F-104S

F-104S

▄F-104G

F-104S.ASA

F-104S

▄F-104G

F-104S.ASA

Italy

VII Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
11.0	11.3	10.7

Class:

Fighter

Jet fighter

Research:300 000

Purchase:830 000

Show in game

This page is about the jet fighter F-104S. For other versions, see F-104 (Family).

Description

The F-104S Starfighter is a rank VII Italian jet fighter with a battle rating of 11.0 (AB), 11.3 (RB), and 10.7 (SB). It was introduced in Update "Starfighters".

General info

Flight performance

Describe how the aircraft behaves in the air. Speed, manoeuvrability, acceleration and allowable loads - these are the most important characteristics of the vehicle.

Characteristics	Max Speed (km/h at 15,240 m)		Max altitude (metres)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (metres/second)		Take-off run (metres)
	AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
Stock	___	___	16000	__._	__._	__._	__._	850
Upgraded	___	___		__._	__._	__._	__._

Details

Features
Combat flaps	Take-off flaps	Landing flaps	Air brakes	Arrestor gear	Drogue chute
✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓

Limits
Wings (km/h)	Gear (km/h)	Flaps (km/h)			Max Static G
		Combat	Take-off	Landing	+	-
0	546	___	___	___	~__	~__

Optimal velocities (km/h)
Ailerons	Rudder	Elevators	Radiator
< ___	< ___	< ___	N/A

Survivability and armour

Examine the survivability of the aircraft. Note how vulnerable the structure is and how secure the pilot is, whether the fuel tanks are armoured, etc. Describe the armour, if there is any, and also mention the vulnerability of other critical aircraft systems.

Armaments

Offensive armament

The F-104S is armed with:

• 1 x 20 mm M61 cannon, -mounted (750 rpg)

Suspended armament

The F-104S can be outfitted with the following ordnance:

• Without load
• 6 x 250 lb LDGP Mk 81 bombs + 2 x AIM-9B Sidewinder missiles (1,500 lb total)
• 7 x 500 lb LDGP Mk 82 bombs (3,500 lb total)
• 7 x 750 lb M117 cone 45 bombs (5,250 lb total)
• 3 x 1,000 lb LDGP Mk 83 bombs (3,000 lb total)
• 1 x 2,000 lb LDGP Mk 84 bomb (2,000 lb total)
• 76 x FFAR Mighty Mouse rockets
• 8 x Zuni Mk32 Mod 0 ATAP rockets
• 6 x AIM-9B Sidewinder missiles
• 6 x 250 lb LDGP Mk 81 bombs (1,500 lb total)
• 5 x 500 lb LDGP Mk 82 bombs + 2 x AIM-9B Sidewinder missiles (2,500 lb total)
• 5 x 750 lb M117 cone 45 bombs + 2 x AIM-9B Sidewinder missiles (3,750 lb total)
• 3 x 1,000 lb LDGP Mk 83 bombs + 2 x AIM-9B Sidewinder missiles (3,000 lb total)
• 1 x 2,000 lb LDGP Mk 84 bomb + 2 x AIM-9B Sidewinder missiles (2,000 lb total)
• 5 x 500 lb LDGP Mk 82 bombs + 38 x FFAR Mighty Mouse rockets (2,500 lb total)
• 2 x AIM-9B Sidewinder missiles + 76 x FFAR Mighty Mouse rockets
• 2 x AIM-9B Sidewinder missiles + 8 x Zuni Mk32 Mod 0 ATAP rockets

Usage in battles

Describe the tactics of playing in the aircraft, the features of using aircraft in a team and advice on tactics. Refrain from creating a "guide" - do not impose a single point of view, but instead, give the reader food for thought. Examine the most dangerous enemies and give recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of the game in different modes (AB, RB, SB).

Modules

Tier	Flight performance		Survivability	Weaponry
I
II
III
IV

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Good top speed for its rank
• Great rate of climb
• Vulcan cannon can do some serious damage
• Significantly wider variety of payload options than early F-104s
• Decent high-speed manoeuvrability, in spite of its tiny wings
• Good roll rate for a jet

Cons:

• Lousy manoeuverability at low speeds
• Bleeds off airspeed easily in sustained turns.
• Only 750 rounds of cannon ammo; trigger discipline is a must

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the aircraft in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the series of the aircraft;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

• [Devblog] F-104 Starfighter: The Manned Missile

Italy jet aircraft
Aerfer	Sagittario 2 · Ariete
Fiat	G.91 pre-serie · G.91 R/1 · G.91 R/4 (Portugal) · G.91 Y · G.91 YS
AMX International	AMX · AMX A-1A (Brazil)
Panavia	Tornado ADV · ▄Tornado IDS · ▄Tornado IDS (1995)
	Foreign:
Vampire	Vampire FB 52A
F-84	▄F-84F · ▄F-84G-21-RE
F-86	CL-13 Mk.4 · ▄F-86K
F-104	▄F-104G · F-104S · ▄F-104S TAF (Turkey) · F-104S.ASA
F-16	▄F-16A ADF
AV-8	▄AV-8B Plus
Hungary
Mikoyan-Gurevich	◔MiG-15bis · ◔MiG-17PF · ◔MiG-21MF · ◔MiG-21bis-SAU · ◔MiG-23MF · ◔MiG-29
Ilyushin	◔IL-28
Sukhoi	◔Su-22M3
Saab	◔JAS39EBS HU C