F-16C vs F/A-18C for BVR & AA in general

[MARSIANERE]

Hornet can carry much more amraams than the Viper but not as much A/G ordnance. Viper can have triple mavs, triple bombs and the best: CBU 105 (I think) the guided cluster bomb with 10 little guided single things. Perfect for large groups of vehicles. In one situation the Hornet is better, in the other the Viper. But in one category the Viper clearly wins: it looks so much cooler

[skywalker22]

15 minutes ago, MARSIANERE said:

Hornet can carry much more amraams than the Viper but not as much A/G ordnance. Viper can have triple mavs, triple bombs and the best: CBU 105 (I think) the guided cluster bomb with 10 little guided single things. Perfect for large groups of vehicles. In one situation the Hornet is better, in the other the Viper. But in one category the Viper clearly wins: it looks so much cooler

Not just triple, but quadruple.

Btw, welcome aboard

[Kev2go]

On 12/24/2023 at 11:10 AM, MARSIANERE said:

Hornet can carry much more amraams than the Viper but not as much A/G ordnance. Viper can have triple mavs, triple bombs and the best: CBU 105 (I think) the guided cluster bomb with 10 little guided single things. Perfect for large groups of vehicles. In one situation the Hornet is better, in the other the Viper. But in one category the Viper clearly wins: it looks so much cooler

 You dont get very far on vipers internal fuel alone, even less so if you have such draggy loadouts of taking both Triple mavericks and Triple Mk80 series bombs. This is only something youd ever use in a single player situation if your taking off from an airfield and have some practice targets on a range next to your airfield. 

 

ON the Hornet you can still take a centerline tank for extra gas and still have 2 pylons on the wings left for A/G ordinance. The Viper on the other you could take that small centerline tank, since its better then just going in on that tiny internal fuel capacity, but given the Viper doesn't have an Internal jammer, if necessary you are compelled to take centerline for the ECM pod, which in turn only leaves you necessity for 2 EFT's which also means further limiting its A/G ordinance carry.

 

SO in short the F/A18  is more flexible and carries more when you take practical considerations like additional fuel for Mission distance and Loiter time. Not really the the same dilema for A10 or Strike Eagle pilots. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 18, 2024 by Kev2go

[Simba_11]

On 3/11/2022 at 12:04 PM, SCPanda said:

Hornet's SA is not better than Viper. Viper's SA is awesome. 

One thing I hate about the Hornet in terms of SA: its RWR location in the cockpit. Due to poor placement of its RWR screen, you have to put the EW page on one of the MFD. Then, you have to choose between having either the EW page on one of the two screens on top (other one for radar obviously), or put it on the screen on the bottom. On top: you cannot see the SA page, you have to look down to see the SA page, making it difficult to have an all-time situational awareness. On the bottom, you can see the SA page all the time, but you are fucked on the RWR side. Yes, I know you can have RWR on HUD and JHMCS, but a top down view of the RWR is better and less confusing they missiles are flying at you. 

In comparison, Viper's cockpit layout is perfectly built for air to air (makes sense since it's an AIR foce jet). RWR, 2 MFD displaying radar and HSI right in front of your eyes, no need to look down at anything. If you know how to work with a Viper, it's your best friend at shooting bandits down. 

Viper's speed is also better at chasing bandits down or running away if you need to. No jets can outrun the Viper in DCS and have the same level of BVR capability. Hornet's speed sometimes can be frustatiing: you will find yourself in situations when you see a Viper getting away from you and can't do nothing or struggle to run away when a Viper, Eagle, or Tomcat is on your ass. 

You really don't know how to BVR in a Viper don't you? Jammer pod goes on the center station. Center station is not for weapons, period. You don't need a third external fuel tank for BVR, center tank will just make your jet more draggy and 2 tanks is far more than enough fuel unless you are too dumb to go full burner at all time in low altitude. Flying low is not how a Viper should fight anyway. Regarding drag, it's negligible. With the jammer pod Viper is still fast, and much faster than Hornet. 

Another thing notice, just go look at the scoreboard in the PvP severs. Vipers are always on top. Hornets? Not so much. 

 

Where are you getting that the F-16 "Center Station is not for weapons period"?  This is factually in accurate. It is very publicly known that the 30mm Gun pod was mounted there for a short lived time period. There are other items that have been mounted on station 5 but that information is not so easy to find public data on it.