The NEW Su-30SM Actually Competes...

W addition, actually worth grinding for Russia.

MY DECAL IN THE GAIJIN STORE:

[Venator]

I love how you had to put "NOT IN ORDER" because someone will probably be butt hurt about saying one plane is better than the other.

[gerardoavina]

"I want to understand the enemy"-Mihaly.

[ВячеславФролов-дя]

I'd argue that the rafale's radar is still the best one in the game, by a huge margin, essentially nowadays with aesa/pesa tws.

Being able to scan 30x70 degrees of airspace in just over 7 seconds, without any player input, and reliably track it, means that you can basically see everything in front of you, from space-climbers to ground-huggers. That's a huge bonus to your SA, and no other radar in the game can even come close to that

[SkiddyOcean]

Since the update, the ARB top tier has been 10x funnier than before. There is nothing better than F18s or Su27s turning off the AoA limiter the second we get into a merge so I can get free RP. This update definitely should have replaced the Eurofighter/Rafale update, and the game would have at least been in a slightly better place than it is now.

Lowkey though if they just moved up the BRs by like 2 full numbers that would fix most of the problems now that we have a lot more variety in all of the higher tier BRs with USSR and China finally competing in Top tier with the Su30 and J11B. Now we just need some F2s for japan and they could also get a 14.0. Maybe even evolve the .3-.7 system for BRs and add in .5 for the planes that don't quite fit in .7 but shouldn't be in .3 and vice versa.

[guimbitencourt]

I'm a USSR main and to be honest I'm a little bit frustrated with the Su-30SM and I will tell a few reasons for it and finishing telling the best Flanker in game is the J-11B:

1 - Performance and Airframe: The Su-30SM uses the Saturn AL-31F with 12.500 kgf of Thrust, meanwhile the Su-27SM uses the Saturn AL-31FM1 with 13.500 kgf of Thrust, but the Su-30SM weighs 2.000kg more then the 27SM, which means a really worst Performance, even with the Thrust Vectoring.

2 - The R-77-1 relies on a amazing radar, I really love the Su-30SM radar, but the R-77-1 even being an upgraded version it's not even close to PL-12 and AIM-120 and even MICAS used by Rafales since the Speed of the aircraft added to the missiles counts on it. And also the R-77-1 still locks only at 16km, which means in a BVR scenario you still need to wait more time to lock and leave.

With that in mind, the J-11B solves that problem, since it haves a WS-10A engine with a performance way better than the Su-30SM and also have an amazing Loadout with PL-12 and PL-8B's, so I prefer to rely in those missiles even that with less amount than the amazing 12x R-77-1 of the Su-30SM.

So, to conclude, if you want to have the best flanker in the game, it's not the Su-30SM, its the J-11B.

[meehaiii]

did you mean to say Su-27SM at 8:00 there lol

[Octanitrocubane-enjoyer]

honestly there’s a lot of people complaining about the engines for the Su-30SM and I fully get where they’re coming from they can feel a bit underpowered but the rest of the plane makes up for that

[MIASpartan]

Imo the most OP thing about the SU30 is just that it released with a functioning radar. Watching F18 vids and seeing how awful the radar works has me shaking my head.

[VictorAraújo-yt]

0:07 – 1:37

I'll be real with you (i don't know why i'm writing this comment, maybe a way to externalize a frustration? I don't really know..), i'm really sorry if you guys enjoy that actual meta, i do not mean to disrespect you guys, i'm sorry if i do...

Once i saw this gameplay footage i just closed the video and forgot the game and the video for like 4 days. I just can't stand this top tier anymore, even the lower tiers are getting boring, the more they update it just keeps getting worse. The Fox-3s were the WORST addition of this whole game, the IRCCMs were bearable at least, the Fox-1s with some tweaks could do fine, but the Fox-3? The boring BVR which you just can't avoid the engament that you don't even SEE the enemy and have the pleasure to see how you shot it down? It has to be some of the worst things to the game and reason i don't play that tier. Sure, some will say "skill issue"/"just notch"/"noob" and i'll admit that i'm bad at this, months of practicing and i can't even hit a notch and avoid the IOG, even if i do, it doesn't change the fact that it's no fun, you don't even have to see the enemy or gun the guy down with the modern jets monstrous performance. I'll be real, i don't really care if you guys point a skill issue or something, i just can't stand this anymore, i've been playing this game since 2014, when i was 9 years old, today we are in 2025 and i'm 20 years old. I've grown up with that game and never saw so many bad additions as today, i have endured so many unbalaced things (such as the .50 cals dealing a heck of a lot more damage than 10 shots from a 37mm back in 2018/2019) but this one i just can't stand anymore, i've been trying to find the fun in the BVR/Fox-3 meta since it's addition and i still can't find it, it just keep getting worse and worse.

I don't know if i am the only one who feel like this or why i came back here to leave this comment, but if you read it all until here (or don't), Jesus loves you

[goliath]

1 thing about ETs: With the new update just don't bother shooting them at rafales and eurofighters. Their MAW is next to perfect and they will flare them off even in rear aspect at the last second. That sensor fusion thing is straight up broken, no brainer.

Also i feel like the radar (while very good) has a big defecit in the vertical angles. 27SM has 60 to -55 and this has only 40 degrees. It seems like they want to force you to go up there with the other big guys instead of laying low and tracking the enemies.

[Ricktheminer]

Well the Flightmodel is still wrong....
The Normal SU 27 should be abt equal in a Ratefight to an F 15

[MLOCK]

2:47 thats the thing gaijin keeps taking wrong, lattice fins bleed less speed while pulling supersonic compared to conventional wings, in fact the performance is overall better at supersonic speeds compared to conventional swept wings, doesnt even need to take account russian sources because bots love to call "propaganda"(only word they know lmao) you can see the NATO tests in Ludwig with multiple lattice wing designs or even the space x boosters using lattice fins because the performance they need to operate is far better than swept wings...tho it would need dynamic drag models and gaijin cant do that for now...

[yoesoef]

This thing is OP in GRB, you could bring 6xR-77-1 6xKh38MT 2xR-73

[optimusprime]

Still no match against my F16 that girl is one loyal bird, shot down multiple of them on turn fights, that SU30 doesn’t stand a chance even with vector thrust

[KaguyasBeat]

This plane has been very pleasant to play. Taken plenty of shots with the -1's that felt very maybe/probably not, and then they do end up hitting. Pair that with the outstanding radar and yea: we got a plane for Russia that is competitive at top tier now. I can actually engage at range with this thing, which is basically the standard for top tier.

[Igotshafted-ec]

Honestly, for me the flight ain’t bad I honestly think it’s the best jet for a dog fight

[platy]

Can't wait to play this after the GRIND

[a_catfish]

You can use ETs in the one two combo where you shoot one r77 and one ET

[jackgamer]

Spams 10 missiles
Turns around
Gets 4 kills

Behold the peak of air combat. Seriously who finds this fun?

"The missile kit is great, a decent ammount of flares, but bad flight model" -all the top tier jets since last year

[mrk]

I think I am just bad but for whatever reason my R-77-1's don't work like yours in this video haha, I'll fire from tws but they just don't seem to connect, do you need to keep your radar pointed until they are closer still or should I only be firing from like >40 km? Please help i want to compete lol