Here's a little guide based on my own experience as a pilot. Maybe it helps you to get started with jets in Battlefield 4. I hope that I've listed the most important things here. Some texts and images are taken out of Battlefield 4.
Basic Stuff
First of all, there are two different types of jets in BF4: Attack Jets and Stealth Jets. These differ in loadout, speed and handling quite much. Attack Jet takes the air-to-ground role, Stealth Jet takes the air-to-air role. Attack Jets have separate customization from Stealth Jets. Both types of aircraft may be available in certain game modes and maps.
The jets speed is visible in the cockpit on the upper left side. On the upper right side you see your flight altitude. This is important as there is the risk of flying into the pudding at a height of about 1500+. You're getting slowed down and automatically turned downwards as this is the sky limit.
Below Radar is a permanent vehicle specialization and is enabled by default for all air vehicles. It functions almost identically to its Battlefield 3 counterpart, but it is available by default and does not hinder Spotting. Below Radar will protect against weapon locks from all anti-air vehicle missiles, including those from Mobile Anti-Air vehicles. Below Radar is automatically activated once the aircraft is below 25 meters in all Helicopters and below 50 meters in all Jets. Unlike its Battlefield 3 predecessor, the piloting aircraft's HUD symbol will not disappear from the Air Radar but will however, disappear from enemy and friendly ground and air vehicle's Air Radar and thus, making it somewhat more difficult to identify whether the aircraft is below radar quickly at any given time without having to refer back to the vehicle's altimeter.
Stealth Jets in contrast to Attack Jets can use an Afterburner, which is normally bind to left shift key. It allows you to gain a speed boost even while flying upwards. Use that for your speed control (see chapter Speed Control in Tips and Tricks later on).
Stealth Jet
J-20 (CN)
F-35 (US)
Su-50 (RU)
Primary weapon
Basic Stuff
First of all, there are two different types of jets in BF4: Attack Jets and Stealth Jets. These differ in loadout, speed and handling quite much. Attack Jet takes the air-to-ground role, Stealth Jet takes the air-to-air role. Attack Jets have separate customization from Stealth Jets. Both types of aircraft may be available in certain game modes and maps.
The jets speed is visible in the cockpit on the upper left side. On the upper right side you see your flight altitude. This is important as there is the risk of flying into the pudding at a height of about 1500+. You're getting slowed down and automatically turned downwards as this is the sky limit.
Below Radar is a permanent vehicle specialization and is enabled by default for all air vehicles. It functions almost identically to its Battlefield 3 counterpart, but it is available by default and does not hinder Spotting. Below Radar will protect against weapon locks from all anti-air vehicle missiles, including those from Mobile Anti-Air vehicles. Below Radar is automatically activated once the aircraft is below 25 meters in all Helicopters and below 50 meters in all Jets. Unlike its Battlefield 3 predecessor, the piloting aircraft's HUD symbol will not disappear from the Air Radar but will however, disappear from enemy and friendly ground and air vehicle's Air Radar and thus, making it somewhat more difficult to identify whether the aircraft is below radar quickly at any given time without having to refer back to the vehicle's altimeter.
Stealth Jets in contrast to Attack Jets can use an Afterburner, which is normally bind to left shift key. It allows you to gain a speed boost even while flying upwards. Use that for your speed control (see chapter Speed Control in Tips and Tricks later on).
Stealth Jet
J-20 (CN)
F-35 (US)
Su-50 (RU)
Primary weapon
- 20mm Cannon; Very high rate of fire, nearly no bullet drop. Excellent to be used against hostile air vehicles. Low damage per bullet but great because of the fire rate. Does nearly no damage to ground vehicles (about 10 in one complete attack). Hard to kill infantery with it since it causes very little damage.
- 25mm Cannon (12000 points); Mix of 20mm and 30mm cannon.
- 30mm Cannon (24000 points); Low rate of fire and strong bullet drop. Each bullet deals more damage then 20/25mm. Stronger against infantery and (small) vehicles.
- Heatseekers (default): Missiles that can lock on air vehicles and other flying things like MAV. Can't lock on low flying targets and targets out of sight. Ammo: 2/1; Two missiles loaded, one extra. However the one extra missile seems to always load up to two missiles again.
- Passive Radar (6000 points): The missile requires constant lock tracking on its target. The Passive Radar missiles can reacquire lock if it is broken (visual obstructions, countermeasures), one common tactic is to fire at the target, break the contact as the target releases countermeasure, then reacquire the target. The Passive Radar missiles can be fired without the need of an initial target lock, but must still be locked and aimed at the target for it to home in and impact. Good on wide, open maps like Silk Road where the target has less cover to break locks. Ammo: 2/1; Two missiles loaded, one extra. However the one extra missile seems to always load up to two missiles again.
