Comparison of SuperSonic Aircraft in War Thunder

Post date: Oct 26, 2020 11:1:3 AM

A little something I felt like doing. This page is WIP and is thus incomplete.

As of patch 101, every nation has at least one supersonic and one transonic jet so I thought I'd make a top 10 list and describe my experiences fighting in, and, or against these "Supers."

This blog post will include such descriptions and personal opinion rating on their ability to perform in the current sim meta. Battleratings are accurate as of Oct 2020. Suggestive battleratings are essentially how good I rate the aircraft with a BR as a reference standard to the current sim meta.

Defining a "Super"

How I usually define a "Super" is dependant on its flight characteristics and not necessarily on its supersonic flight capability.

• For example, even though an F-86K "SabreDog" is slower than an F-86F without an afterburner and also is practically incapable of exceeding Mach 0.98 dive due to its massive transonic drag, it has the "feel" of a "Super" aircraft in the form that its stalling angle of attack lies around 16 degrees while the F-86F has what I like to call a "WW2" flight model because it stalls at a more typical angle attack of around 12.5 degrees (~14 deg for the A-5 and the F-40 variants) which is found in aircraft like the Spitfire or the Bf109.

• A "Super" doesn't necessarily need to have an afterburning jet engine, for example I consider the Entendard french naval strike fighter to be a "super" as well because it also stalls around 18 degrees angle of attack and is able to fly transonic without issue in a dive.

• Dogfight tactics employed to counter or fight in a "Super" drastically differs from the typical WW2 era flight model aircraft due to the higher angles of attack and drastically increased induced drag coefficients when generating maximum potential lift in these aircraft.

  • A good example of a plane that is the complete opposite of a "Super" is the Me 262, which on clean flaps only increases its drag from parasite drag by about three times, whereas a MiG-21, while in a clean configuration can glide pretty well at 3.6 degree glideslopes with a dead engine, but is willing to bleed at full alpha within G tolerances from mach 1 to touch-down speeds in only just 8 seconds.

  • As a result of the higher drag coefficients with turning, even in a 1v1 situation it is not always optimal to do maximum lift potential turns. Maximum lift potential turns in some aircraft like the Mirage III will actually bleed speed so quickly that the pilot can experience the full 16 Gs at the merge and potentially breaking the wing1, and not G-LOC (assuming 5-star non-expert crew) while maintaining maximum turning potential, because the G loading bleeds below the 6 G sustain limit in about 1 second.

• All aircraft rated on this page are aircraft which I deem to be in the category of a "Super."

The Supersonic Giants

MiG-21 SMT (МиГ-21 СМТ) - Interceptor

Balancing

BR: 10.7

Suggestive BR: 10.7

Performance

Climb Rate (Loaded-Empty): 175-280 m/s

Stall Speed (Loaded-Empty): 135-118 knots

Stall Speed (Flaps, empty): 112 knots

Dead-stick Glide Speed (Empty)(Approximate): 280 knots

Minimum Runway Take-off Distance4 350m

Minimum Runway Landing Distance4 150m

Airspeed Limitations

G-loading (Loaded, Empty): Standard fighter limits (12-14.5)

Undercarriage: 235 knots (450 kph)

Flaps (Fully Extended): 250 knots (480 kph)

Drogue Chute: 156 knots (290 kph)

Redline 726 knots (1345 kph)

Ordinance

Gun

GSh-23L (x1, Twin barrelled autocannon)

• FI-T isn't much better than API for air target engagement

• Approximately 8 hits in a concentrated area is required to down an aircraft

• API has sufficient penetration to destroy these hard targets:3

  • Light Pillbox (Crown and Vents only)

  • AI Tanks:

    • Pz IV (Early) (Side of Engine Deck / Turret Base)

    • M4 Sherman (Side of hull)

    • M3 Stuart (Normal Angle Aspects)2

    • T-34 (Side of hull at the track base)

