Lightning F.53

This page is about the premium gift British jet fighter Lightning F.53. For the regular version, see Lightning F.6.

Lightning F.53

Lightning F.53

Britain

VI Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
9.3	9.3	9.7

Class:

PREMIUM

Fighter

Jet fighter

Purchase:Bundle or Gift

Show in game

Description

RSAF Lightning F.53 (Tail #227), the same Lightning F.53 modelled in-game, as a gate guard at King Faisal Airbase.

During the late '60s, when the Lightning was no longer considered "cutting edge" and the RAF was in the process of acquiring F-4 Phantoms, the MoD greenlit the export of the Lightning to close Middle Eastern allies, namely Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The export variants were divided into two types, the Lightning F.52 being ex-RAF Lightning F.6 converted for export, and F.53 being newly built specialized ground-attack export models of the F.6, with more hardpoints for bombs or unguided rocket pods. A total of 46 were built, 12 F.53Ks for the Kuwaiti Air Force and 34 F.53s for the Royal Saudi Arabian Air Force, with one aircraft crashing during shakedown tests before delivery, resulting in a hasty replacement F.53 being rebuilt from an old F.6 airframe to meet the delivery time. Saudi Arabia received their first F.53 in 1967, and would extensively use them until 1986 when the Saudis started trying to acquire the Tornado IDS to replace it, which they successfully completed in 1989 with the first Tornado IDS deliveries in that same year.

Introduced in Update "Danger Zone" as a premium pack, Lightning F.53 is a more ground-attack oriented version of the Lightning F.6 in the tech tree, and as such, is slightly heavier, meaning the already mediocre air-to-air performance at that BR of the Lightning is now slightly worse. The F.53 shines in frontline high speed ground attack runs thanks to its insanely large amount of unguided rockets (up to 192) across underwing pods, overwing pods, and an internal rocket bay. The F.53 is indeed a unique and peculiar aircraft which does not particularly excel at many things, and acts best as a collector aircraft for people interested in the rich history of Middle Eastern military aviation.

The Lightning F.53 was removed from the Gaijin store after the 2022 "Winter sale". It was briefly made available for purchase with Golden Eagles for the 2023 anniversary of its first flight.

General info

Flight performance

Arrestor gear

Accelerates braking by grabbing the brake cable on the deck of the aircraft carrier

Air brakes

Allows you to dramatically reduce the flight speed by releasing special flaps

Drogue parachute

Reduces braking distance when landing on any runway

Max speed

at 12 192 m2 290 km/h

Turn time26 s

Max altitude18 288 m

Engine2 х Rolls-Royce Avon Mk.302C

TypeJet

Cooling systemAir

Take-off weight19 t

Characteristics	Max Speed (km/h at 12,192 m)		Max altitude (metres)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (metres/second)		Take-off run (metres)
	AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
Stock	2,240	2,213	18288	22.8	28.0	124.6	115.4	850
Upgraded	2,353	2,290		24.4	26.0	177.8	150.0

Details

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

Limits
Wings (km/h)	Gear (km/h)	Flaps (km/h)			Max Static G
		Combat	Take-off	Landing	+	-
1361	463	N/A	654	463	~10	~6

Optimal velocities (km/h)
Ailerons	Rudder	Elevators	Radiator
< 850	< 700	< 700	N/A

Engine performance

Engine			Aircraft mass
Engine name		Number	Basic mass		Wing loading (full fuel)
Rolls-Royce Avon Mk.302		2	14,020 kg		436 kg/m2
Engine characteristics			Mass with fuel (no weapons load)			Max Takeoff Weight
Weight (each)	Type		6m fuel	20m fuel	22m fuel
1,310 kg	Afterburning axial-flow turbojet		15,382 kg	18,109 kg	18,559 kg	19,000 kg
Maximum engine thrust @ 0 m (RB/SB)			Thrust to weight ratio @ 0 m (WEP)
Condition	100%	WEP	6m fuel	20m fuel	22m fuel	MTOW
Stationary	5,616 kgf	7,413 kgf	0.96	0.82	0.80	0.78
Optimal	5,616 kgf (0 km/h)	7,747 kgf (1,000 km/h)	1.01	0.86	0.83	0.82

Survivability and armour

Crew1 person

Speed of destruction

Structural1 361 km/h

Gear463 km/h

The Lightning F.53 has an identical internal layout to the Lightning F.6 upon which it is based. This means that most of the area in the wings is full of fuel tanks; likewise the stacked and staggered engines are retained. While the top engine is exposed and vulnerable to enemy attacks it can often absorb bullets, protecting the lower engine from damage (assuming the enemy is attacking you from the rear and above).

