F-4E Phantom II

F-4E Phantom II

F-4C Phantom II

F-15A

F-4E Phantom II

F-4C Phantom II

F-15A

USA

VII Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
11.3	11.3	10.7

Class:

Fighter

Jet fighter

Research:350 000

Purchase:950 000

Show in game

This page is about the jet fighter F-4E Phantom II. For other versions, see F-4 Phantom II (Family).

Description

The F-4E Phantom II is a rank VII American jet fighter with a battle rating of 11.3 (AB/RB) and 10.7 (SB). It was introduced in Update 1.97 "Viking Fury". This twin-engine aircraft is powered by two General Electric J79-GE-17 jets, each producing an incredible 8,010 kgf on maximum afterburner. This multi-role vehicle is among the top fighter jets in the game and also a supremely capable ground attacker.

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 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	2,097	2,074	16000	26.5	27.5	160.8	151.2	850
Upgraded	2,202	2,140		25.5	26.0	221.6	190.0

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	+	-
1458	463	N/A	625	463	~11	~4

Optimal velocities (km/h)
Ailerons	Rudder	Elevators	Radiator
< 810	< 750	< 700	N/A

Engine performance

Engine			Aircraft mass
Engine name		Number	Basic Mass		Wing loading (full fuel)
General Electric J79-GE-17		2	14,115 kg		406 kg/m2
Engine characteristics			Mass with fuel (no weapons load)			Max Takeoff Weight
Weight (each)	Type		8m fuel	20m fuel	26m fuel
1,750 kg	Afterburning axial-flow turbojet		15,919 kg	18,626 kg	19,979 kg	24,000 kg
Maximum engine thrust @ 0 m (RB / SB)			Thrust to weight ratio @ 0 m (WEP)
Condition	100%	WEP	8m fuel	20m fuel	26m fuel	MTOW
Stationary	5,200 kgf	8,008 kgf	1.01	0.86	0.80	0.67
Optimal	5,200 kgf (0 km/h)	9,379 kgf (1,200 km/h)	1.18	1.01	0.94	0.78

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-4E Phantom II is armed with the following offensive weapons:

• 1 x 20 mm M61 cannon, chin-mounted (640 RPG)

Due to this cannon's high rate of fire, trigger discipline is a must.

Suspended armament

Describe the aircraft's suspended armament: additional cannons under the wings, bombs, rockets and torpedoes. This section is especially important for bombers and attackers. If there is no suspended weaponry remove this subsection.

Usage in battles

The F-4E Phantom II is well-suited for any in-game situation. For attacking ground targets, the plane is armed with an assortment of bombs and rockets, and against air targets, players may employ the vehicle's deadly air-to-air missiles and frontal cannon. If desired, three externally-mounted gunpods may be equipped, but note that these may not be useful in certain situations. Although they will undoubtedly increase the vehicle's destructive capabilities, they also appreciably hinder flight performance through induced drag. In many situations, one front-facing cannon is all that is required to dispatch an opponent aircraft. As for the missiles, the ones used by this plane are among the best in the game, comparable to the R-60 missiles equipped by the MiG-21MF (Germany) and the MiG-21SMT. The AIM-9J missiles are most effective when fired from between 1 to 2 km away from the target. Any closer and they will struggle to track and likely veer off target for a miss.

The F-4E has one of the highest rates of climb out of any vehicle in the game, and is also one of the fastest, especially below 5,000 m altitude. It also has good to excellent acceleration at all speeds, unlike the MiG-21SMT, which only has above-average acceleration at speeds above 700 kph. This means that the Phantom is much more forgiving in dogfights since any lost speed can be regained fairly quickly.

Unlike the F-4C, this vehicle is equipped with leading-edge slats, which increase the aircraft's manoeuvrability. The plane has the best turning ability between 700 and 900 kph, although it has competitive turn rates at all speeds. However, as with all top-tier fighter jets, extended turn-fights should be avoided, since they bleed much speed out of this heavy aircraft and leave the pilot defenceless against nearby vultures. Specifically, watch out for the J35D Draken, which will beat any of its contemporaries in an extended turn, and also keep an eye on nearby Mitsubishi T-2 and MiG-21 pilots: although these aircraft don't do as well in extended turns, they can pull a significant angle of attack in the first few moments of a turn-fight.

In air realistic battles, it is recommended to take a balanced fuel load of 20 minutes, allowing ample usage of afterburner but also reducing the mass of the aircraft to improve its performance. It is also recommended to take armoured-target belts for the internal 20 mm cannon, as well as 4 AIM-9J air-to-air missiles. This setup will maximize the vehicle's anti-air capabilities.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Leading-edge slats allow for an above-average turn rate
• AIM-9J air-to-air missiles are among the best in the game
• Equipped with flares for evading enemy missiles
• A wide range of suspended armaments, suitable for any play-style
• Deadly frontal armament with high burst mass
• Makes use of a ballistic computer for assisting in the aim of cannons, rockets, and bombs
• Hard to rip the wings through G-overload

Cons:

• Limited ammunition in the frontally-mounted cannon
• Quite large and heavy compared to other fighters at its tier
• Rate of climb suffers immensely when carrying large amounts of ordinance.

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

The Shooting Range #198 - Metal Beasts section at 00:33 discusses the F-4E Phantom II.

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

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• encyclopedia page on the aircraft;
• other literature.

McDonnell Aircraft Corporation
Jet Fighters	F2H-2 · F3H-2
	F-4C Phantom II · F-4E Phantom II · F-4J Phantom II · F-4S Phantom II
	F-15A · F-15C MSIP II · F-15E
Strike Aircraft	AV-8B Plus · AV-8B (NA)
Helicopters	AH-6M
Export/Licensed
Aircraft	◄F-4F Early · ◄F-4F · ◄F-4F KWS LV · Phantom FG.1 · Phantom FGR.2 · F-4J(UK) Phantom II · F-4EJ Phantom II · F-4EJ ADTW · Kurnass · Kurnass 2000
	F-15J · F-15J(M) · Baz · Baz Meshupar · F-15I Ra’am
	▄AV-8B Plus
Helicopters	Lahatut
	The McDonnell Aircraft Corporation merged with Douglas Aircraft Company in 1967 to form McDonnell Douglas Corporation. Later it was merged with The Boeing Company in 1997.
See Also	Mitsubishi Heavy Industries