Tracked Rapier, this is how you fix it.

[GBNATO]

Right now the British deck is suffering the same fate as many of the minor nations except a bit worse, the only borderline effective SAM is the Tracked Rapier, it is short range, has a high fire rate (often leading to wasted missiles), boasts massive fuel consumption, it's painfully slow and despite being based on the M113 chassis has no frontal armor at all (meanwhile the MLRS based on the same chassis has 1 frontal armor) but I can forgive all this as it is more than most nations can boast.

What I cannot get over however is that you stand the very real risk of having your entire airdefence wiped out by SEAD. MANPADS are now ineffective against fast jets and AAA serves as a type of ariel stun gun so what is to be done?

Well as luck would have it Rapier missiles had a whole bunch of guidance methods available and Blindfire Radar (the thing SEAD locks on to) was rareley ever brought into action, it was mounted on a towed trailer and served as a supplement to Rapiers capabilities not it's primary guidance method. The Rapier was first and foremost a SACLOS missile, the target was placed with the crosshairs and held there.

Getting rid of the RADAR stat would mean Tracked rapier would be immune to SEAD while at the same time not being infrared so not suffering the handicap associated with such systems, not that it would matter since I could throw a stone further anyway.

Another issue the Tracked Rapier has is that when firing at very close targets (like anything within it's range) it will miss because of the awkward angle with the only hits occuring after the target aircraft has released it's payload and is EVAC Winchester. One option would be to make the Rapier missile more agile so that it can actually achive first time hits.

Basically the extremely short range of Rapier would be offset by the fact that any aircraft straying within the tiny killzone would be almost gauranteed destruction.

Look guys I introduced more diversity and fixed a massive problem at the same time you can thank me later

[Whistler118]

British Doctrine relies on the RAF (Royal Air Force) as its main Air to Air defence. Any form of ground to Air britain has possessed in the past has been god awful. The Rapier (in real life that is) which is britains main Ground to air counter has the pathetic range of 6800m which is a stones throw in comparison to other nations air defence. In fact the rapier was so bad that when in was used in the falklands the missiles would more often than not hit the side of a cliff than an air target. And don't get me started on the blowpipe!

My suggestion (in game) is you use britain with only Air to Air fighters and with a reliable teammate who can help bolster your AA screen. Or alternatively, use the fictional chain gun AA system which I have found to be quite effective at times.

[Bob_Marley]

The poor performance of the rapier in the Falklands can at least be partially explained by the rather poor deployment of the systems - they were usually positioned on hills, which meant they were unable to effectively engage low flying Argentine aircraft as the systems couldn't be depressed enough.

But yeah, British AA of the era was somewhat craptastic.

[30k]

My suggestion (in game) is you use britain with only Air to Air fighters and with a reliable teammate who can help bolster your AA screen. Or alternatively, use the fictional chain gun AA system which I have found to be quite effective at times.

So what they are basically doing is making you constantly have to fight for air superiority, which in a 1v1 as the brits is not going to be so easy when all the enemy has to do is call out a BUK for example, he then doesnt have to use his planes therefore making all those activation points you spent on Air to Air jets pointless.

[Xeno426]

So the missile would function not unlike the Tunguska's missile? I like. +1.

[trotskygrad]

+1 for SACLOS Rapier

[Yuibernd]

despite being based on the M113 chassis has no frontal armor at all (meanwhile the MLRS based on the same chassis has 1 frontal armor) but I can forgive all this as it is more than most nations can boast.

The MRLS is based on the M1 Bradley chassis.

[GBNATO]

British Doctrine relies on the RAF (Royal Air Force) as its main Air to Air defence. Any form of ground to Air britain has possessed in the past has been god awful. The Rapier (in real life that is) which is britains main Ground to air counter has the pathetic range of 6800m which is a stones throw in comparison to other nations air defence. In fact the rapier was so bad that when in was used in the falklands the missiles would more often than not hit the side of a cliff than an air target. And don't get me started on the blowpipe!

My suggestion (in game) is you use britain with only Air to Air fighters and with a reliable teammate who can help bolster your AA screen. Or alternatively, use the fictional chain gun AA system which I have found to be quite effective at times.

I should not need to rely on a teammate in order to shoot down enemy aircraft, and as for using the RAF as a means of air defence, the Tornado ADV is very expensive, say I wan't to shoot down a crappy mig 21 with cluster bombs; If I scramble as soon as I see it enter the map BUK's will inevitably shoot my Tornado down while I am attempting to engage away from my front line or I could wait for it to get over my lines by which time it will be evac winchester and away.

In order for a nation to use Aircraft to achive air superiority you MUST HAVE SEAD and guess who doesen't have SEAD thats right the UK!!!

So to recap, Fighters are an awful means of air defence when used as the only layer and the best SAM the UK has is truly awful. If you happen to have a vehicle capable of traveling throught the air and you happen to come across a UK deck well then GG.

[Firesparks]

if the rapier really is this crappy, then at least increase its availability and lower its price. At the last the play can saturate his entire backyard with crappy Radar AA

[fiese_moep]

I personally like the rapiersystem vs aircrafts.

Ok short range and so on, but it shoots all 8 rockets one after another with no break.
Its cheap. Thier aa gun needs a buff maybe its pretty weak for 30.

Vs Helos is a other thing...