absolutely necessary, move to 12.3 though I don’t anticipate that being needed.
MiG-29SMT/G stay as currently implemented.
Remove R-27ER from Su-27/J-11.
BR 12.7 for Su-27/J-11 (and F-15s, M4K but that’s a different topic)
With the exception of the J-11, all aircraft changed in this plan had a point in their service history with R-27Rs and R-73s but no R-27ERs. This would allow for more balanced aircraft with equal or improved dogfighting capabilities, but not as dominant BVR capabilities especially on the Su-27 family. Simultaneously, there would be consistent or even improved historical accuracy of aircraft weaponry.
I would say it is maybe a little too early. R27-ER has only been in game for a few months. US had complete BVR dominance in game for over 1.5 years with the aim7E vs R3R. I expect the balance will flip back to the US at the end of next year.
8 months is a few "few"s i would say. but that’s just me.
27ERs have been dominant since they were introduced, along with subsequent nerfs to the AIM 7s that absolutely gutted their performance once the sustainer burns out.
In addition to having more maneuverability than the Aim 7s to begin with, the ERs also have better energy, greater lock distance via datalink, and a favorable chance for target reacquisition due to inertial navigation.
This is what i am also saying with the aim7e vs r3r. This is how the pattern works in air battles. US dominates then Russia dominates. I would not be surprised to see the balance switch back to US domination sometime next year.
difference is its a different kind of dominance. aim 7es are terrible missiles and are unreliable, same as any missile back then. recently weve started to get into missiles that arent unreliable and probably have a more than 50% chance to hit with any launch. r27ers are the best missile this game has ever seen and giving 6 of them to an amazing platform will assure dominance for longer than next year. early aim 120s get outperformed and outranged by the er, same for the r77. until the 120c5, the er with be the de facto best missile for a long time
thats because gaijin has a radar blanket on anything below 50m AGL that they’ve said is purpose done to stop radar missiles from being too strong. and even then the R27 can still occasionally hit targets in it where other nations, while also having a non-zero chance, is magnitudes slimmer than the R27’s are
yes but the 7Es also had issue hitting stuff in the first place. They were unreliable, didnt really hit anything past 12km without perfect conditions, and were pretty easy to defeat due to the AN/APG-120 being pretty atrocious on holding a lock when chaff is deployed.
The R27 dominates like no other radar missile has done in the past, nor will again after agile fox 3s come
They were very good for the time. I remember while teams of f4s just controling the sky because they could smack anything that decided to climb up to get them
The R-27ER was being used / tested on the Su-27 prior to it’s introduction to frontline units, it wasn’t a matter of being made capable of firing them… it always could. There is no reason to remove the primary armament of a plane.
For the same reason the MiG-29’s should all receive R-73s, the Su-27 should keep the R-27ER. There are better methods of balancing this, like giving the F-16C and F-15 the AIM-120.
Whatever BR changes need be made to accommodate all of this are up to how well the players use the vehicles. Efficiency determines all of this.
early 120s had a similar range as the 7s kinematically so it helps allowing counterplay against the strengths of the R27s as well be being able to defend earlier since the radars on the SMT and SU27 are both able to lock at 90 degrees anyways