Falcon

Falcon

Skink

Chieftain Marksman

Falcon

Skink

Chieftain Marksman

Britain

V Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
8.0	8.3	8.3

Class:

SPAA

Research:105 000

Purchase:300 000

Show in game

Description

The Falcon is a rank V British self-propelled anti-aircraft vehicle with a battle rating of 8.0 (AB) and 8.3 (RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.57 "Battle March". While being an anti-aircraft vehicle, the Falcon has optimal performance against everything, assuming you have enough modifications. Some self-propelled anti-aircraft vehicles have a high fire rate, which allows them to destroy planes instantly or harass them from great distances, although they may have problems with standard ground vehicles due to armour. There are others which can destroy tanks by using high penetration ammunition but have difficulty taking down aircraft due to a lack of explosive filler. The Falcon has the ability to perform both of these roles with a high degree of efficiency.

The Falcon has the appearance of a light tank with a slightly sloped round turret on the back. It is easy to recognize the Falcon due to its unique features as there are not many vehicles like it on a field at its battle rating.

General info

Survivability and armour

Armourfront / side / back

Hull12 / 12 / 10

Turret10 / 10 / 10

Crew3 people

Visibility89 %

The armour on the Falcon is not very effective, as it can only reliably protect against rifle-calibre machine guns. Aircraft that are armed with heavy machine guns and cannons are able to destroy it, but the Falcon is quick and highly manoeuvrable compared to most other vehicles which can allow it to escape into cover.

Important to note that some full calibre APHE shells do not detonate upon impacting the Falcon's armour, granting it some chances to make narrow escapes.

Many of the tanks at the battle rating of the Falcon also carry 12.7 mm or 14.5 mm heavy machine guns and will fire them at the Falcon. These machine guns are easily capable of defeating the armour and will devastate the interior of the vehicle, so as long as the mobility of the vehicle is not hampered it is advisable to keep moving and find cover.

Chemical rounds, such as HEAT-FS and HESH, will obliterate the Falcon, and artillery can also quickly bring a swift end to the Falcon.

Armour type:

• Rolled homogeneous armour

Armour	Front	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	10 mm (80°), 12.7 mm (2-19°) Front glacis 12.7 mm (37°) Lower glacis	12.7 mm Top 12.7 mm (13°) Bottom	10 mm (2°)	10 mm
Turret	10 mm (4-64°)	10 mm (14-26°)	10 mm (2°)	6 mm

Notes:

• Suspension wheels are 10 mm thick while tracks are 15 mm thick.
• The general armour on the Falcon is extremely thin, which allows some full calibre APHE shells to pass through without detonating.
• Heavy machine guns are able to defeat the armour protection of the Falcon.

Mobility

Speedforward / back

AB52 / 9 km/h

RB and SB48 / 8 km/h

Number of gears8 forward

2 back

Weight15.9 t

Engine power

AB406 hp

RB and SB213 hp

Power-to-weight ratio

AB25.5 hp/t

RB and SB13.4 hp/t

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	52	9	15.9	303	406	19.06	25.53
Realistic	48	8		188	213	11.82	13.4

Modifications and economy

Repair costBasic → Reference

AB4 686 → 6 030

RB4 000 → 5 148

SB5 045 → 6 492

Total cost of modifications88 300

146 600

Talisman cost2 100

Crew training86 000

Experts300 000

Aces1 200

Research Aces720 000

Reward for battleAB / RB / SB

140 / 180 / 220 %

196 / 196 / 196 %

Modifications

Mobility	Protection	Firepower
Tracks Research: 4 600 Cost: 7 400 185 Suspension Research: 4 100 Cost: 6 600 165 Brake System Research: 4 100 Cost: 6 600 165 Filters Research: 7 600 Cost: 12 000 310 Transmission Research: 7 400 Cost: 12 000 300 Engine Research: 7 400 Cost: 12 000 300	Improved Parts Research: 3 000 Cost: 7 400 185 Improved FPE Research: 2 700 Cost: 6 600 165 Crew Replenishment Research: 7 600 Cost: 12 000 310	Horizontal Drive Research: 4 600 Cost: 7 400 185 30mm_hs_831_HE_ammo_pack Research: 4 600 Cost: 7 400 185 Adjustment of Fire Research: 4 100 Cost: 6 600 165 30mm_hs_831_APHEI_ammo_pack Research: 4 100 Cost: 6 600 165 Elevation Mechanism Research: 7 600 Cost: 12 000 310 Artillery Support Research: 7 400 Cost: 12 000 300 30mm_hs_831_APDS_ammo_pack Research: 7 400 Cost: 12 000 300

