Aircraft Overhaul: Fix Jets, Radar, Countermeasures, Rearview, and Freelook
TLDR: Air combat needs a full systems overhaul, not just small balance tweaks. Fix the broken radar, add an instant rearview or freelook camera, expand 3rd-person FOV, and rework countermeasure systems. Don’t revert to BF4-style speed control. Instead, build depth around inertia, energy management, and situational awareness. Buff MANPADs to one-shot systems but limit them to a single rocket. The goal: make aircraft combat skill-driven, immersive, and rewarding again.
Before anything else, I want to thank the EA/DICE team for their communication, openness to feedback, and the speed at which they’ve been addressing issues since launch. The transparency and responsiveness you’ve shown are exceptionally rare for an AAA studio, and it’s been noticed and appreciated, at least by me.
After a couple of weeks of flying, I don’t actually mind the jets’ time-to-kill. What really breaks the experience is how underdeveloped the aircraft systems feel compared to the overwhelming number of guided rockets coming from the ground. The radar doesn’t just perform poorly; it simply doesn’t work at all. There’s no instant rearview or freelook camera to provide situational awareness, and the limited number of countermeasures makes it nearly impossible to survive the constant missile spam from tanks and infantry.
Rather than reducing the power of ground-based rockets, the better path forward is to elevate aircraft systems to a competitive standard. Jets and other aircraft need reliable tools to survive and fight back: a functioning air radar, a rearview or quick-look camera, and 3 to 4 countermeasures that must be manually restocked at airfields or uncontested capture points instead of passively recharging on a cooldown timer. The same restock logic could apply to tanks to maintain balance. Alternatively, a longer cooldown could begin only after the final countermeasure is used, with the option to skip it through manual resupply at base for aircraft or at base and uncontested points for tanks.
To further refine balance, Man-Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADs) could be reworked into true one-shot systems but limited to a single rocket per operator. This would make them a credible threat to jets and helicopters without turning the battlefield into a sky full of lock-on spam. Manually guided rockets, however, could remain as they are, since their effectiveness already depends on player skill and positioning.
Finally, to add a small layer of unpredictability and keep engagements interesting, consider introducing a light RNG element, such as a 3 percent chance that munitions from either tanks or infantry deal only 70 percent damage. It’s subtle, but it would help reduce overly deterministic outcomes in vehicle combat.
It’s also important to note that air-to-air missiles have been disabled since launch. Once they’re reintroduced, the current imbalance will only worsen unless aircraft defensive systems are meaningfully improved. Without working radar, instant rearview, or sufficient countermeasures, adding more anti-air capability will make flying even more punishing.
At the moment, dogfighting feels less like tactical aerial combat and more like a digital game of Marco Polo. Without a functioning radar, instant rearview, or decoupled freelook, situational awareness is almost nonexistent. Pilots end up spinning in circles, guessing where threats are rather than reacting strategically. That’s not engaging; it’s disorienting, and it undermines what used to make Battlefield’s air combat so satisfying: awareness, positioning, and control.
The third-person field of view for aircraft and vehicles also needs serious attention. Even at maximum FOV, the vehicle itself occupies nearly half the screen, which defeats the entire purpose of third-person perspective. Combined with loose and slippery flight handling, jets currently feel like they’re skating on ice rather than flying high-performance aircraft. The result is a flight model that feels detached and imprecise, rather than responsive and weighty.
A common suggestion from the community has been to reintroduce BF3 or BF4-style speed control to restore a sense of mastery and a skill gap to air combat. However, I don’t believe that would achieve the intended result. Maintaining an arbitrary number on the speedometer to hit a fixed optimal turn rate doesn’t create meaningful skill expression; it just rewards memorization. True mastery should come from understanding inertia, altitude, and energy management. Dogfighting should feel dynamic and fluid, where success depends on reading momentum, anticipating angles, and adapting mid-fight — not holding a constant speed.
Battlefield has always been at its best when air combat rewards situational awareness, teamwork, and adaptive skill rather than rote mechanics. Restoring that depth doesn’t require reinventing the wheel — just giving pilots the tools and physics that allow those skills to matter again.
With these changes, air combat would finally feel like what it’s meant to be: skill-driven, immersive, and dynamic. A true test of piloting, positioning, and awareness, not a guessing game against overwhelming ground-based lock-ons.
