Stormer HVM
Contents
Description
The FV4333 Stormer HVM is a variant of the Alvis Stormer AFV that was designed to provide short-range air defense for British ground forces. It was created in response to the growing danger of attack helicopters, such as the Soviet Mi-24 Hind. The British Army opted for the Starstreak missile due to its three-dart warhead, which can overcome both armour and countermeasures. The Stormer's chassis offered excellent crew protection and mobility, making it a suitable platform for the Starstreak missile. The vehicle can hold a maximum of 12 Starstreak missiles, which can destroy low-flying targets, including helicopters, jets, and drones, up to 7 km away. The Stormer HVM entered service in 1997 and was later deployed to Iraq. Oman also purchased some for their own defense needs, while Ukraine received some of the units. As air threats to Western forces diminished, the British Army retired the Stormer HVM in 2009 and sought more advanced alternatives like the Sky Sabre.
The FV4333 Stormer HVM was introduced in Update 1.89 "Imperial Navy". It is a unique and powerful vehicle that can challenge any airborne opponent with its missiles. However, despite its capabilities, the Stormer HVM does have some drawbacks. One of the main drawbacks is its limited range. With a maximum range of 7 km, it will not be able to engage targets that are located further away. Additionally, the Stormer HVM's effectiveness may be reduced against highly manoeuvrable and fast-moving aerial threats. Overall, it is best used as an early-spawn vehicle to quickly neutralize helicopters and possibly engage lightly armoured targets.
General info
Survivability and armour
This tank uses the chassis of Scorpion, which you might be familiar with since Striker. As before, it can only take punishment from the front and it's best to avoid anything more serious than autocannon armed light tanks or KPz-70, since most 9.0+ tanks have at least 100 mm gun along with their coaxial weapons.
The launcher on the back was replaced with a turret carrying Starstreak HVM and search optics. The usually small camera next to commander cupola now has heavy optics and is much bigger as a result. The turret is much higher than the old launcher and is very hard to hide.
The missiles do not have any protection this time around and user should avoid being bombed and shot by artillery at any cost. Even a 7.62 mm machine gun can ignite missiles on a good hit. Even close artillery or HE miss might set off Starstreaks and cause the entire rack to explode, annihilating the carrier and probably taking it's allies nearby with it in process. Even if missiles did not explode, it is very likely that the hull will take enough overpressure damage to take out the crew.
The missile carrier has very short burnout time, so even if it survived a strafe run from a gunship while just being set on fire, it will burn fast and explode in about 8 seconds.
As such, Stormer should avoid fighting anything directly, if possible. To ensure not a single aircraft knows about its presence, an IRST system is used instead of radar - not even best helicopters around can detect it. In arcade mode, they can still see the Stormer, but the optronic system will allow the tank to destroy them before they have even a chance to aim at it.
Mobility
| Game Mode | Max Speed (km/h) | Weight (tons) | Engine power (horsepower) | Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | Reverse | Stock | Upgraded | Stock | Upgraded | ||
| Arcade | 87 | 87 | 13.5 | 355 | 477 | 26.3 | 35.33 |
| Realistic | 80 | 80 | 221 | 250 | 16.37 | 18.52 | |
As with Striker, the Stormer HVM is capable of driving both forward and backwards relatively fast even with no upgrades. The ability to drive forward and turn around at same time still relies on driver being maxed out, so your crew must be very high level.
The more you upgrade the chassis and engine, the more obscure position you can climb and take over in order to avoid being spotted and destroyed by other tanks.
Do not race against Japanese Type 90 and Italian scout tank Centauro ROMOR, they are much faster.
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armaments
Main armament
| Starstreak missile | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Capacity | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
| Arcade | 16 | -10°/+60° | ±180° | Two-plane | 61.6 | 85.3 | 103.6 | 114.6 | 121.9 | 1.30 | 1.15 | 1.06 | 1.00 |
| Realistic | 41.6 | 49.0 | 59.5 | 65.8 | 70.0 | ||||||||
The Stormer HVM uses surface-to-air Starstreak missiles and their unique properties make it hard to use them for anything else. There are 8 of them mounted on the turret and there are 8 more spares in the back of the tank.