Armaments

Main armament

2 x 30 mm HSS 831L cannon

Two-plane stabilizer

Reduces the swing of the gun in two planes while moving

Ammunition620 rounds

Belt capacity310 rounds

Reloadbasic crew → aces

65.0 → 50.0 s

Fire rate651 shots/min

Vertical guidance-10° / 85°

The Falcon carries two 30 mm autocannons with a high rate of fire. Together, they can shred tanks and planes apart in mere seconds.

Autocannons can overheat if continuously fired, so short bursts work best. Firing for more than 6 seconds can cause overheating and jamming and it is advised to refrain from extended firing unless absolutely necessary. The recoil from guns slows the tank down and pushes it back. If attempting a flanking attack, try to fire over the the side of the vehicle, as otherwise, the opponent's turret might catch up.

Ammunition is stored in two identical belts (one for each cannon), which ensures uniformity of ammunition but does have several disadvantages. For example, rearming the belt is only possible when all ammunition is expended. This takes an extended period of time (20 seconds) and then the Falcon must also reload for 4 seconds; if team lacks any control over the map it may be impossible. Lack of a backup belt also allows aircraft to easily take it out if they are aware of this weakness and see it standing on a capture point.

30 mm HSS 831L (x2)						Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Stock	Full	Expert	Aced
Arcade	620 (310)	600	-10°/+85°	±180°	Two-plane	70.4	97.5	118.4	130.9	139.3	65.00	57.50	53.00	50.00
Realistic						47.6	56.0	68.0	75.2	80.0

Ammunition

• Default: SAP-I · HEI-T* - General combat. Avoid heavily armoured vehicles at all costs, but can punish other SPAA and light tanks.
• 30x170 HE-I-T: HEI-T* · HEI* · HEI* · SAP-I - Belt adapted to hunt down planes. Damage to SPAA and light tanks is reduced severely.
• 30x170 APHE-I: SAP-I · SAP-I · SAP-I · HEI-T* - Belt adapted to hunt down light tanks. Damage to planes is reduced, but still adequate.
• 30x170 APDS-T: SAP-I · APDS · SAP-I · HEI-T* - Anti-tank belt. Flank and destroy careless MBTs, damage heavy tanks, while doing AA duty. May not cause fatal damage immediately due to APDS not being the first shell in the belt.

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
	10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
SAP-I	53	50	39	29	21	16
HEI-T*	9	8	7	5	4	4
HEI*	9	8	7	5	4	4
APDS	110	101	95	69	52	41

Shell details
Ammunition	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Ricochet
						0%	50%	100%
SAP-I	1,080	0.36	1.2	9	30.6	47°	56°	65°
HEI-T*	1,080	0.36	0.1	0.1	85	79°	80°	81°
HEI*	1,080	0.36	0.1	0.1	102	79°	80°	81°
APDS	1,175	0.3	-	-	-	75°	78°	80°

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the Falcon

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	Visual discrepancy
620	310 (+310)	0 (+620)	No

Optics and night vision

Falcon Optics
Type of optic	Magnification	Night Vision Devices
		Image Intensifier			Thermal Imager Resolution	Notes
		Resolution	Light Mult	Noise Level
Gunner's Sight	X1.8 - X3.5	N/A	N/A	N/A	Not Fitted
Commander's View	X6	N/A	N/A	N/A	Not Fitted
Driver's View	X1 / 3PV	800X600	?	high	Not Fitted	Only useable with tier 4 upgrade

Use night vision to avoid hostile tanks or to fight them at close range at night. The image intensifier is not installed for gunner or commander, so be cautious when shifting between third person and other views during night.

