stefasaki

As an aerodynamicist myself, I found the new AIM-120 behaviour to be quite unrealistic. I mostly agree with 85th_Maverick 's points but I would like to add a possible explanation about the first real life aim-120 kill, which seems to match the current AIM-120 model on DCS. The rocket motor was still burning at the time of impact, meaning that some of the centripetal force needed to turn is actually given by the motor, and not just the fins. The CFD study I found online about the new aim-120 for DCS states that the maximum AOA is 30 degrees, its thrust would be 16700 N and its weight around 150 kg (at launch); while using this data it appears obvious that as soon as 30 degrees AOA is attainable (you don't need to be in steady state flight for this), the missile could turn at 50 g's!!! Which is even above the airframe limit. This means that the real missiles steer mostly in the first second of flight, this is why the real missile hit that MIG-25, not because it had God-level lift. I have personally witnessed (in game) an AIM-120 pulling 14 g's at mach 1.2 while losing speed almost at the same rate as an afterburning fighter. THIS IS INSANE.

Ok..... but it is a fact that the earlier version of this mod was different. It had clearly a greater acceleration.... it also used a SFM though, could that change anything?

Hi! Thank you for your great addition. I have now transitioned from the old mod to the new one. I have noticed that, while being certainly an improvement, the new model feels a bit sluggish. It takes about twice the time to reach cruise altitude and speed, acceleration is far worse and the aircraft also appears to be less capable at pulling g's. The performance gap is significant and the whole aircraft feels more like a su-27 than a su-35. According to the manufacturer, the aircraft should be capable of accelerating from 600 to 1100 kmh (at sea level and 50% fuel) in 13.8s; this number is waaaaaaaay higher for your mod. Could you update the aircraft? or could you at least tell me how to increase engine thrust?

You can actually learn how to avoid an AIM-9X, a 9g turn with your wings in the same plane as the missile's velocity vector will lead to a miss around 90% of the time. You need to be at cornering speed though. I usually prefer this solution as opposed to flares (which just do not work) and trying to lock the missile with an r-73 (which gets you killed 90% of the time)

I've lost count of how many choppers I lost in the mountain region south of khasab in PG (reminds me of afghanistan so I use that area with the A-10 for strikes).... and the funny thing is that when they manage not to crash on the side of a mountain, they actually get destroyed by enemy tank fire!!! Why the hell do they get that close??? Fighters AI in dogfights in valleys is equally hilarious, at some point they think they are going to hit something and pull up for no reason... getting to a near stall and becoming a stationary target for my cannon ... and if someone else is pursuing you at low level, this will take the direct route to your position, with a 40% chance of hitting a mountain. (i have modified the Intercept quick mission with the su-27 to become a me vs 4 f-16 and 4 f-15, and I love it! It became the dogfight paradise around the caucasus highest mountains, and these funny situations really are around the corner, also i deleted my wingman because he liked mountains too much...)

I have actually read an abstract from a study from the 80's over differences in g tolerance between men and women that was inconclusive, no signficant difference emerged (Apart from women as tall as men, those fared worse). About the minuteman study... that was about handling a sequence of steps to launch an ICBM in a stressful context, which is not even close to a fighter pilot's job. I personally don't think that there are performance disparities between genders in fighter pilots, but if I had to pick one, I'd say that due to the numerous studies that showed how men had a better spatial orientation than women, dudes could have the edge in dogfights (speaking of large numbers of course)

The file comes with two variants, called su-35 and su-35s. The latter is for air-to-air engagements, it has 12 hardpoints and can mount the r-77 on most of them. The former is supposedly the air to ground version.... but as I am an air to air guy, I have never used it and cannot speak for it

I own the ISVA su-35 and I can say it look(ed) pretty good! Nothing to say about the outside looks, it’s just like the real thing, while systems and cockpit textures are from the Su-33. It has a SFM and handles very well. The reason it looked good is because it doesn’t work anymore in 2.5.4... the plane cannot touch the ground anymore and there are some missing textures on the outside.... but I strongly recommend it for 2.5.3!!