The Type 90-1 HEAT Rocket is one of the mainstay Chinese rocket pods for fixed wing (and some early rotary) aircraft. However, when it was first added, the Type 90-1 stats seemingly were mirrored the Hydra 70, likely due to issues with finding concrete sources, thus a placeholder was made. It has been a while since they were added, thus I’m not sure if the Hydras received a .09 increase to their TNT equivalence, but this connection certainly reigns true for the Hydra 70 and the Fire Snake 90A.
The problem I intend to bring forth is this seems to be a rather weak comparison, especially with the smaller FS70 outperforming the 90mm missile in penetration and TNT equivalency. The Type 90-1 is certainly a shorter rocket in comparison to other rockets of a similar diameter. However, this appears to be from a shorter motor rather than a smaller warhead. The weight of the projectile is above every other finned rocket below 100 mms in diameter. One would hope that weight would be going somewhere. At its current state, the S8 rocket has higher velocity, penetration, and explosive mass despite being 10mm smaller and weighing 3.3 kg less.
I haven’t been able to find anything concrete in terms of an actual source for the true size of the warhead on the Type 90-1 or the FS-90A. However, I do believe it is fair to say that they are underperforming. Cursory searches have brought this number up, “1.3 kg TH50-50 high-explosive warhead”, for the FS-90A. While I can’t say it is fully truthful, I still believe it paints a better picture than what we have in game. These rocket systems have been ignored since their introduction. The J-11B, for example, should be carrying HF-20 pods with 16 Type-90-1 (Same pod that we see with the FS90A on the JF-17) instead of the 20 S8 rocket pod.
While I may be out of my depth due to a lack of substantial sources, I feel it is worth the discussion to at least bring some light to these rockets that are everywhere in the Chinese Air Tree. Especially if anyone would be able to gather a reasonable source for a bug report, proper. Otherwise, I’ll happily be proven wrong if they are actually being represented well. I just feel they are lacking for a 90mm rocket. Especially one that is still in use today, having seen upgrades in the form of the FS-90A. Would love to hear peoples thoughts.