The missiles are launched in two stages - the carrier missile and the "darts". The information in the stat-card is presented for the carrier missile and differs from the actual payload unleashed after ~450 m of flight. The main missile has a very bright engine flare, while the mini missiles are very dim and difficult to follow without thermal sight.
In spite of the indicated top speed, Starstreaks bleed their speed very fast when forced to chase jets at an angle, so consider practising fire discipline or look for spots from which you can hit them head-on or in the back.
The missiles are guided by a laser, which makes them trigger LWS upon launch, but also allows to guide multiple launches at once (generally, up to two) and renders jammers and most countermeasures useless.
Ammunition
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | |||||
| 10 m | 100 m | 500 m | 1,000 m | 1,500 m | 2,000 m | ||
| Starstreak HVM | SAM | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 |
| Missile details | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Range (m) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (m) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg) |
Ricochet | ||||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
| Starstreak HVM | SAM | 1,178 | 7,000 | 14 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.57 | 80° | 82° | 90° | ||
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | 11 (+5) | 9 (+7) | 1 (+15) | No |
Notes:
- Missiles are modeled individually and disappear after having been shot or loaded.
- Rack 4 (launcher) is a first stage ammo rack. It totals 8 shells.
- The launcher gets filled first when loading up the tank and is also emptied first.
- Once the launcher rack has been depleted, you can't shoot until at least one missile has been restocked .
- Simply not firing when the launcher is ready to fire will move ammo from racks 1 and 2 into rack 3. Firing will interrupt the restocking of the ready rack.
- The depletion order at full capacity is: 3 - 1 - 2.
Radars
Stormer HMV uses special infrared search devices to detect targets. They have a significantly shorter range than "normal" radar and cannot tell the range towards target until specifically locked onto it. They also scan Stormer HVM surroundings approximately 6 times a second even when locked on, which makes bypassing it next to impossible.
It is so sensitive, that it may spot random shells when they are fired and fly across the battlefield. The search system will react to flares launched during night battles, flooding it with fake targets and can lock onto rockets or flares launched by helicopters. It is possible to lock onto them by accident from sniper seat as well, but once the enemy aircraft was locked onto, the tracker will ignore everything else.
Infrared detectors are invisible to "radar detectors" and will not alert helicopters or supersonic jets of SPAA presence. There is no benefit in powering it down as of now.
Trees and smokes can completely block IRST system - if you cannot see your opponent yourself through thick forest, neither will the system.
| Thales ADAD - Passive Infared Search | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maximum Detection Range |
Minimum Detection Range |
Max Azimuth Scan Angle |
Max Elevation Scan Angle |
Minimum relative speed |
| ~8,000 m | N/A | 360° | -__°/+__° | N/A |
| Thales ADAD - Passive Infared Track | ||||
| Maximum Tracking Range |
Minimum Tracking Range |
Azimuth Tracking Angle |
Elevation Tracking Angle |
Minimum target speed |
| ~8,000 m | N/A | 360° | -__°/+__° | N/A |
Usage in battles
It is best to hide from sight of others when using this SPAA - move around battlefield and use terrain and caves as a hiding spot for yourself. At the same time, you want to have at least some form of high ground so that when enemy aircraft accidentally exposes itself, you can put an end to it immediately. Exploit mobility upgrades to stand on mountain edges, if necessary.
Avoid participating in direct combat with medium tanks at any cost, as you definitely will not help in winning the fight directly and they might use the gigantic ammo rack as a way to destroy your allies. The only logical exception is if you are supporting allied ATGM tank by removing hostile tank ERA and turning their attention towards you, then immediately retreat. Any attempts to do sneaky shots on medium tanks should only be done if you are sure it's worth it.
In case if you managed to spot hostile SAM, you can try to remove them by igniting their missiles to help your team achieve air superiority. Remember, you cannot fire on move, so if they will also notice you and have actual guns, the tables will turn immediately. At long range you can fire at least three times before missiles of most other SAM tanks would reach you.
Using forests as cover is less reliable than just using terrain, as IRST will likely fail to detect your opponents through trees, unlike radar which only get its signal halved in power.
