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| 4s | The Shooting Range |
|---|---|
| 8s | In this episode... |
| 9s | Pages of History: A Premium Jack of All Trades |
| 13s | Tactics & Strategy: Dodging Infrared Air-to-Air Missiles |
| 18s | And Metal Beasts: An Ambitious Project’s Younger Brother |
| 33s | Almost 7 years ago, the ‘New E.R.A.’ update brought main battle tanks to War Thunder. |
| 40s | The main stars of fall 2017 were the Soviet T-64A |
| 44s | and the duo of the KPz and the MBT-70 |
| 48s | created by a joint production of Germany and the United States. |
| 52s | The latter never reached mass production due to its high cost, |
| 55s | so the American engineers made a simpler, cheaper version of the tank. |
| 59s | And that’s how the MBT-70 got a younger brother that we’re going to discuss today. |
| 64s | Please welcome: the XM803. |
| 72s | On the outside, this machine is very similar to its relative, |
| 75s | with the only notable difference being the MG that replaced the 20-mm autocannon. |
| 80s | The main caliber, however, remained the same: |
| 83s | it’s a 152-mm cannon/launcher, and it’s right where it should be. |
| 89s | The main type of ammo here is a fin-stabilized discarding sabot shell. |
| 93s | Despite the impressive caliber, its penetration rate is comparatively modest, |
| 97s | with less than 300 mm even in perfect conditions. |
| 101s | It’s not high enough to simply shoot at the center of mass, |
| 104s | but if you aim for vulnerabilities, even a frontal attack shouldn’t be a problem. |
| 109s | There’s another type of ammo available that turns this cannon into a launcher: |
| 113s | an anti-tank missile with a beautiful name of Shillelagh |
| 116s | that can pen up to 430 mm of armor. |
| 119s | It could’ve been a great auxiliary tool for quickly taking out open-top targets |
| 124s | but its reload is double that of other types of ammo, |
| 127s | so we believe its best use is against helicopters. |
| 130s | The turret rear of this tank houses an autoloader with 25 rounds. |
| 135s | It provides a stable rate of fire with 8 shots per minute |
| 138s | independent of your crew’s state. |
| 143s | The XM803 got new armor that’s even a little sturdier. |
| 148s | Part of the turret front is a cast homogenous piece |
| 151s | that provides a tad more protection than the original project’s spaced armor. |
| 155s | It doesn’t make the tank invulnerable, of course, |
| 157s | but it’s good enough to survive a stray round. |
| 164s | The mobility of the machine suffered the biggest cut. |
| 167s | Its rear houses an engine with 1,250 horsepower. |
| 170s | Sounds good, but the original plan was to install |
| 173s | a power plant with 1,500 horsepower. |
| 176s | As a result, the younger sibling has an inferior acceleration rate, |
| 180s | although it’s still pretty mobile. |
| 182s | And much like the real-life XM803 offers a lower price as its main advantage, |
| 186s | its in-game counterpart enjoys a lower battle rating. |
| 189s | It helps you avoid the most dangerous enemies |
| 192s | and compensates for the newly introduced flaws. |
| 204s | British aircraft engineers were rather upset and mildly infuriated. |
| 209s | Not so long ago, they had ranked among the best at their craft. |
| 213s | They’d designed lots of different aircraft, |
| 215s | maybe not the most popular ones, |
| 216s | but at least among the best in their respective classes. |
| 219s | And now, the distinguished gentlemen were left in the dust... |
| 223s | To make it even worse, it was in helicopter building. |
| 226s | The Britons were challenged on two sides at once, |
| 229s | by the US from the west and by the Soviet Union from the east. |
| 233s | And Great Britain was losing fast in all classes of helicopters. |
| 237s | The Vietnam war quickly spread the fame of the light cargo Hueys |
| 240s | and the attack Cobras made by the Americans... |
| 243s | But what did Britain have? |
| 245s | The air shows demonstrated the newest Soviet Mi-8... |
| 248s | And what could Britain offer? |
| 250s | When their allies across the pond offered licensed production of the UH-1 Iroquois, |
| 255s | the Westland company took it as an insult in disguise. |
| 258s | What they actually wanted was to build helicopters of their own design, |
| 262s | better, faster, more agile and cost-efficient than the competition! |
| 266s | But how could a 19th century superpower |
| 269s | compete with the superpowers of the new age? |
