The AIM-54 Phoenix missile - Technology, History and Performance

Used to think so as well but the 54C really seems to struggle to go anywhere past M4.3 in-game. I previously tested it at M2.0 launch 12000m alt and it peaked at M4.42 according to some math, and that’s not accounting for any change in altitude the missile had relative to me when launched. Either way, its dV during that launch was an atrocious 715.88m/s, and it should have EASILY had much more juice in the tank to go beyond that point, seeing as the dV seen during a M1.0 9000m alt launch was 611.23m/s, with the missile achieving a top speed of roughly M3.0. This is a tiny ~17% increase in dV for the AIM-54C despite a 33% increase in launch altitude and a 100% increase in launch speed mach number.

Either way, the AIM-54C is severely underperforming in top speed and its dV in-game is atrocious.

I want to bring to attention the fact that the M2.0, 12000m launch of an AIM-54C in-game, showing a dV of roughly 715.88m/s and a top speed of M4.42 (true speed of 1303.96m/s) is INFERIOR in both top speed and dV to the M1.5 5000m launch of an R-27ER (top speed of 1400m/s, dV of ~950m/s)

You will NEVER get max performance out of the AIM-54C in-game, even just testing it was a pain, meanwhile, the R-27ER will eclipse its peak performance as seen in-game when launched from very realistic in-game launch conditions, and yet players pretend its the AIM-54C that would be “overpowered” if it got a low smoke motor? This is a bad joke.

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Oh, and as a btw, the AAM-3 is ALSO getting a low smoke motor this update, and the AIM-54C still isnt for some dumb reason…

@Gunjob sorry for bugging you m8, anything going on with this bug report? We’re STILL waiting for reduced smoke motor on the AIM-54C and now there are 3 other missiles in-game (not counting the RB74 (M) which would make it 4 since its a copy paste) with reduced smoke motors while the AIM-54C sits with its massive smoke trail despite this bug report being approved and forwarded 6+ months ago now: AIM-54c motor smoke trail - DEV - Actioned Bug Reports - War Thunder - Official Forum

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Yep, AIM-54C’s max speed is hard set to 6480 kph. But it doesn’t reach it ever.

Nothing yet, I do have the issue on my watch list so if something happens I’ll update this thread.

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My head theory at this point is there will be no 54 updates, or updates to the F-14 in general, until other Fox 3s come in.

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Question for you actually, wtf is the dV on the missile spreadsheet based on? I don’t think there are ANY conditions in-game where the AIM-54C gets anywhere close to the dV on the spreadsheet.

Spreadsheet says dV of 1158.69m/s
M2.0 launch at 12000m altitude has a dV of ~715.88m/s

Thats a difference of 442.81m/s, which is a whole 38.22% lower than what the spreadsheet says… just under ~M1.5 of missing dV in-game under optimal launch conditions…

Similar to the spall liner story in tanks, we wont be getting a proper loft untill ussr/russia gets something that has it in a2a

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Alright, thanks m8, sorry I bug you about these, i just really cant wrap my head around why gaijin hasn’t bothered fixing such a simple bug and we have no visibility for it either since its not on the current bug website

Unfortunate, but thats probs best case scenario, its also entirely possible gaijin just never fixes it because they just dont feel like it, seeing as the F-14 is already rapidly falling into irrelevancy in the players eyes and the F-14D likely wont change that

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I’ll see if I can sort that out for you this afternoon. I’ll get something on the CBR so you’ve some visibility on it.

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Thanks!

Im hoping lofting is fixed with more fox 3s coming, since currently with air to air missiles something weird with their guidance code makes it so high lofting makes them miss, would also be nice for late sparrows which loft at 30 degrees for 1/3 of their estimated time to target

The high lofting missing thing could easily be fixed by just making a time to target dependent lofting code like the Sparrows time to target dependent max G pull where the loft angle could be reduced as the missile approaches the target, but apparently thats too much work or something

preeeeeettty much, thats why I think theyll do it when we get more lofting BVRAAMs since it will magically move up the priority list of changes to fix.

Thats IF they fix lofting for the new BVRAAM’s, seeing as the R-77 doesn’t loft apparently, so they probs wont bother modelling it properly for missiles that do loft

Wouldnt be suprised if they let the R-77 loft too tho, seeing as theyre already going to buff the shit out of it in-game by giving it favourable aerodynamics that will make it not shit the bed in subsonic/transonic launches

I presume it is just the absolute deltaV of the missile, which can be computed fom the start/end mass and thrust values. In reality drag means it would not acheive that in atmosphere. OFC an issue alongside that is modeling motor-on drag reduction, I don’t think AIM-54 does.

https://community.gaijin.net/issues/p/warthunder/i/jM9ehnxndf2V

This one is already linked to the report internally, any updates will be added here.

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Nah theres no drag reduction from motor being in operation vs off. Theres also no increase in thrust from reductions in atmospheric pressure. Its weird both those features arent being modelled tbh…

Considering your mention the old forums wont be around forever, would you recommend I make a copy of the AN/AXX-1 TCS bug report I originally made on the old forums as well?

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I won’t recommended recreating bugs over and over. It will just get messy. I’ll keep an eye on that one too and just update this thread.

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