Jets — Battlefield 3 Premium eGuide

The jets make their triumphant return in Battlefield 3, providing air superiority as well as close air support. Jets are the fastest vehicles in the game and can travel a significant distance outside the map’s combat zone, along with helicopters. This is useful when engaged in a dogfight with an enemy jet. But eventually a jet must turn around to avoid flying off the map. If your jet is heavily damaged, make sure you’re within the map’s combat zone before bailing out. Initially, each jet is equipped only with a cannon that is useful for strafing ground targets or peppering enemy aircraft with rapid fire. >But as you score more points with the jets, more weapon unlocks become available, including Heat Seekers, the Guided Missile, and Rocket Pods. Only one of these weapons can be assigned to the weapon slot, so you must decide what kind of role your jet will fill before spawning into the game.

Jet Unlock Progression

Name	Loadout Slot	Points	Description
IR Flares	Gadget	300	Infrared flare launchers that when launched will distract incoming missiles and cause them to miss their locked target.
Heat Seekers	Weapon	700	Heat-seeking missiles launched by the pilot that lock on to and track enemy aircraft.
Stealth	Upgrade	1,500	Engine tuning and fuselage coating materials disguise your vehicle’s infrared signature, thereby increasing enemy locking and tracking difficulty and decreasing the time you are revealed to the enemy when spotted.
Autoloader	Upgrade	2,700	An enhanced mechanism that decreases the minimum time between firing bursts with your main weapon.
Proximity Scan	Upgrade	4,200	External sensors detect and reveal enemy units on your minimap.
Rocket Pods	Weapon	6,200	A set of unguided FFAR Rocket Pods mounted under the wings.
Air Radar	Upgrade	8,600	The range of your minimap increases greatly and reveals all friendly and enemy aircraft.
Extinguisher	Gadget	11,600	A controlled air pressure release in the engine compartment will extinguish engine fires when activated, helping a disabled aircraft return to normal operation and recover from damage.
Below Radar	Upgrade	15,000	When flying at low altitudes, your heat signature is decreased, hiding you from enemy radar and preventing enemy air-to-air missile systems from locking on to you.
Maintenance	Upgrade	19,000	Preventative maintenance procedures improve your vehicles recovery from damage.
Guided Missile	Weapon	24,000	Laser-guided missiles launched by the pilot which lock on to and track enemy land vehicles and can acquire laser-designated targets even if they are out of line of sight.
Beam Scanning	Upgrade	29,000	A computer upgrade for advanced weapon systems that helps you lock on to enemy targets faster when using heat-seeking or laser-guided missiles.
ECM Jammer	Gadget	35,000	Electronic countermeasures including chaff launchers and deceptive transmitters prevent your aircraft from being locked on to by enemy weapon systems for a short time when activated.

A-10 Warthog

Nationality : US

Description : Designed for a USAF requirement to provide Close Air Support (CAS) of ground forces by attacking ground targets with limited AA capability.

Vehicle Performance

Speed
Armor
Firepower

Vehicle Occupancy

Seat	Position	Weapon
1	Pilot	30mm Cannon

SU-25TM Frogfoot

Nationality : RU

Description : Soviet-designed Close Air Support (CAS) plane nicknamed Grach. NATO reporting name is Frogfoot.

Vehicle Performance

Speed
Armor
Firepower

Vehicle Occupancy

Seat	Position	Weapon
1	Pilot	30mm Cannon

F/A-18E Super Hornet

Nationality : US

Description : A multi-role jet fighter aircraft introduced in 1983 and used today by the USMC.

Vehicle Performance

Speed
Armor
Firepower

Vehicle Occupancy

Seat	Position	Weapon
1	Pilot	20mm Cannon

SU-35BM Flanker-E

Nationality : RU

Description : A long-range multi-role fighter, modernized and deployed starting in 2011. The last of the Flanker series by Sukhoi.

Vehicle Performance

Speed
Armor
Firepower

Vehicle Occupancy

Seat	Position	Weapon
1	Pilot	30mm Cannon

F-35B Joint Strike Fighter

Nationality : US

Description : Designed as a fast attack vehicle for Special Operations units, the DPV is known for its lightweight yet rugged construction. While it’s not effective against armored vehicles, it poses a significant threat to infantry.