• Gun shares same crappy velocity and speed bleed with earlier 23mm cannons available on the late WW2/Korean war aircraft

• Leading required is approximately equal to double the Gyro compensation at 250m at mach 1

• CCIP Available, ground strikes not advised due to aircraft sinking

Air to Air Missiles

R-60 (x2, x4) (IR)

• Max Effective rear aspect range at Mach 1 on a straight (Mach 1, 0.7) target @ 100m Altitude: ~2.6km, ~3.6km

• Max IR seeker rear aspect lock range (Dry, Wet): ~3.3km, ~3.6km

• Rocket Burn Time 3.5s

• Seeker Warmup 3s

• Seeker Ready 12s

• Guidance Startup Delay ~0.05s

• Control Surface Smoothing ~1s to reverse deflection

R-3 series (K-13) (R-3S: IR, R-3R: SARH) (x2, x4)

• Max Effective rear aspect range at Mach 1 on a straight (Mach 1, 0.7) target @ 100m Altitude: ~1.8km, ~3.1km

• R-3S IR Max Seeker Rear Aspect Lock Range (Non-Afterburner, Afterburner): ~3.3km, ~3.6km

• R-3R SARH Max Seeker Range (Reliable, Unreliable): ~3.5km, ~6km

• Rocket Burn Time 2.2s

• IR Seeker FOV ~3.8 degrees

• IR Seeker Tracking Rate 11 deg/s

• Seeker Warmup 2s

• Seeker Ready 8s

• Guidance Startup Delay ~0.5s

• Control Surface Smoothing ~0.5s to reverse deflection

Rockets

S-24 (HE, Unguided Anti-Infantry/Light Targets/Armoured Targets) (x2, x4)

• 72m Explosion Radius

  • 0.07 second useful damage tolerance in a head-on at Mach 1

• Draggier and heavier than guided AAM munitions

• Up to 10m Spread at 300m

• CCIP supported

• 80mm HE Penetration

• Distance Fusing Available

S-5K (HEAT, Anti-Armour)

• 150mm HEAT penetration

• Up to 25m spread at 1km

• Launches from UB-16 x4, x2 or UB-16 x2 and UB-32 x2 rocket pods

• CCIP supported

Bombs:

OFAB-250

• ~9kg explosive filler

FAB-500M

• ~220 kg explosive filler

Other Tests

Minimum Split-S Altitude: 850m

4-bit RWR angular limit (Vertical): ~30 degrees (45 degrees in DCS)

Has IFF and Boresight RADAR functionality

RADAR supports tracking up to 15km and scan-search up to 30km.

Engine suffers no altitude-dependant performance loss until 6km altitude, however suffers low speed thrust loss.

Capable of landing on a moving carrier.

Mirage IIIC (Fighter, Interceptor)

Balancing

BR: 10.7

Suggestive BR: 10.7

Performance

Climb Rate (Loaded-Empty): 125-160 m/s

Stall Speed (Empty): 98 knots

Dead-stick Glide Speed (Full-Empty)(Approximate): 320-265 knots

Minimum Take-off Distance: 500m

Minimum Runway Landing Distance: 400m

Airspeed Limitations

G-loading (Loaded, Empty): Standard fighter limits (13-15.5)

Undercarriage: 220 knots (410 kph)

Drogue Chute: 148 knots (275 kph)

Redline 726 knots (1345 kph)

Ordinance

Gun

DEFA 522A

• AP shell has a marginally higher velocity than HEI and HEI-T shells and so default belts may feel easier to use

• AP round will oneshot wing spars in light jets

• HEI round will make wing surfaces red or black in light jets

• Approximately 3 hits in a concentrated area to down a jet

• AP shell has sufficient penetration to destroy the following AI hard targets:

  • Light Pillbox

  • AI Tanks:

    • Pz IV (Normal Angle Aspects)

    • M4 Sherman (Normal Angle Aspects)

    • M3 Stuart (All Aspect)

    • T-34 (Normal Angle Aspects)

