Load-out and selection

#The ten stations

The Su-27 has ten places to hang missiles, numbered from the left wingtip to the right:

• R-73s go only on the four wing stations, 1, 2, 9 and 10.
• Heat-seeking R-27s (T and ET) can't go on the centreline (5 and 6).
• R-77s go on stations 3 to 8.
• Missiles on the wings go off a rail: the motor lights straight away. Missiles under the fuselage are pushed clear first and light about half a second later, below the jet.
• If you lose a wing, the missiles on it go with it.

#The presets

• CAP (combat air patrol) is a bit of everything: radar missiles for the long shot, heat-seekers for close in.
• BVR trades heat-seekers for six radar missiles.
• DGFT is light: more G, faster climbs, for close combat.
• The R-77 isn't in any preset. Load it station by station (below).

Missiles add weight: a heavier jet can pull less G, climbs and turns worse and needs a longer take-off. They don't add drag in this version.

#Changing the load-out

The ground crew do it, on the WPN page of either large display. You must be on the ground and stopped.

1. Land and come to a complete stop (or respawn: you start stopped).
2. Open the WPN page (bottom row of the left or right display).
3. Either:
   • press a preset: CAP, BVR, DGFT or CLEAN (right edge); or
   • pick a station with STA ▲ / ▼ (or click it on the picture), then press STORE to step through what it can carry, ending with empty.
4. Wait while the crew work: GROUND CREW: LOADING... with a light running along a bar (it doesn't show how long is left). Each changed station takes about 3 seconds, plus a few seconds to start. Stations being changed blink.
5. REARM puts back the load-out you chose and refills the gun.

The crew stop if the jet moves. The same page sets the fuel: FUEL ▲ / ▼ in quarters of a full load, from 25% to 100%.

Your load-out stays when you respawn or use the practice approach: the crew load it again for you. A new flight starts with CAP.

#Selecting a weapon in flight

The master mode decides which weapons you can use:

• Entering a mode picks the first missile in its list that you carry. With CAP that's the R-27ER in BVR and the R-73 in WVR.
• Z (or WPN ► on the WPN page) steps to the next type you carry, in that order, and round again.
• Changing the master mode picks again from the start: your Z choice isn't remembered.
• Radar missiles can't be used in WVR. For an R-27 or R-77 shot, be in BVR.
• When the last missile of a type is fired, the next type in the list is picked for you. With none left, the HUD shows NO MSL.

#Where to see what's selected

• HUD (BVR and WVR, lower left): the missile and how many are left, for example R-27ER 4. In GUN, GUN and the rounds left.
• Weapon lamps (upper left of the front panel): the selected missile's lamp is lit (there's no lamp for the R-77); GUN in GUN mode; READY in the air with a weapon selected (and rounds left in GUN mode): it doesn't mean you have a target or are in range; LAUNCH for 2 seconds after each missile leaves.
• WPN page: the selected type is boxed in the list, and its stations have a faint disc.

#Which station fires first

Missiles of the selected type leave from the outside in, alternating sides: stations 1, 10, 2, 9, 3, 8, 4, 7, 5, 6. With CAP, the R-73s go from the wingtips first; the R-27ERs from the inner wings, then the centreline.