| 272s | Well, first, they cooperated with another superpower of the past: France. |
| 277s | With shared responsibilities, they began working |
| 279s | on an entirely new line of helicopters at once. |
| 282s | The only project where Westland wanted less participation from the French |
| 286s | was the most important one: the future Lynx. |
| 289s | The ambition of this enterprise was off the charts! |
| 292s | The plan was to create a machine with a load capability of the Huey |
| 296s | and the flight performance of the Cobra |
| 298s | while also being able to play the role |
| 300s | of a carrier-based anti-ship and anti-sub helicopter. |
| 304s | Do you remember the Wessex story? |
| 306s | Back then, the Americans chuckled at the Brits’ effort. |
| 308s | But with the news of this new project, everyone rolled their eyes. |
| 313s | Westland engineers were left alone. |
| 315s | It’s obvious what happens to plans that get too ambitious, right? |
| 319s | So, the French Gazelle and Puma eventually made their maiden flights |
| 322s | and proved to be excellent. |
| 325s | The Brits took part in the development but showed no interest in manufacturing them. |
| 329s | The question hung in the air: how’s their project doing? Was it moving at all? |
| 334s | Well, when the assembly halls rolled out the first prototype in 1971, |
| 338s | it felt like the mountain had brought forth a mouse. |
| 342s | The helicopter Westland made was somewhat... Civilian? |
| 346s | How was it better than the Huey? |
| 348s | Well, as it turned out, it was much better. |
| 351s | Can the Huey do a barrel roll like a plane? |
| 354s | How about a loop? Fancy an Immelmann? |
| 356s | The Lynx could do all of that even before mass production! |
| 360s | Oh, you say the Mi-24 pushed 368 km/h and set a new record for classic helis? |
| 366s | And you say its creators are proud? |
| 369s | Well, it’s time to take you down a peg, comrades: |
| 371s | the Lynx can push 400, something deemed impossible before. |
| 376s | Oh, by the way, it also delivered all the promised anti-tank capabilities |
| 381s | with payloads equaling the Cobra. |
| 383s | Same goes for anti-ship and anti-sub performance, |
| 386s | much like the British and French Navies wanted. |
| 388s | One thing, though... Was it all worth it? |
| 391s | The Lynx would’ve never been able to match |
| 392s | production numbers of the Iroquois or the Cobra, |
| 395s | which also meant it would’ve never reached |
| 397s | their levels of production and maintenance costs. |
| 400s | Well, the Brits believed it was worth it. |
| 402s | You want a cargo chopper with 2 tons of payload? Get a Huey. |
| 405s | Want an anti-tank heli? Get a Cobra. |
| 408s | Need an anti-ship helicopter? The Americans would be happy to sell you some Seasprites. |
| 413s | But if you want all of those together in a single machine? You know who to ask. |
| 418s | Yes, it’s sophisticated and idealistic. Yeah, it’s expensive. |
| 423s | But, gentlemen, you do realize that perfection is an exclusive offer, right? |
| 428s | If you believe you deserve it, welcome to the club. |
| 444s | Guided air-to-air missiles have long been a familiar part of high-rank air combat. |
| 449s | With each new model introduced, |
| 450s | counteracting them becomes increasingly difficult. |
| 453s | Today we’d like to talk about how you can avoid |
| 456s | becoming prey to ‘flaming arrows’ with infrared homing devices. |
| 463s | The first such missiles, like the AIM-9B, the R-3S, or the Shafrir, |
| 468s | can be encountered even on early jets. |
| 471s | These munitions aren’t meant for high G-loads, |
| 473s | so you don’t need much skill to dodge them: a simple maneuver will do just fine. |
| 477s | But missiles got better over the years, and the G-loads they can sustain |
| 481s | have long surpassed the capabilities of airframes and humans. |
| 485s | A dodging maneuver wasn’t enough against newer models, |
| 488s | so engineers invented flares. |
| 491s | Flares are pyrotechnic devices fired by aircraft |
| 493s | that burn in the air for a short while. |
| 496s | Multiple heat sources can confuse and distract infrared homing devices. |
| 501s | There are two types of flare blocks: |
| 503s | built-in and suspended ones that you can put onto hardpoints. |
| 506s | As a rule of thumb, a few launches are enough to break a target lock, |
| 510s | so even a shallow pool of flares can be enough for an entire battle |
