It is indeed all the bugs of the radar that is holding the phoenixes back, atleast for me.
Tws LOBL logic is nonsense, the tws target tracking logic is not working properly in many situations and the false elevation indicator issues are troubling.
I have lost a large amount of kills due to this issue, sometimes not being able to launch at all at my preferred target/targets.
It uses data from the Datalink to point its active radar seeker at the enemy aircraft (without actually transmitting its own radar signal), where it then guides based on the launching aircraft’s reflected radar signal.
Spoiler
I think this would make it much less susceptible to sidelobe interference because of the directional antenna but idk I’m just talking out my rear.
The missile is underperforming. It has been reported internally and should eventually get a fix. My best guess is they are waiting for newer Fox-3s to appear because fixing the AIM-54 right now would destroy balance in air RB (that’s satire, I know the R-27ER already dominates).
Currently the drag is too high, motor performance is mostly correct. The maneuverability should be increased to ~22-23G. Maybe even 25G for certain variants.
Top speed should be mach ~6.1 or so and capable of reaching it at lower alts than it reaches its’ current top speed (this is for a high mach launch of course).
Anyhow, all of these reports are acknowledged if I recall… but not yet actioned. The missile will be fixed eventually when it better fits into the game and I hope that is soon.
that chart isn’t accurate. Notably they immediately disprove the claim of 81,400ft max altitude for the 54A when they mention the distance-record launch achieved a max altitude of >100,000 feet.
Yes! a car’s wheels are a control surface that makes contact with the road. A missile control surfaces make contact with airflow. Both need motion to work, yes?
Both can be overloaded by too high of a speed and acceleration. Mass and weight have a detrimental effect in cars as wells as missiles in which the R27ER has both over the regular R27R, and both have the same exact control surfaces or “wheels” as each other.
I don’t much care for the F-14D’s introduction, rather I would like to see the current missiles fixed and multi-target and launch capability etc with an increase in BR for the F-14s. Perhaps even AIM-9L for the A and AIM-9M for the B.
81,400ft being maximum effective altitude for 54A?
Such as reported on fighter jets, the flight ceiling of F-15 is somewhere around 60-65k feet, yet the F-15 can reach higher altitudes for short durations of time. The record was 98k feet.