The gun

The Su-27 carries one GSh-30-1 cannon in the right wing root. It fires 30 mm shells, fast and heavy: a second on target is usually enough.

#The numbers

Refilling: respawn, use the practice approach, or ask the ground crew for REARM (or any load-out change) on the WPN page.

#Using it

1. Press 5 for GUN. The HUD changes to the gunsight, and GUN with the rounds left shows lower left. The GUN weapon lamp lights.
2. Put the sight on the target (below).
3. Hold Space to fire. Short bursts: half a second to a second.

The gun only fires in GUN mode, in the air. The radar keeps any lock it had when you switch to GUN, so you can lock him in WVR (3, then point at him) and then press 5. You can also press 6, 7 or 8 for a close combat radar mode; that switches to WVR.

#The two sights

#The funnel (no lock, or out of reach)

Two curved walls drawn from just ahead of the jet out to about 1,000 m. They show where your shells would be now if you'd been firing for the last second and a half: the funnel bends as you turn.

• The walls are as far apart as a Su-27's wingspan (15 m) at each range. Put the target in the funnel where his wings just fill the gap: that's his range, and that's where the shells are.
• Fire as he slides into that spot. In a turning fight, pull so he moves down the funnel to it.

#The lead computing sight (with a lock, in range)

With the radar locked and the target within the shells' reach (about 1.6 km at low speed to about 2 km when you're fast):

• a cross in a ring shows where the target must be for the shells to hit him;
• an arc around it shrinks as the range closes: a full circle at 1,200 m;
• the range in metres is shown beside it;
• SHOOT appears when he's between 200 and 800 m. It's a range cue only: the cross still has to be on him.

Put the cross on the target and fire. The sight allows for his turn as well as yours. The box around the target is hidden while this sight is up.

#Ballistics

How long a shell takes to get there, and how far it drops, fired from a jet at 900 km/h at low level:

Higher up the air is thinner and the shells slow down less. Beyond about 1,000 m the target has plenty of time to move: the best shots are from 300 to 600 m.

#What a hit does

Each shell that hits damages the part it goes into. A Su-27's centre fuselage takes about 9 hits, a wing root 6, an engine 3 (and may catch fire), a fin 2.5. A hit in the cockpit can kill the pilot. So half a second to a second on target brings most jets down.

• The shells hit any aircraft in their path, friend or foe (except the offline EAGLEs, which can't be damaged), but never you.
• They can't hit missiles.
• Hits show as flashes, fire and smoke, sometimes with pieces breaking off.

#Tips

• Get close. Inside 600 m the shells arrive in half a second; the target can't dodge that.
• Short bursts. 150 rounds go in 6 seconds. A one-second burst is 25 rounds.
• Lead him. Without a lock, aim at where he's going, not where he is: the funnel shows how much.
• Lock him first if you can (WVR, point at him), then press 5: the lead computing sight is much easier than the funnel.