It has a bit of a learning curve, but even you can use the Su-7BMK to both mow down enemies and bomb bases.
War Thunder Su-7BMK Use in Air RB
Welcome to our War Thunder Su-7BMK Use in Air RB guide. The Su-7BMK is a rank 6 premium vehicle for the USSR at battle rating 9.3. It can be purchased from the Gaijin store for $59.99 USD along with 15 days of premium and 2,000 golden eagles.
It comes with a rocket and cannon ballistic computer and lacks any form of countermeasures.
It also has a rudimentary Radar Warning Receiver, however at this br range it is objectively useless.
If you are ever confused by terms, refer to the glossary at the bottom!
Loadout Options
The Su-7BMK can carry a wide array of air-to-ground ordnance, being able to carry 4 unique bomb loads and 4 unique missile loads. Custom loadouts are NOT available for this vehicle.
The Missiles
When it comes to Air RB, the various missile loadouts are relatively insignificant. At 9.3, you are not able to consistently attack ground units on most maps without being rudely interrupted by an enemy with all-aspect missiles.
The Bombs
The bombs are far more useful in Air RB because you can use them to bomb bases. The ultimate question, however, is which bombs should use use?
At a glance, it’s easy to jump to the 2x OFAB-250 and 4x FAB-500M-54s, as that equates to roughly 1 ton of TnT (A 4 base map at 9.3 requires ~1.4 tons per base). However, the 4x ZB-360s are the way to go. Tonnage wise, they’re nowhere near the other loadouts, but they are incendiary bombs and therefore do tick damage.
Dropping all 4 ZB-360s on a single base will destroy it, granting you 0.077 tons on the statistics board and approximately points
When it comes to:
Offensive 30mm Belts: I take Air Targets because they pack a huge punch against air targets whilst still being able to destroy ground units.
Gun Targetting Distance: I set mine to 600m
Fuel Amount: I take max fuel. Your engine is very fuel hungry and it’s easy to expend it all
Bomb Fuse: 1.5 seconds. Though for this aircraft, it’s dealer’s choice since your fire bombs are unlikely to do any damage to anything but bases.
Bomb Series: 4(All), because being able to hit a single button and ensuring all 4 bombs land close to one-another is key for high-altitude bomb runs.
Strategy 1: Rush
Considering the high speed achievable by the Su-7 while near the ground, its easy to assume the best strategy is rushing takeoff and bee-lining it for a base.
To do this strategy you’d:
- Get to WEP as soon as you spawn in (If you have two keys set to throttle control, hold both, alternatively you can increase the Multiplier in your throttle controls to get to WEP faster).
- Retract your flaps! They start on Take-Off and will do nothing but slow your takeoff.
- Call a base if possible and hope your teammates respect the call.
- Get to the base and drop the 4x ZB-360s.
- Assuming you made it this far, I’d personally zoom climb to get an altitude advantage over the enemy and proceed to orbital strike any unsuspecting foe.
This strategy is typically the quickest, if you get intercepted, it’ll be early in the match and you would not have wasted much time.
However, in my experience, this strategies has enough pitfalls that keep me from playing it:
- You get intercepted quite often. AV-8As were constantly a pain when it came to this strategy. They takeoff really quickly and their missiles (Aim-9Gs) are impossible to dodge under most circumstances considering the Su-7s lack of countermeasures.
- In an uptier, all your bases will be taken by Tornados.
- Even in a downtier, it’s very possible that a large contingent of other Su-7s may take your base, leaving your rush pointless
- It’s not fun. Holding down the throttle key and moving your mouse once and then praying you make it far enough to bomb just isn’t sustainable. It gets boring and repetitive very quickly and leaves you angry when you get intercepted.
Overall, this strategy is most effective in a downtier, where almost all planes are slower than you.
Regardless, in my opinion, this tactic is suboptimal and really wastes the potential of the Su-7.
Strategy 2: Climb in War Thunder Su-7BMK
Alternatively, you could use your powerful engine to climb to altitudes where most people leave you alone. At 10km up, there is hardly a soul who dares reach you (They do sometimes happen, keep a vigilant eye!)
To do this strategy you’d:
- Side Climb on full afterburner, climb at ~25-30 degrees until you reach ~5km
- Lower your climb angle to ~15 and proceed to climb to 8-10km
- Level out, and proceed to head in the direction of your target
- Once above the target, drop throttle to 0% and dive (With airbrakes deployed). You have a balistic computer that is pretty accurate.