- Laser Guided (18000 points): Missiles that can lock on ground vehicles, stationary weapons and water vehicles. You leave your normal cockpit view when using this missiles and don't see much what happens around you anymore. Often used by strong dogfight pilots which are able to deal with other jets with their 20mm cannon to also have something against ground targets. Ammo: 1/1; One missile loaded, one extra.
- Active Radar (30000 points): It fulfills the role of a long-range target engagement weapon. The weapon is a dumb-fire fire-and-forget-type missile that automatically identifies, targets and guides itself towards the closest enemy aircraft it is fired at. Contrary to popular belief, the missile is not required to be fired and lead in front of the target for the missile to begin tracking. The missile will automatically track any aerial targets pointed at by the center mil dot prior to launch, regardless of difference between distance of the missile fired and the target. The Active Radar missile will be unable to guide itself if the target is either out of range, too close to the launch source or if the target is “Below Radar”.
- IR Flares (unlocked by default): IR Flares are effective against heat-seeking weaponry such as the FIM-92 Stinger, SA-18 Igla, and the anti-air missiles on Jets, helicopters, and Mobile Anti-Air. To counter these weapons, flares can be either deployed before or after receiving a "missile lock" or "locking..." tone—high-pitched fast beeping at a steady tone—and before the missile is in striking range of the aircraft. When deployed before missile launch, the countermeasure can spoof the lock source momentarily before exposing the aircraft again unless the aircraft travels below radar for protection.
- ECM Jammer (15000 points): The ECM Jammer's description mentions the application of deflecting an incoming missile. When activated, this counter-measure will prevent targeting systems from locking onto the player and will disrupt any incoming missiles for a short time before it needs to be reloaded. However, the ECM Jammer only prevents the missile from tracking the vehicle; if the player flies very high, it is possible that once the ECM Jammer deactivates, the missile will reacquire its target. If activated after hearing the "incoming missile" tone (short high beeping), any launched missile will still track the vehicle's general vicinity, but circle around attempting to locate its actual position. The pilot can fly near terrain or buildings that can catch the orbiting missile. If the missile is still live when the ECM Jammer deactivates, it will cause damage as normal. Furthermore using ECM Jammer will hide you on the map which can be used to make unpredictable moves when being chased by another jet. Some also suggest IR Flares to be more accurate. Javelins fired from the ground at you by targeting you with a laser (from tank 2nd seat or sniper gadget) will always hit you, if you don't interrupt the lock on.
- Fire Extinguisher (21000 points): When activated in a vehicle that is disabled, it will extinguish the fire, stopping any further damage to the vehicle and allow the vehicle to recover from the damage. Unlike its use in Battlefield 3, the fire extinguisher allows a vehicle to regain full mobility following a critical hit. Ground vehicles do not recover armor above the vehicle's disable threshold. Air vehicles retain recovery to 37%, which allows the pilot to endure further damage while retreating. Since you have nearly no chance to get away from lockon weapons like Stringer or heli/jet heatseekers, I never used the Fire Extinguisher.
- Air Radar (built in by default): Scans for air vehicles.
- Gyro Stabilizer (unlocked by default): It reduces the stability penalty from Mobility Hits, allowing the jet not to dive or roll sporadically, and allowing the pilot to stay in the air without crashing at lower altitudes.
- Belt Feeder (3000 points): An enhanced mechanism that reduces the time taken to reload.
- Proximity Scan (9000 points): Scans the area surrounding the vehicle, revealing enemy movement on the minimap.
- Stealth Coating (27000 points): Special plating that increases the time that it takes for targeting systems to lock onto the vehicle.
- Primary: 20mm cannon, since your main job in a Stealth Jet is to fight enemy jets and helis. The 20mm is the best choice here.
- Secondary: When you're good enough with your primary weapon and have the air dominance, you may want to use Laser Guided Missiles to be effective against ground targets and not get bored in the air. Alternatively Active Radar rockets, if the enemy jet is stronger, the enemy jet uses passives/actives or there are more air targets than ground targets. That's thhe weapon I get flamed for the most. Pretty good against enemy jets and helis. When flying straight to an enemy jet or heli fire these just before making a turn to give him no chance to use ECM Jammer or IR Flares. They will most likely hit the enemy, disable them and therefore unable to make a turn. When hitting the enemy Attack Jet while he flies his attack on ground targets, he will most likely crash after getting disabled in the nosedive.
- Countermeasures: ECM Jammer; I'm not getting hit by lockons that often after activating my ECM, therefore I don't use IR Flares. Both have advantages and disadvantages. With the ECM you can also try to fly a little bit up and down to hide if you're directly chased by another jet. Can also be used to hide from the enemy Air Radar and make some great turns.
- Upgrade: Some guides suggest the Stealth Coating or Gyro Stabilizer as the best upgrade. I play with belt feeder for faster shooting.
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) and no amount of practice or tutorials will help. But, will have a look at these just in case.
