SA-7 - how to operate properly?

[Claymore]

Ok, here's the situation.

There's a cache in the desert that obviously needs to be defended against helicopters. I take a bike, look on the map and find a spot 200+ meters away from the chache that the helicopters are likely to fly over. I hide the bike and hide myself so that nobody can see me. When a Littlebird is nearby, I wait until he flies over my position, then jump out of cover and get SA-7 ready. In ideal case, my location will be at LB's 6 o'clock but it's more like anything between 3-9 o'clock.

But the problem is I miss. Sometimes the LB drops flares even before I zoom in and get a proper lock, in other cases the LB just drops flares and evades the missile (which doesn't explode at all). People around here tend to say that the missiles can always hit when used properly so I'd like to know what am I missing here.

From a tactical poin of view, firing the missile from helicopter's 5-7 o'clock should be the best way to go, this is how the US lost most of their hardware in Iraq and Afghanistan. But as I'm often far away from the cache, so is the helicopter. Even if he cannot see the smoke trail, he gets a warning this way and the flares save him.

Any tips?

[Tomato-Rifle]

I have very few times had any luck with the SA7, it always seems to miss. Even when the pilot dropped no flares. (and yes i was completely locked onto it)

I can kill choppers fine with the deployable AA's

[burghUK]

Its best to lck when he is perpendicular to you. If you hear him coming always have the sight up ready so you can see when it starts to lock. Fire 0.5 of a sec after you get lock. Works fine for me.

[503]

I expect nothing from the SA-7. 90% I used it with a good lock in the range of 500+, it misses. Any range under 250, it still misses. In fact it doesn't even go towards the lock.

Your best bet would be to have a source of ammunition near you to restock the missile after you fired it and to try again. I find shooting the chopper from any angle except it's 12 or 6 would be suitable.

[McBumLuv]

It's actually extremely effective so long as you get the lock within 250 meters from the target.

Otherwise any distance further allows the pilot to react to the warning and flare, which means no matter how good a shot you've made it will fail, ALL THE TIME. The Sa-7 currently doesn't have a proximity fuse ingame.

[arjan]

I tried to shoot a chopper once, apparently i hit a A10 that just did a low pass. :S
i wasnt even locked on to the A10, Weard things can happen lol.

[Falkun]

Good stuff when they decide to swerve into a friendly squad.

Trying to explain how and why you just TK'd six guys at once is quite priceless.

[bloodthirsty_viking]

Good stuff when they decide to swerve into a friendly squad.

Trying to explain how and why you just TK'd six guys at once is quite priceless.

its more priceless when you are locked, the missle is fired, and goes throw the open doors and hits the helicopter you are flying with, and missees you!

the most i ever killed with the sa-7, i shot into a mtn randomly, i was bored, at a reviled cache, arround my entire team, and my 2 squadmates got hit on the mtn, over 50 meters appart, both killed instantly...

[badmojo420]

[quote=""'[R-DEV"]Falkun;1168058']Good stuff when they decide to swerve into a friendly squad.

Trying to explain how and why you just TK'd six guys at once is quite priceless.[/quote]

Or not getting a chance to explain because they all punished right away, and you get auto banned for a round.

[quote="Claymore""]People around here tend to say that the missiles can always hit when used properly so I'd like to know what am I missing here.[/quote]

The SA7 is unique, and getting it to hit 100% of the time is impossible. Even under the exact same conditions, one shot will miss and another will hit. But, that just adds to the difficulty of the weapon. It's still a bugger to get the hang of. My advice would be to join a training server and go mec, drive a log truck somewhere, drop a crate and request as many AA kits as you can. (You do this by having another kit, and repeatedly requesting a kit, and moving over a bit. Until it won't let you request any more) Then just swap them out instead of reloading.

Some tips..

-Fire when the target is closer than 400m but further than 150. You can hit things further, and closer, but the chances are higher of a miss.

-Fire as soon as you get the lock, not when you expect it to lock, but as soon as you hear the tone. When an aircraft is locked there is a short delay before the alarm goes off, so even if you don't fire, you'll notice pilots reacting like you have.

-Don't lock until they are in range. Keep it off to the side a bit so you can see the distance reading and determine if they're coming towards you or not. Before it gets in range start locking so as soon as it gets in range you can fire.

-Don't point your SA7 around without scoping in. Even if you are not scoped in, your weapon is still locking onto targets. And it will not give you tone unless you're scoped in. So to prevent scaring off helicopters in the distance, point it away from the horizon or just keep it moving.

-Always keep the SA7 out. The prep time is so long that you'll often miss your chance if you wait until you hear it.

-In insurgency mode, don't worry about a supply of ammo. Your main concern if you are not with a squad, is transportation. Especially true as insurgents (since they only get the launcher, no backup weapon) always keep a transport car or bike near by, at the first sign of trouble, hop in and get outta there. And don't try to stay at the cache, unless there is a good firing position and the cache is well defended. Because you'll end up dead or distracted with your rifle out. Instead find a nice quiet area along the route to their base. Keeping the transport close to zoom back to the cache for more ammo.

-Know your targets. Helicopters like the Huey, Black Hawk, & Apache will usually take 1 hit from the SA7 and keep going. Where as the Littlebirds & Cobra will go down when hit good. Sometimes it's better to save your shot than to waste it on the chance it might go down. For example, if your on Ramiel and see a black hawk headed back to their main, but can also hear the littlebird flying around somewhere. Save the shot. The black hawk will most likely have only 1 person in it since it's RTB'ing. And even if you do hit it, most of the time it will keep flying. Times when i would ignore this rule would be if re-supply was close, if the bird was full of people, if it was landing to extract or deploy people, or if i know there are no other targets. Which brings us to next tip..

-Know the spawn times. And when you destroy a helicopter, look at the round time and note when it will re-spawn. Now you know when it will appear and where it will appear. Real life combatants only wished they had that much solid intelligence.

-Stay hidden. On maps like Ramiel and Karbala, it's impossible to stand exposed and not get sniped by the superior optics of the coalition. Not to mention you are defenseless so even if you dodge their bullets, they are headed in your direction, so your jumping into your car and running away, which is usually the time a helicopter flys over.

[Alex6714]

[Mora]

Fixed it for you

[Claymore]

Thanks for all the help