In case if you have nothing better to do at the moment or spotted an enemy tank, you can scout it from a remote location. Do not try to scout if enemy team is actively searching for you.
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Be aware, that while Stormer HVM itself is nigh undetectable in RB, it still uses laser pointer to guide missiles. Some modern helicopters and some tanks have Laser Warning System and will receive attack alert on launch, and probably will try to dodge. Do not expect every static target to never move. |
General missile behaviour and ground targets:
- First Launch
The carrier missile drags the actual missiles away from Stormer at a speed of about 800 m/s and unleashes them at about ~450 m range. Until that point, the missile can be used as a weak form of HE ATGM and if it hits enemy light tank or SPG weak spot it can do fatal overpressure damage.
Carrier missile does shrapnel-like damage and it will deteriorate after hitting any obstacles, so it is necessary for an explosion to hit the target weak spot directly, almost like with HESH. The explosion range also seems to be halved compared to HE. Anything, including simplest forms of side skirts, will block SAM from destroying an enemy tank. Most of BR 9-10 tanks have not just side skirts but either ERA or NERA screens all over them and will not take any damage from single missile and hitting those randomly is going to only damage machine guns and the screens.
At short ranges other SPAA, SPG and light tanks are fair game and it is preferable to try and destroy them via overpressure damage if they try to attack Stormer HVM, as simply running away from them is rather difficult.
- After ~450 m
Three missiles disassemble from carrier missile and start increasing their speed to the extreme, easily reaching 1178 m/s in a straight line. To not lose control over their movement due to speed, they constantly spiral. Missiles have acceptable agility and will instantly react to any scope movements, so aim them using sniper mode. Be quick and precise, if possible.
They have minimal penetration and, mostly due to their spiralling nature, aiming them at ground forces is practically pointless, unless you try to disintegrate tanks which have little to no armour, like other SPAA or ATGM tanks - in the case of such tanks, if you somehow hit their weak spot, they still can be destroyed by smaller missiles, so it is worth trying.
Medium tanks will shrug off Starstreaks and usually it does little more than just annoy them.
Against air targets:
To helicopters, the missiles usually are fatal, as they are almost bound to get hit by at least one of Starstreaks, and explosion either tears off the tail or knocks out the pilot. However, even in the case of this missile, there are cases when Support helicopters somehow survived a direct hit, so you might want to launch two attacks at once just to be sure. You might want to stay a bit closer to the middle of the battlefield just because top ATGM helicopters have a 1 km range advantage over Starstreak missiles, but such positioning will also make you easier to find.
To use the missiles against moving aircraft (mainly, planes) properly, you need to lock on to an aerial target. The IRST system cannot tell you where the targets really are, just the direction they're in, so if you already see the plane, it's probably better to lock on from the sniper sight. If you don't already see them, instead of wasting time while looking for them manually, simply lock onto any target on your "radar" display via hotkeys from third person view like with Chieftain Marksman and the turret will near instantaneously turn towards them by itself. Keep in mind that the system can target allies and random things like shells, fires and flares, so don't immediately fire if turret turns towards your airfield.
As could be seen on the screenshots, in full IRST mode sniper crosshair tries to imitate the drag of missile as it tracks the aircraft, and by keeping sniper crosshairs on plane or helicopter you can guide your missiles towards an aircraft. Keeping an actual missile on target is more important, however, as system accuracy is generally far from stellar and it shouldn't be trusted too much.
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"Targeting" and "leadership" on your crew should be maxed out. This SPAA cannot track targets properly without it and should not be used by a level 1 crew. You have been warned. |
Do note, that a plane approaching at a sharp angle will mess with turret automatic guidance, due to it passing by too fast. It is also very difficult for the darts to catch up to jets not flying straight away from or towards the Stormer HVM at speeds above 600 km/h, as the missiles either bleed their speed very fast or just pass them by as they gain a sudden speed boost. Due to this, Stormer HVM struggles with manoeuverable CAS planes.