| 514s | if you use them sparingly. |
| 516s | However, it’s much more effective to use flares preventively: |
| 519s | if you fire them in advance, your enemy won’t even be able to lock onto you. |
| 523s | So it’s always a good idea to add more countermeasures when you can. |
| 527s | Some aircraft offer no way to add flares. |
| 530s | In this case, you can use a small trick to improve your chances: use rockets! |
| 534s | They can become pretty good countermeasures. |
| 537s | Guided missiles do react to them and change course. |
| 541s | Another distracting factor is the sun. |
| 544s | See an enemy trying to tail you and getting ready for a launch? |
| 547s | Head straight for the strongest source of infrared light in the Solar System! |
| 551s | This would make the homing head dream of flying towards the stars, |
| 555s | and it’ll set off on its first and only space journey. |
| 558s | Or, well, it’ll try to. |
| 561s | Sometimes, though, you can simply ignore an incoming attack. |
| 564s | Engines on short-range missiles only work for so long, |
| 567s | which means that if the launch happens more than a few kilometers away |
| 571s | and you’re going supersonic, you might not even need countermeasures. |
| 575s | Chances are, the missile won’t be able to catch up with you. |
| 580s | The most dangerous infrared-guided air-to-air missiles |
| 582s | have both excellent maneuverability and jamming resistance. |
| 586s | Missiles like the AIM-9M, the AAM-3, or the Magic 2 |
| 590s | can ignore flares and other sources of infrared light. |
| 594s | The most reliable way to defend against them |
| 596s | is to perform preventative mass launches of flares |
| 599s | so that you avoid getting target-locked in the first place. |
| 603s | Still, you have some chances even if the launch has already happened. |
| 606s | Keep on mass-launching your flares, but also turn off your afterburner |
| 611s | and start maneuvering to leave the homing device’s field of view. |
| 616s | We’ll talk about radar-guided missiles in another episode, |
| 619s | but for now, we’ll answer some of your questions from the comments. |
| 637s | The first question was sent by a player called Sasin: |
| 640s | “Why is the TOW on the Bradley so much weaker than on the M901?” |
| 645s | Hi Sasin! It’s because they use different missiles. |
| 648s | The M901 is armed with a more modern version, the I-TOW, |
| 652s | that offers a longer range and a higher pen. |
| 655s | General BnB asks: |
| 657s | “How do I play the PBJ-1H in air and ground RB, and what payloads are the best?” |
| 664s | Hello, General! The PBJ-1H doesn’t feel confident in air combat. |
| 669s | Your best bet is either frontal attacks or powerful defensive weaponry. |
| 673s | As for ground RB, the PBJ fares much better there. |
| 677s | We believe the best bomb set is three 1000-pounders. |
| 681s | Drop them as early as you can to lighten the aircraft and use the cannon after that. |
| 687s | Another question comes from ADAMNIVA: |
| 690s | “Will you add fuel tanks for Su-27?” |
| 693s | Hey Adam! The internal tanks of the Su-27 are big enough |
| 697s | that it doesn’t use drop tanks even while transferring to new air bases. |
| 702s | A player called J writes about the Su-25SM3: |
| 706s | “We need game modes where you can use this from the beginning.” |
| 711s | Hi J! Actually, you can use aircraft with any weaponry at the start of the battle |
| 716s | if you play ground simulator mode. |
| 718s | Of course, piloting is much harder there, but it’s an exciting challenge. |
| 723s | And the last comment for today was written by Arroyo: |
| 726s | “How do I use the GBU on the A4e?” |
| 730s | Hello! TV-guided bombs are pretty simple to use. |
| 734s | Just lock onto a target or a spot on the ground before the drop. |
| 738s | The only thing you need to keep in mind is altitude and speed. |
| 741s | Unlike missiles, bombs have no engines, |
| 744s | so the less it uses its control surfaces mid-flight, |
| 747s | the higher its chances of hitting the target. |
| 750s | That’s it for today. You’ve been watching the Shooting Range by Gaijin Entertainment, |
| 754s | and the next episode will premier the following Sunday |
| 756s | at 4 PM GMT or noon Eastern time. |
| 760s | Subscribe and click the bell if you don’t want to miss our next videos. |
| 764s | Don’t forget to cast guidance before making a roll, |
| 767s | leave a like, share your thoughts and comments... |
| 769s | and see you next week! |