- Once your bombing reticle is roughly on target, drop all 4 of your ZB-360s and begin to pull out of the dive
- You should hopefully be ~4-5km up, find targets below you and dive on them.
- With practice, your guns can become very effective lethal weapons, use them as such.
Alternatively, if enemies are sparse, you can use your ballistic computer to destroy almost any ground target (I avoid pillboxes as they take quite a few rounds to destroy, and you do not have many to spare)
This strategy is my personal go-to. It lets you bomb consistently (I have only been intercepted at altitude 4 times in my 300+ matches with this strategy) and lets you partake in the combat afterwards.
That’s not to say this strategy doesn’t have its issues. Unlike Strategy 1, this one requires you play more actively; as in you pay attention to everything around you. You must stay alert in case someone attempts to get behind you.
Other downfalls in this strategy include:
- A chance you miss with your bombs. Dropping at altitude is difficult and, in the beginning, you may miss. With practice you should figure out how the bombing reticle functions and when it is best to drop your payload whilst high up in the sky
- By the time you’re at altitude and ready to bomb, all bases may have already been taken. That’s alright. You can easily wait up at 10km until the second round of bases spawn.
- It’s time intensive (though rewarding)
This strategy is effective regardless of the BR bracket of the match. Whether a full uptier (10.3) or downtier (8.3), it will work (with some effort).
Notable Enemy Planes
You never want the following planes behind you
- A10-A: Aim-9Ls are practically undodgeable.
- A-6E TRAM: See above
- AV-8A: Aim-9Gs are ever so slightly more dodgeable than Ls. That is to say they aren’t.
In my experience, these 3 planes are the most common and pose a serious threat. Avoid going infront of them! (Shoot them down from behind!) The A10-A is easily downable if it can’t get a lock on you with its Aim-9Ls.
Other planes and notes:
- J35A: You are usually faster. If you make some sharp turns it’s delta wings will ruin it’s speed and you can run away.
- F-104: You are not faster, try to force an overshoot into a reversal if possible
- F-5: You are usually not faster, see above.
- A4N: You easily outrun it, be wary of its missiles tho. Aim-9Ds are dodgeable, but are a threat.
- F-100: Usually faster. It’s missiles deserve respect.
- Harrier Gr.1: You are faster. If it launches an AMRAAM keep going in a straight line as fast as you can. It has a short effective range (1.5km-2km) and is not dodgeable! It is, however, outrunnable! Don’t slow down, and step on it!
War Thunder Su-7BMK Tips and Tricks
- It’s going to take some time for you to figure out how to aim the guns, they’re not the hardest to aim but they will take a minute or two to figure out trajectories.
- Use your free camera! (‘C’ key, by default) Maintaining situational awareness is crucial in playing this plane! If there is ever an A-10A or AV-8A behind you, you may as well J out. Prevent this scenario at all costs!
- Upgrade your pilots Stamina and G-Tolerance. It is easy to black out in this plane and you require him to be able to handle hard Gs. You don’t need to Expert or Ace the grew slot, however.
- Keep an eye on your air speed! If you exceed ~1,200km/h, you will rip your wings!
- In the same vain as the point above; use your air brakes. They are very effective managing your speed!
Glossary
Zoom-Climb: Reach mach 1 whilst at a low altitude and then pitch up to a sharp climbing angle (~60 degrees) until you reach your desired altitude.
Orbital Strike: A tactic of diving on an enemy directly below you from a high altitude (With the intent to climb back to your starting altitude after destroying the enemy)
Calling a Base: Once spawned in, if you open up the map (‘M’ key by default) and left clicking on the map will alert the chat of the coordinates of the place you clicked. If done over an enemy bomb base, will let other bomb-carrying planes that you will be going to that base. Respectful teammates will pick other bases instead.
Bee-Lining: Ignoring every threat ahead of you, and focusing on a single objective. In this guide, a bomb base is the objective.
Defensive Maneuvers: When it comes to dodging missiles in the Su-7BMK, I typically reduce throttle to ~90% and pull a hard turn in any direction.
Black Out: When pulling excessive positive or negative Gs, the pilot will eventually black out and you will lose all control of the aircraft until the pilot regains consciousness. Leaves you very vulnerable.
