Battlefield 3 Jet Unlocks and Tips

Battlefield 3 Jet Unlock Guide by Matthew Inganni (Th3 Apple)

In the award winning first-person shooter Battlefield 3 you are able to pilot and drive a multitude of different vehicles, but in my opinion the jets are the most important. The jets of Battlefield 3 offer a multitude of unlocks, a great opportunity to help your team clear the way to the next position, or engage in intense dogfights that can set the tone for the battle of air superiority in both the Conquest and Rush game modes.

The jets of Conquest mode feature a special afterburner speed boost by pressing the sprint button (right stick). The jets of Rush mode do not feature this because of their already high speed. The American jets for the Conquest and Rush modes are the F/A18 Super Hornet, the primary jet for the United States Air Force, and the A-10 Thunderbolt, A.K.A The Tankbuster. The Russian Jets for the Conquest and Rush game modes are the SU-35BM Flanker-E and the SU-25TM Frogfoot. These jets feature the unlock of an infrared flare launcher to deter incoming heat-seeking missiles. The flares will take about 15-20 seconds to regenerate, so beware and try to fly as erratically as possible to avoid these rockets, but don't crash.

I have found that clicking on the afterburners helps a lot to get away from someone with a heat-seeker or to actually avoid it all together. These jets can also unlock their own "air-to-air" heat-seeking missiles, which have the ability to lock-on to jets and helicopters. You are given two of these missiles and once you shoot them, they take about 15-20 seconds to regenerate, although you most likely will not need more than one, because one missile hit disables the vehicle you are shooting at and causes the pilot to have virtually no control of the aircraft.

Jets also have an unlock that disguises your plane's infrared signature thus increasing the difficulty of heat-seeking missiles locking on to your jet. This unlock also decreases the amount of time your jet is spotted on the enemy's mini-map, as well as increasing the difficulty of tracking your jet. All jets are equipped with a forward mounted minigun and with the unlock "belt speed," the time between firing bursts of the minigun decreases. The firing bursts are the maximum amount of bullets that are fired before the gun over heats, this unlock helps greatly during extensive dog-fights, in which using heat-seekers is very difficult, and it is a seemingly "minigun only," battle.

Jets can unlock a proximity scan, this is an external sensor mechanism that detects and reveals enemy units on your mini-map. This sensor not only detects enemy personnel under and around your aircraft, but even enemy vehicles, such as heavy tanks, light tanks, troop transports, and jeeps. A later unlock for jets is the rocket pod; this is a pod of 14 unguided rockets that can be used to take out tanks, jeeps, troop transports, light armor vehicles, and enemy personnel. These rockets can help turn the tide of a tank battle and can lead your tank(s) to win the battle, and to lead the infantry charge to the next position. This unlock for the jet is an air radar. This radar greatly increases the size of your mini-map, and reveals ALL positions of friendly and enemy aircraft. The revealing of these aircraft can be greatly helpful to a teammate in a dog-fight that's outnumbered 2-1 and you can come in and save his plane/life and get a lot of experience points.

The next unlock is the extinguisher; this unlock is useful when your plane becomes disabled. This unlock puts out the fire caused by being disabled, basically giving you a second chance at having a good jet run. The extinguisher, after used, takes about 20-25 seconds to regenerate. While this is regenerating, your plane health is also regenerating. The below radar is the next unlock for the jet. When flying at low altitudes, this radar reduces your heat signature, hiding you from enemy radar, and preventing air-to-air missile systems from locking on to you. 

Maintenance is an unlock that improves your jet's ability to repair itself after sustaining damage. The proceeding unlock is the guided missile. This is an air-to-ground missile that tracks enemy land vehicles, and can track laser painted target even if it is out of the line-of-sight. A beam scanning mechanism is the next unlock. The beam scanner aids in locking on to targets faster when using either the heat seeking missile or the guided missile. Yes, faster lock-on to air AND ground vehicles! The final unlock for the jet is an ECM jammer (electronic countermeasures) including chaff launchers and deceptive transmitters that prevent your aircraft from being locked on to by enemy weapons for a short amount of time while activated.

Hope you find this guide helpful, feel free to add your own tips in the comments below.