War Thunder | Optimal Climb Strategy for ARH Employment | F-16, AIM-120

I have seen multiple posts on the subreddit showing terrible climb profiles that are essentially zoom climbs to 30kft. These leave you with minimal energy & extremely vulnerable. It is better to climb relatively shallow, holding a high IAS. Not only do you get up to altitude fast enough, but you arrive going way faster. From there you could even do a substantially more effective zoom climb if you want to loft the missiles.
Speed is much more important than altitude for the missile's total energy. According to the laws of physics:
* Kinetic energy = Ek = (mv^2)/2
* Gravitational potential energy ("altitude energy") = Ep = mgh
The key variables we control are v - velocity and h - height. Velocity, however, is squared - this means velocity is substantially more impactful to the total energy you impart onto the missile launch.
tl;dr - Going fast is better than going high.
This is of course not to discount going high. These modern(-ish) planes can only reach these insanely high speeds at altitude anyway. Plus it gives the missile more opportunity to fly through thinner air, helping its energy conservation. The main point is you should be conserving your own energy rather than foolishly giving it up in a zoom climb right at the start of the match - but I digress.
0:00 Takeoff strategy
0:32 Climb strategy
2:05 Arriving at altitude
3:40 Trying for kills
5:20 Final engagement

[@Mr_Hambargar]

You deserve more attention bro, keep it up!

[@DkVader2k]

Instead of flying level, I fly at a 20* angle ascending until I get to about mach 1.02(and when I am I’m already at 10m feet) then I pull up to a 50 degrees angle. I get up to 30ft by the time everyone pass the 2nd airbase. You loose a lot of speed doing this but you have plenty of time to get it back whilst scanning for targets. I’m normally the 1st person to get up to that altitude in matches, which helps tremendously to getting in the first shot against other high flyers.

[@JuicyBurger1305]

yeah but altitudemay not be as important for energy, it is however very importent due to less drag, therefore higher energy retention. i value both factors equally or tend a little more to speed (1:1,25)

[@HarryTheOwlcat]

I mention this in the description of the video. This video is mainly a reaction to very poor zoom climb profiles that were upvoted on Reddit

[@HobelDcs]

one of the first to realise that speed gives the Missles an advantage... Does Manual loft work in WT?

[@RedTail1-1]

Doesn't matter how fast you are as long as you are above mach so it doesn't waste energy breaking the sound barrier. Altitude also matters more than speed. The more gravity the missile can use to hold speed the better, because 8 seconds after you fire it it's losing speed anyway.

[@HarryTheOwlcat]

The video directly addresses why speed is more important than altitude.