Vehicle Performance

Speed
Armor
Firepower

Vehicle Occupancy

Seat	Position	Weapon
1	Pilot	25mm Cannon

[ Jet Tactics ]

There’s no longer a need to camp runways waiting for jets to spawn at your base. You can spawn directly into a waiting jet (or helicopter) from the spawn screen. Simply choose the name of a jet from the list of available spawn points to hop in the pilot’s seat.

Pay close attention to the floating circle icon in the center of the jet’s HUD. This is the angle of attack indicator, representing the true direction your aircraft is traveling. If the icon is firmly in the center of the HUD, you are traveling straight ahead. However, if the icon drifts to the bottom of the HUD, you’re experiencing a stall. Immediately apply throttle and gently lift the nose of the aircraft to increase lift before you crash.

All jets are equipped with afterburners. Press and hold the sprint key/button to activate the afterburners, producing a sudden increase in speed. Apply afterburners when taking off or when trying to prevent a stall. Do not use the afterburner when attempting to make tight turns. This increases the turn radius of the aircraft, putting you at a disadvantage during dogfights. Instead, decrease throttle during tight turns to reduce the aircraft’s turn radius.

Jets travel so quickly that it’s difficult for them to identify both air and ground targets. Teammates on the ground or in slower moving helicopters can greatly aid jets by spotting ground targets such as tanks and IFVs. This temporarily marks targets on the HUD, making it much easier for jets to set up strafing runs. Recon troops equipped with SOFLAMs are equally important when firing the Guided Missile weapon unlock. This weapon requires a laser-designated target before it can be fired.

When aligning your aircraft prior to a strafing run, use the strafe controls to apply left and right rudder. Making these slight lateral adjustments makes it much easier to align your jet with the target. After making a strafing pass, continue flying straight for a couple of seconds, then perform a half loop. If you made no lateral adjustments, you’ll still be lined up with you target, assuming it hasn’t moved.

IR Flares or Extinguisher? This is a choice you’ll have to make when assigning an unlock to the jet’s gadget slot. Since the IR Flares are the first unlock, stick with them until the Extinguisher is available. IR Flares make it tough for heat-seeking missiles to acquire a lock, allowing you to escape. But the Extinguisher practically repairs any damage dealt by a heat-seeking missile or any other weapon by putting out the flames.

Due to the jets’ high speed, it’s difficult to lock on to a slow chopper with the Heat Seekers weapon unlock. Your jet will often zoom past the helicopter before it can acquire a lock. Therefore, consider using the cannon when engaging enemy choppers. This requires more skill, but if your aim is true, the enemy helicopter is toast. The cannon is also a good option when dog fighting enemy jets, because IR Flares can’t fool this weapon.

The Rocket Pods weapon unlock works similar to the rockets fired by the attack helicopters. When selected, an I-shaped reticle appears at the center of the HUD. Use this reticle to aim the rockets during strafing runs. You can fire up to 14 rockets per salvo, at which point the weapon must reload. So when making a pass, simply hold down the trigger to fire all 14 rockets. By the time you circle around for another pass, a new salvo of rockets should be ready to fire. The Autoloader upgrade significantly reduces the reload time for the Rocket Pods.

Gunship

The gunship is a new gameplay concept introduced by Armored Kill, rewarding one team with a powerful airborne weapons platform. In Conquest matches there is one control point on each of the new maps that spawns a gunship. Once captured, the control point grants the controlling team access to the gunship. During Rush matches, the attacking US team always has access to a gunship. Unlike in other aircraft, there is no pilot position in the gunship. Instead, the aircraft orbits around the map on its own with two crew positions accessible from the Spawn screen. Each gunner position is equipped with a port-mounted cannon as well as a top-mounted anti-aircraft turret. The 25mm cannon is capable of rapid fire, spitting out up to 30 rounds of high-explosive rounds in quick succession before entering a short reload phase. The 105mm cannon is essentially a tank gun mounted on the side of the aircraft. This heavy weapon fires one armor-piercing shell at a time, capable of disabling most ground vehicles with a single hit. In addition to serving as an awesome ground-attack aircraft, the gunship is also a mobile spawn point, dropping troops over the battlefield along its circular flight path.

