We don’t care compared to IG 5F Rafale F1 would be meh plus i don’t understand all the people who are like “they gonna go F1 first” bro everybody would complain about it saying it brings nothing new compared to 5F which is absolutley what F1 is; nothing new except Radar and Airframe + with MICA radar won’t change a damn thing as you can already exploit full MICA capabilities thanks to 5F HMD + RDY which will be fixed to have the all aspect TWS. F1 is just pointless due to how 5F is… F2 makes way more sense.
Well you can argue that because of the new radar, airframe and engines, the Rafale M F1 would be better at the air superiority role than the 2000-5F. But the logic is understandable, a Rafale ( M or C ) F2 as the first one is an idea that defend itself, the M F1 can stay in the hand for an event/premium vehicle.
After all, we direcly got the Mirage 2000C-S5 per example, the S3 got skipped.
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i see the M F.1 as the -5F of naval line behind F-8E(FN) and would simply be something good for still having 2 lines in this game.
Rafale is omnirole hence the fact it should be the death of Naval and CAS lines. Therefore, as operating such a thing would mean 1 modern plane per year for France they’d probably add C/B/M each year with a increase in standard each December.
Example :
December 2024 : Rafale C F2 → March 2025 : Rafale B F2 → June or September : Rafale M F2 → October 2025 : Filler → December 2025 : Rafale C F3R and so on and so forth.
If Mitsubishi X-F2A is to come this year then there is no reason to retain Rafale F3R more than late 2025 as Mitusbishi F2(Experimental and serial) never had anything but an AESA radar.
It’s just that just look at it. If it wasn’t for new weapons sets, variants of some planes would never have made it to the game. Easiest example to use are F16C and Mig 29SMT and even Mirage 2000-5F. They’ve been introduce early as hell but why were they introduced in the first place ? Because it gave Gaijin a reason to make a plane use R73 and AIM 9M. Also looking deeper at it these planes have a diff both in flight perfs as well as weaponry compared to their earlier versions(F16 A and Mig29 A). Rafale F1 would only bring a new aiframe to the table and a better radar this is way too poor considering gaijin could do the funny and decide to let 5F equip MICA IR thus making even F2 presence questionnable due to how they implemented 5F(As 5F mk2) where F2 would just bring AASM as new weapons.
PS : I’ll even add to that that if SMT, 16C and 5F as well as many other planes made it to the game this year is due to the fact they can use Fox 3s here’s another reasons to why if a plane don’t bring freshness they’d just skip it an make it an even/prem plane instead.
I guess gaijin could add 4+ gen fighter with PESA radar Rafale M F1 (late) after Mirage 4000 in december this year, Rafale B F2 & Rafale C F2 coming to Q3 or Q4 2025
But I can’t think new multirole fighter/attack aircraft located after Mirage F1CT at rank 8
Rafale M F1 it might be interceptor/air superiority fighter, and none MICA IR, Air-to-Ground armament & targeting pod
You miss understand me then,… i feel like only Naval and Air lines will stand, after the Mirage 2000D RMV will be added in attacker line.
Well, F16C and Mirage 2000-5F were also excuses to get 4th gen multi role platforms, the main selling point of the -5 was his guided weaponry when it was introduced in game while the F16C also better it this area than the F16A, thanks to the targeting pod and guided bombs, while also getting better A2A weaponry with the 9M and being allowed to use the Sparrow that only the ADF was allowed to use before. So don’t forget the GRB factor in wich plane will be added.
For the freshness : it’s the airframe that will bring it when compared with the 2000-5, because the MICA is basically the end of the line for the French air to air weaponry until the Meteor missile, that is still far away from being added in game, and the MICA NG that is not even in service for now.
There will be not 3 different Rafale of the same standard in a row, especially from one that is bad in the air to ground area :
The first is likely to be a more A2A focused one, F1 or F2 standard, then after that we will get a multi role one, at F3 standard at least. Finally we will likely get an F4 to get 2 more MICA, it can be added without the Meteor if necessary like they have done with the 2000-5F.