It's better to attack when jet is further than 3 km away, slows down or flies in a straight line, so that you can attempt to adjust the shot yourself. If you want to attack planes at shorter ranges, you must acquire thermal sight to be able to comprehend what happens during the missile launch, as otherwise the missiles are too difficult to properly see and it becomes nigh impossible to "catch" the moment when they get the sudden speed boost, which generally happends at exactly 1 km range. Even with thermal sights calibrated to the user preference, without rigorous practice such attack will probably result in a miss more than once.
The Stormer HVM has huge gaps in optics: 10-40X optics, which can be manually adjusted during AA duty, simply hitting "maximum zoom" will probably result in a miss at some angles of attack.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Invisible to anti-radar - helicopters do not receive radar alert from it, greatly reducing the chances of it being detected and targeted with rockets or missiles
- Unique anti-air missiles - triple missile with one of the highest speeds in a straight line in-game
- Has far more agreeable rearm sequence and timings than the latter ADATS (M113)
- While triple missiles only explode on contact, they still can manoeuvre at maximum speed and always spiral, which allows them to bypass rocket walls, Vulcan gun fire and other countermeasures. Proximity missile attack from XM1069, ZPRK 2S6 and other such SAM SPAA in same circumstances would fail due to their missiles getting a false positive and exploding without reaching the target (which subsequently results in their user being hit by a rocket rain), which makes the Stormer in some ways better against helicopters
- Missiles are also immune to flares, IRCM and chaff; If the Stormer HVM is locked on it is nearly impossible to just block them
- Good speed of chassis
- X10-40 optics and powerful thermal scope allow it to track enemy until the very end of the map
- Can scout as well, when isn't busy
- Carrier missile can be used against light and some older medium tanks at close range, many hostile ATGM and SAM tanks have no armour whatsoever, being somewhat vulnerable to mini-missiles as well
Cons:
- High profile of ammo rack, which is also a weak spot, which can be ignited even by 7.62 mm machine guns or close artillery miss. Any damage to the missiles causes entire vehicle to explode, unlike with Striker
- On top of high profile, ammo racks visually remind players of XM1069 and will likely make ground forces drop everything and immediately attack it - stealth approach is required at all times
- Two-stage launch, lack of proximity fuse, questionable lock-on accuracy and speed bleed on turns make it difficult for missiles to hit jets, at least at ranges below 3,000 m
- Hull defences are inadequate against tanks and aircraft with weapons bigger than 20 mm autocannon, even if your ammo rack happened to be empty
- While technically invisible, the Stormer HVM will still trigger laser Warning Systems on launch, potentially spooking away targets which have LWS (though usually they only have a second to react before missiles hit them)
- Lock-on does not provide a 100% accurate targeting solution - turret and the optical system sometimes fail to track planes properly, relying on the crew and operator skills to compensate, especially noticeable when the inappropriate zoom level is used
- Lock-on can become unstable around trees and immediately breaks if visual contact is lost
- Due to a huge gap in optics zoom levels, the operator is often required to manually adjust scope, instead of just hitting "maximum zoom" button, and to lock on different aircraft without leaving the sniper seat
- After dispersing, triple missiles constantly spiral, making precise long-range aiming at ground forces pointless, not to mention that most tanks in its natural battle rating range are immune to triple missile attack unless hit at a perfectly flat angle
History
In the mid-1980's it became clear that supersonic aircraft and strike helicopters proved to be dangerous against ground troops. To counter these threats back in 1986, the British Ministry of Defence began development of the "Starstreak HVM" (High-Velocity Missile) anti-aircraft missile system. The production was done by the Shorts Missile Systems company. On the 1st of September in 1997, the famous Starstreak anti-aircraft missile system had been put into service by the British Army. Initially, it was developed in 3 different variants: portable, stationary and mobile, although later they additionally developed an air version but it didn't find a practical application.
The armoured personnel carrier Stormer was created by using the propulsion system, the transmission and chassis of the light scouting FV101 Scorpion tank for the mobile version of the system. In 1975 on the base of this armoured personnel carrier, the self-propelled anti-tank missile system FV102 Striker was created. Since the vehicle proved itself well, it was decided to additionally create the self-propelled anti-aircraft system Alvis Stormer HVM on its platform.
- From Devblog
Media
- Skins
- Videos
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
| 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 |
