The Ariete is an Italian premium fighter. It is the successor of the Sagittario 2 tech tree variant. The main difference between the Ariete and the Sagittario 2 is the addition of a second engine, which greatly increases its acceleration. Despite the lack of missiles and countermeasures, its light weight and incredible maneuverability make it a very dangerous enemy in dogfights.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Excellent maneuverability | Subsonic |
| Powerful guns | Compression of control surfaces at high speeds |
| Good acceleration | Lack of flares/chaff |
| Lack of air-to-ground armament |
Flight Performance
The Ariete, despite being a subsonic jet, has good acceleration and speed for its BR, it can easily reach near Mach 1 speed. Flaps and air brakes can help you in dogfights (flaps can slightly increase the turning speed for a short time). A weakness of the Ariete is the compression of the control surfaces at speeds above 900 km/h.
The Ariete stands out from all other jets because of its maneuverability. It has the fastest turn rate of all jets, not only at its BR, little to no one can outrun it in a dogfight.
The second engine is engaged when the throttle is above 100%. It is advised to have the second engine fully on most of the time, otherwise the engine behaves like a dead weight, which worsens its performance.
Offensive armament
Despite the lack of rockets and flares/chaff, Ariete has an ace up its sleeve. It has 2 powerful 30mm high velocity cannons with HEI-T rounds. Each gun has 120 rounds (240 rounds in total), which is rather low for cannons with a firing rate of nearly 1,000 rounds per minute. Each hit inflicts heavy damage on enemy aircraft, and short but accurate bursts tear the enemy apart. It has only one belt available for selection.
Survivability
Ariete lacks any form of countermeasures and RWR, so it’s very important to be aware of your surroundings. The only way Ariete can avoid incoming missiles is by making a maneuver at the right time, fortunately Ariete mostly faces quite early missiles that have low maximum overload. But it can face some more modern missiles that are very hard to avoid, these are Matra R550 Magic 1, AIM-9D, R-60M, AIM-9L. So it is highly recommended to avoid getting locked on by planes that have them.
Usage in battle
In ground combat, due to the lack of anti-ground capabilities, the Ariete can only be used to clear the skies of enemy CAS.
The Ariete’s true power is revealed in aerial combat. Its excellent maneuverability makes it a perfect dogfighter. Dogfighting is its main tactic, it is recommended that you dogfight your opponents, as this would make them lose their speed and give you a perfect opportunity to land your shots. Crew level plays a huge role in the performance of the plane, at low level it is common to black out during turns, so it is recommended to increase G-tolerance and endurance. The use of airbrakes can help you get on the back of any aircraft and chase it to the end. Ariete can also be used for boom& zooming, but the compression of the control surfaces at high speeds makes it harder to hit the enemy if it starts to change course.
Your best choices for targets will be slow flying aircraft like the Su-25 or A-10A and distracted enemies. But beware of missiles. Most jets dont have them to begin with, or they have early missiles that can be easily evaded by turning away in time. But there are a few exceptions like the aforementioned A-10A and Su-25. They are equipped with all-aspect missiles, which can’t be avoided so easily. It is recommended not to engage them frontally, but from the sides and from the rear. If done correctly, they become easy kills.