The question about wich will be the first Rafale in game is : will the MICA IR be added before the Rafale ? If not, we can perfectly see a Rafale M F1 as the first one, it allow them to add after that the Rafale C F2 to introduce the MICA IR and AASM, but if the MICA IR is introduced before, then the F1 will likely be skipped. The same question can be asked later on with the Meteor missile, to know if the F3R will be added before the F4 standard.
At best the road map for the Rafale can get 5 aircrafts different from each others ( F1 → F2 → F3 → F3R → F4 ) with a minimum of 3, and it’s not because all theses standards would be in the tree that gaijin would run out of possible copy pastes for events/premiums aircraft. If we have in the tree a Rafale C F2 per example, they still have the M and B available at this standard.
Slowing a bit the pace like this will give to Gaijin more time before running out of new Rafale that is different and also powercreep the previous, because let’s be honnest, the Rafale C, M and B are mostly the same aircraft, what will make them different between them is what they will be carrying. In others words, the M F2 and B F2 would be seen as copy pastes of the C F2, and copy pastes are not really well received usually.
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Got to love the images being deleted.
Yes, thanks for reminding me to replace the images as discord is no longer hosting images. Enjoy this picture for now:
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- FRA:
- MICA IR (model only)
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Here we go
MICA EM
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I hope they give it its cool purple flame
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Is it just me or are most of the pics dead already ?
Yes unfortunately, I’m having some issues replacing the pictures, but hopefully should be fixed soon.
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I went ahead and fixed up all of the pictures @FriesingCold @Artyom_Matesky, let me know if there’s any more issues.
I collected all of the bug reports regarding the MICA missiles and here they are in a collection:
https://community.gaijin.net/issues/p/warthunder/i/Zng3ldg9IMBr
MICA EM spins out when launched at low speeds.
https://community.gaijin.net/issues/p/warthunder/i/mrmjVxlrZzhf
MICA EM should have reduced/low smoke
https://community.gaijin.net/issues/p/warthunder/i/9fzE6jAv2Bqr
MICA EM is too unstable
https://community.gaijin.net/issues/p/warthunder/i/uZzUOzeelirO
MICA EM should have purple flames
https://community.gaijin.net/issues/p/warthunder/i/ti7qZbezcxXi
MICA EM should have directional splinter warhead
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A MICA IR report should be done in the next few weeks so that Gaijin can properly model it, but I don’t expect it to come anytime soon.
Itd be cool if they added those in-game. AIM-54C, AIM-7M, and likely the AIM-120 are all missing it as well, granted nobody has made a bug report about them, but I do have source on relative performance increase over regular blast frag warheads. I also have a primary source on “effectivness” increase for the WDU-29/B on the AIM-54C compared to the Mk82 on the 54A, and a (not useful, but still interesting) claimed AIM-54C test engineer’s quote regarding the exact functionality of the system on the AIM-54C and its approximate range
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It would help my report a lot if you did make those reports for the other missiles, because devs are unlikely to implement new features for just one nation/one missile.
On dev server, they recently implemented automatic waveform management on Tornado F.3, F-16C, and M2K-5. So they’re willing to do new things but only if someone goes through with reporting them on multiple airframes/weapons.
Sorry, but I don’t make bug reports anymore. Gaijins wasted enough of my and my friends time fighting tooth and nail to deny or ignore every single report we’ve submitted, or to simply not implement things they admit are real, even if they’ve already modelled the same features on other weapons in-game (such as reduced smoke motors they still refuse to give the 54C).
I’ve also personally been ridiculed, villainized and targeted by pro-russian players and their forum moderator friends due to their disagreement with my statements, even if backed by facts. I have even specifically argued with the radar (and missile?) dev who continues to peddle myths about the AIM-54 specifically and his beliefs that if the soviets hadn’t been able to accomplish something with radar/missile tech, the Americans couldn’t either. I have no interest in doing gaijins job for them or letting them waste any more of my time.
Most/all the relevant info is available in the AIM-54 thread, its been in there for months at this point if you’re interested.
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