These new flight models for ATGMs assume all weapons of this type must use a soft launch system where the missile exits the tube and drops significantly, when that isn’t the case for the overwhelming majority of tube launched weapons.
Milan, HOT, AT-4 and similar that are launched from a very short tripod when in infantry use are all flying at speed and with secondary sustain rocket motor in action less than a meter from the tube exit.
This is a video of Milan being launched, with convenient slow motion of launch and impact. As we can clearly see, it doesn’t drop into the dirt after launch, and generally remains on target.
This is a video of ERYX, a system currently not in game. It is relevant to the discussion as it is one of, if not the only soft launch SACLOS ATGM systems in the world. Even it has little to no drop after exiting the tube. ERYX is one of the very few ATGM systems/AT systems that can be fired indoors with no preparation safely, and it exits the launch tube with sufficient velocity to have almost zero drop. That’s right, ERYX, the missile with a soft launch doesn’t drop after exiting the tube.
The majority of ATGM systems in the game should not have any visible drop after launch.
Even the M47 Dragon ATGM had no perceptible drop after firing, and the M47 Dragon was infamous for being launched into the dirt in front of the gunner. The fault lay with the gunner flinching when firing. The sudden weight change when the weapon exits the launcher would surprise inexperienced soldiers.
ATGM control is also quite poorly modeled now. Ground launch MCLOS weapons aren’t actually controlled by the gunner in War thunder, the game just gives you an invisible crosshair and flies the missile to it. Air launched MCLOS weapons, however, are correctly implemented.
SACLOS missile control is also implemented incorrectly. These weapons fly to the crosshair, and generally do not require the gunner to “lead” for moving targets. In fact, TOW gunners are actually directed to avoid attempting to lead for moving targets. As long as the crosshair is on the enemy, the missile should hit, even against a moving target.
This isn’t even getting into the poorly tuned PID controller that causes excessive oscillations and missiles to ‘lag’ behind the point of aim at distance, or server desync problems making ATGMs unresponsive.
While technically inaccurate for physics, the old system (before, when the weapons just used invisible thrust vectoring to remain on target) was actually performing much closer to reality.
The new system with missile flight models is too poorly inplemented to be accurate to realistic performance.