Usage in battles

Combat tactics

Generally, Falcon drives around the battlefield, trying to hide in hard to notice flank positions or behind houses and shoots at planes. In case if someone drives by - flanks them and destroys them, if the AP belt is equipped.

It's generally better to stay out of sight, using terrain elevation or houses. You only can choose one belt, AP belt is adequate for any work. If you want to shoot just planes you can take explosive ammo, but then you are almost completely useless against armour. APDS belt allows harassing even heavily armoured vehicles from sides. You won't need to reload until you are done.

In case if some tank noticed you and wants to destroy you, you can use the fact, that tanks turrets are usually far from the front of the tank. Bait enemy towards your cover, stand far enough away from the corner to see enemy tracks, but not to see an enemy turret, and shoot cannons at the track that is further away from you. That will force the moving tank to topple over and mess with the enemy aim. Before enemy realized what has just happened shred their side armour and destroy them. If that failed - run, they won't be able to get you anyway. You can do that in duels as well, however, just destroying them is better at that point.

In RB, it's possible to hide in forests, waiting for relatively poorly armoured German medium tanks, light tanks and alike, however, if they notice your vehicle first you probably won't do enough damage to stop them from firing again.

In AB, it's possible to just drive around and shoot at everyone, since it's even faster there, however, people dislike being shot at by autocannons, and someone will certainly notice the noise and kill-feed, so don't expect to live long, especially against Soviets, who have lots of frontal armour and BMPs, which are superior to you in every way.

Some enemies to be concerned about:

• ATGM: These are worse than any tanks because they won't accidentally hit your loader with AP shell, they will just explode you. Attack only when having the upper hand, be that long range, cover, or surprise.
• Maus: It's invulnerable to you and has 2 cannons. Even the IS-7 technically can be defeated in point blank duel with APDS belt, but not the Maus. In AB this means, that you can't drive anywhere it can look and fire at.
• American and Soviet tanks, heavy tanks in general: A lot of them have heavy machine guns, which can penetrate the Falcon. They also have superior frontal armour, so try to be careful around them.

Counter-tactics

Ground:

AP and APDS belts are most effective when fired at your side armour or the back of the turret. If you are attacked by a Falcon, just turn both hull and turret to take better angle against them.

It's best to not let them get a jump on you at all, since it may be able to destroy 2 tanks before anyone even realizes what's going on. Just don't stand with your sides open towards flank directions, instead, turn your hull's front and back there, if the enemy you are currently fighting cannot fire at your hull anyway.

On rare occasions, ramming the Falcon damages it's guns. Ramming at full speed often damages tracks or at least temporarily stops it.

Air:

The Falcon has questionable accuracy at 2 km range, but it still can force you to disengage just by firing in your general direction. It's still better to not mess with the Falcon and avoid flying too much near to buildings if you know it's there, since its users often fire in the back of planes passing by.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Very quick and highly manoeuvrable which allows it to easily flank enemies
• High penetrating APDS rounds can actually do some major damage at the tier
• Very high one-second burst mass
• Fast turret traverse speed
• Only has one ammo belt per gun so no need to reload
• Has a 2-plane stabilizer for both cannons, meaning you can shoot accurately on the move
• All belts contain APHE Shells with 53 mm of penetration
• Commander has Night Vision Device

Cons:

• Weak armour
• Average speed without an experienced driver is 30-35km/h
• Shotgun effect when fired continuously for more than 10 seconds. Will most likely overheat at that point, too
• Approximately 30 seconds worth of ammo before needing to rearm at a capture circle, which might be not possible
• HEAT and HESH rounds will knock the Falcon out in one hit

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the vehicle 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

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the Falcon from live.warthunder.com.

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 vehicles;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

• [Devblog] Falcon AA: Britain's foremost anti-air gun

Britain anti-aircraft vehicles
Crusader AA	Crusader AA Mk I · Crusader AA Mk II
Wheeled	Staghound AA · AEC AA
Radar SPAAG	Chieftain Marksman
Missile SPAA	Stormer AD · Stormer HVM
Other	Light AA Mk I · Falcon
Canada	Skink · ADATS (M113)
South Africa	Ystervark · Bosvark · ZA-35