Nationality : US and RU

Description : Heavily armored ground-attack vehicle with mounted HMG and cannon.

Vehicle Performance

Speed
Armor
Firepower

Vehicle Occupancy

Seat	Position	Weapon
1	Gunner	25mm Cannon/Anti-Air Turret
2	Gunner	105mm Cannon/Anti-Air Turret

Gunship Tactics

Before using the gunship’s para-drop option to deploy, monitor the gunship’s position on the Spawn screen’s map. Don’t jump out of the plane until the gunship is flying next to your intended destination. This will allow you to drop close to your target and perform a low-altitude deployment of your parachute. Freefall as long as possible to avoid becoming an easy target for enemy troops on the ground. The longer you drift in your parachute, the more likely you are to be spotted and hunted down.
What the gunship’s 25mm cannon lacks in stopping power, it makes up for in volume and rate of fire. This weapon functions similar to the chin turrets found on the AH-1Z and Mi-28 attack helicopters. A steady barrage of 25mm rounds can disable and eventually destroy a tank. For a closer view of the target, activate the zoom function for 3x magnification. While the weapon is reloading, scan the skies by switching to the anti-aircraft turret.
Due to the gunship’s constant movement, accurately firing the 105mm cannon can be a little tricky. For starters, don’t fight the controls. Instead, aim ahead of your target and let the gunship’s movement do the rest. As the reticle passes over the target, fire. The white dot in the center of the reticle is your aim point—wherever this dot is aimed, your shell will go, regardless of the gunship’s movement. Like the 25mm cannon, this weapon is also equipped with a 3x zoom magnification option, offering a slightly more detailed view of the target. The camera’s default infrared display also makes it easy to spot the heat signatures of enemy vehicles and troops—look for the bright, white dots.
Each crew position has access to an anti-aircraft turret mounted atop the aircraft. These turrets can rotate 360 degrees and fire streams of hot lead at enemy aircraft, similar to the Centurion C-RAM or PANTSIR S-1. Since the turrets are mounted on top of the aircraft, they have no way of targeting enemy aircraft flying below the gunship. So when attacking a gunship in a jet or helicopter, stay just below the aircraft’s wings to stay outside the coverage of its anti-aircraft turrets.
The gunship can sustain heavy damage, but it cannot be repaired. The aircraft’s health does not regenerate on its own, either, unlike other vehicles. Since all damage is permanent, take extra steps to keep the gunship airborne. Shoot down enemy jets and helicopters with the anti-aircraft turrets and deploy IR flares to fool incoming missiles. Keep a close eye on the gunship’s health and be ready to bail out before it reaches 1 percent. When the gunship’s health reaches zero, the aircraft simply explodes, giving you no time to bail out. It takes a full minute for a new gunship to appear, assuming your team still controls the associated control point during Conquest matches. In Rush matches the attacking team always has access to a gunship.

Dropship

One of the most strategically viable additions to the battlefield is the Dropship. This heavily armored support vehicle is afforded to a team that can control and maintain a specific control point within the field. While the aircraft itself is unarmed, the ability to deploy infantry and IFVs into the fray at a moment’s notice will make this deployment platform a highly contested asset throughout the course of any battle.

Nationality : US and RU

Description : Heavily armored airborne deployment platform capable of deployment of infantry and IFVs.

Vehicle Performance

Speed
Armor
Firepower

Vehicle Occupancy

Seat	Position	Weapon
N/A	N/A	N/A

Field Notes

Logistically, the dropship is an invaluable asset for the team in control of it. Able to drop infantry units and formidable IFVs into the field, the controlling team should expect the dropship to be subject to enemy attack the moment it appears over the battlefield. Any nearby allied aircraft should work to defend the vehicle from attack, keeping in mind that the countermeasures deployed from the dropship against locked-on weapons take a moment to reload after use. Paratroopers should also keep in mind that they are susceptible to splash damage while standing within the cargo bay of the aircraft prior to deployment.