    • Chi-Ha  (Normal Angle Aspects)

    • Tiger I

    • JagdPanther

    • Panther

    • Tiger II

  • Unadvisable Targets but possible to kill:

    • T-62 (Shoot the area under the turret at approximately the height of the main track wheels)

Air to Air Missiles

Matra 550 "Magic" (x2) (IR)

• Max Effective rear aspect range at Mach 1 on a straight (Mach 1, 0.7) target @ 100m Altitude: ~3km, ~3.8km

• Max IR seeker rear aspect lock range (Dry, Wet): ~3.4km, ~4km

• Rocket Burn Time 4s

• Seeker Warmup 4s (CHECKME)

• Seeker Ready 12s (CHECKME)

• Guidance Startup Delay ~0.2s

• Control Surface Smoothing ~1s to reverse deflection

• Points downwards ~2 degrees from the gun crosshair

Matra 530 series (x1)

• Max Effective Rear Aspect Range at Mach 1 on a straight (Mach 1, 0.7) target @ 100m Altitude: ~3.3km, ~4.5km

• Max Effective Head-On Range at Mach 1 at (100m, 5000m): 4km, 9km

• Max IR (530E) seeker rear aspect lock range (Dry, Wet): ~3.4km, ~4km

• Max SARH (530) seeker lock range (Reliable, Unreliable): 11km, 14.5km

• Rocket Burn Time 6s

• IR (530E) Seeker Warmup 4s (CHECKME)

• IR (530E) Seeker Ready 12s (CHECKME)

• SARH (530) Seeker Warmup 1s

• SARH (530) Seeker Ready 20s

• Guidance Startup Delay ~0.5s

• Control Surface Smoothing ~1.5s to reverse deflection

• Points downwards ~2 degrees from the gun crosshair

AIM-9B (x2, x4)

• Max Effective rear aspect range at Mach 1 on a straight (Mach 1, 0.7) target @ 100m Altitude: ~1.8km, ~3.1km

• IR Max Seeker Rear Aspect Lock Range (Non-Afterburner, Afterburner): ~3.3km, ~3.6km

• Rocket Burn Time 2.2s

• IR Seeker FOV ~4 degrees

• IR Seeker Tracking Rate 11 deg/s

• Seeker Warmup 2s

• Seeker Ready 8s

• Guidance Startup Delay ~0.5s

• Control Surface Smoothing ~0.5s to reverse deflection

• Points downwards ~4 degrees from the gun crosshair

Rockets

SNEB

• Untested

AS-30 (x1)

• Untested

• Supposidly equivalent to the C model Bullpup, which I have not tested yet either.

Bombs:

250kg (x2)

400kg (x2)

Other Tests

Minimum Split-S Altitude: 650m

Has IFF but no boresight RADAR function and thus must find a target and then it can lock the target.

RADAR supports scanning up to 20km unless target is a friendly or an objective within 36km netcode limit. May be a bug.

RADAR is unlikely to spot anything beyond about 18km.

RADAR is surprisingly reliable at very low altitude under 100m while the nose is pointed a little upwards. Once a stable lock has been achieved, maintaining a lock on a target below the horizon is more reliable than that on the phantom or the MiG-21.

Has no RWR.

Has abysmal sustained rate of climb despite the aircraft's high thrust and lift performance.

Engine suffers minimal performance loss under mach 0.85.

Capable of landing on a moving carrier.

Notes:

1. G limits, Aerodynamic speed limits and other speed limits are probability zones with an increased probability of breaking your wings the higher the G loading.

2. Normal Angle Aspects: Basically any angle you can find a flat surface and strike it at a perpendicular angle. Striking curved or sloped engine decks or turret or frontal areas is not advised but generally doable.

3. Top-down shots are excluded since most AI hard targets only have about 10mm RHA equivalent on the roof.

4. Minimum Runway XYZ refers to the smallest flat surface area required to take-off or land, assuming there is a plateau of that distance available with the surrounding area clear of obstacles.