Where the Lightning F.53 does differ from the Lightning F.6 is in the addition of a 64 mm bulletproof glass windscreen. This is the only armour found on either aircraft.

Modifications and economy

Repair cost

AB2 142

RB5 378

SB6 799

Crew training10 000

Experts1 010 000

Aces2 600

Research Aces2 020 000

Reward for battleAB / RB / SB

2 × 130 / 380 / 600 %

2 × 226 / 226 / 226 %

Modifications

Flight performance	Survivability	Weaponry
Fuselage repair Compressor New boosters Wings repair Engine G-suit	Airframe EFS Cover	aden_belt_pack Matra SNEB Mk.N1 540lb Red Top aden_new_gun Matra JL-100R Mk.10 1000lb

Armaments

Offensive armament

The Lightning F.53 is armed with:

• 2 x 30 mm ADEN cannons, belly-mounted (120 rpg = 240 total)

Suspended armament

The Lightning F.53 can be outfitted with the following ordnance:

	1	2	3	4	5
540 lb Mk.M2 bombs	1, 2				1, 2
1,000 lb L.D H.E. M.C. Mk.1 bombs	1				1
RP rockets			48
SNEB type 23 rockets	18, 36	36		36	18, 36
Firestreak missiles			2
Red Top missiles			2

Default weapon presets

Without load 2 x Firestreak missiles 2 x Red Top missiles 4 x 540 lb Mk.M2 bombs (2,160 lb total) 2 x 1,000 lb L.D H.E. M.C. Mk.1 bombs (2,000 lb total) 144 x SNEB type 23 rockets + 48 x RP rockets 144 x SNEB type 23 rockets + 2 x Firestreak missiles 2 x Firestreak missiles + 4 x 540 lb Mk.M2 bombs (2,160 lb total) 2 x Red Top missiles + 144 x SNEB type 23 rockets 2 x Red Top missiles + 4 x 540 lb Mk.M2 bombs (2,160 lb total)

Usage in battles

The Lightning F.53 is not unique for its battle-rating, if you've played the F-104, you may find it very similar. However, the Lightning F.53 gets load-outs for ground targets that should not be ignored. It can carry enough payload to destroy entire convoys or bases while still carrying its two anti-air missiles.

When it comes to engaging air targets, a boom-and-zoom approach is most suited, the Lightning F.53 can turn quite well when flying just under Mach, however, it is much easier for the Lightning to outrun missiles than to try out-turning them. The 2 Red Top missiles are capable but must be used with care, their range is very limited at the speeds the Lightning F.53 tends to face, at the BR's top speeds, their effective launch range is within 2.5km from the sides and 1.5km from the rear. Targets should be carefully considered as well, many aircraft at the BR have flares, one of the main distinctions that need to be made is between the F-104A and F-104C, both at the same BR, the A does not get flares while the C does. Another recurring aircraft is the A-10A, while it is an optimal target for the Lightning F.53's guns as it is slow and will have trouble manoeuvring out of the line of fire, caution must still be in order as it possesses extremely potent all-aspect missiles. The Su-25 should be handled with the same amount of caution, the Lightning F.53 generally cannot outmanoeuver those missiles.

The Lightning F.53 comes with a radar, locking on with the radar may seem pointless as it does not possess radar-guided missiles, however, the radar lock facilitates the missile lock even if it is not outright guiding them, so it is a good habit to radar-lock air targets you are be going after.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Good climb rate and acceleration.
• Formidable angle-of-attack above low speeds.
• Very powerful cannons, and good missiles.
• Surprisingly good turn rate between 800 and 1,000 km/h IAS.
• Large rocket payload.

Cons:

• Quite poor energy retention.
• Large target for enemy aircraft.
• Awkward under-belly cannon placement.
• Relatively low top speed (1,280 km/h IAS at sea level).
• Poor low-speed manoeuvrability - accurate low-speed usage of rockets against ground targets is difficult.

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

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the Lightning F.53 from live.warthunder.com.

Videos

The Shooting Range #315 - Metal Beasts section at 00:28 discusses the Lightning F.53.

See also

• Lightning (Family)
• MiG-21 SPS-K (Germany)
• F-104 (Family)

External links

• [Devblog] New Premium jets: Lightning F.53 and Ariete

The English Electric Company Limited
Jet Fighters	Lightning F.6 · Lightning F.53
Jet Bombers	Canberra B Mk 2 · Canberra B (I) Mk 6
Tanks	Excelsior
	The English Electric Company allowed the Glenn L. Martin Company to license-build Canberra bombers for the United States Air Force.