Falcon
Contents
Description
The Falcon is a rank V British self-propelled anti-aircraft vehicle with a battle rating of 8.0 (AB) and 8.3 (RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.57 "Battle March". While being an anti-aircraft vehicle, the Falcon has optimal performance against everything, assuming you have enough modifications. Some self-propelled anti-aircraft vehicles have a high fire rate, which allows them to destroy planes instantly or harass them from great distances, although they may have problems with standard ground vehicles due to armour. There are others which can destroy tanks by using high penetration ammunition but have difficulty taking down aircraft due to a lack of explosive filler. The Falcon has the ability to perform both of these roles with a high degree of efficiency.
The Falcon has the appearance of a light tank with a slightly sloped round turret on the back. It is easy to recognize the Falcon due to its unique features as there are not many vehicles like it on a field at its battle rating.
General info
Survivability and armour
The armour on the Falcon is not very effective, as it can only reliably protect against rifle-calibre machine guns. Aircraft that are armed with heavy machine guns and cannons are able to destroy it, but the Falcon is quick and highly manoeuvrable compared to most other vehicles which can allow it to escape into cover.
Important to note that some full calibre APHE shells do not detonate upon impacting the Falcon's armour, granting it some chances to make narrow escapes.
Many of the tanks at the battle rating of the Falcon also carry 12.7 mm or 14.5 mm heavy machine guns and will fire them at the Falcon. These machine guns are easily capable of defeating the armour and will devastate the interior of the vehicle, so as long as the mobility of the vehicle is not hampered it is advisable to keep moving and find cover.
Chemical rounds, such as HEAT-FS and HESH, will obliterate the Falcon, and artillery can also quickly bring a swift end to the Falcon.
Armour type:
- Rolled homogeneous armour
| Armour | Front | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 10 mm (80°), 12.7 mm (2-19°) Front glacis 12.7 mm (37°) Lower glacis |
12.7 mm Top 12.7 mm (13°) Bottom |
10 mm (2°) | 10 mm |
| Turret | 10 mm (4-64°) | 10 mm (14-26°) | 10 mm (2°) | 6 mm |
Notes:
- Suspension wheels are 10 mm thick while tracks are 15 mm thick.
- The general armour on the Falcon is extremely thin, which allows some full calibre APHE shells to pass through without detonating.
- Heavy machine guns are able to defeat the armour protection of the Falcon.
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 | 52 | 9 | 15.9 | 303 | 406 | 19.06 | 25.53 |
| Realistic | 48 | 8 | 188 | 213 | 11.82 | 13.4 | |
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armaments
Main armament
The Falcon carries two 30 mm autocannons with a high rate of fire. Together, they can shred tanks and planes apart in mere seconds.
Autocannons can overheat if continuously fired, so short bursts work best. Firing for more than 6 seconds can cause overheating and jamming and it is advised to refrain from extended firing unless absolutely necessary. The recoil from guns slows the tank down and pushes it back. If attempting a flanking attack, try to fire over the the side of the vehicle, as otherwise, the opponent's turret might catch up.
Ammunition is stored in two identical belts (one for each cannon), which ensures uniformity of ammunition but does have several disadvantages. For example, rearming the belt is only possible when all ammunition is expended. This takes an extended period of time (20 seconds) and then the Falcon must also reload for 4 seconds; if team lacks any control over the map it may be impossible. Lack of a backup belt also allows aircraft to easily take it out if they are aware of this weakness and see it standing on a capture point.
| 30 mm HSS 831L (x2) | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
| Arcade | 620 (310) | 600 | -10°/+85° | ±180° | Two-plane | 70.4 | 97.5 | 118.4 | 130.9 | 139.3 | 65.00 | 57.50 | 53.00 | 50.00 |
| Realistic | 47.6 | 56.0 | 68.0 | 75.2 | 80.0 | |||||||||
Ammunition
- Default: SAP-I · HEI-T* - General combat. Avoid heavily armoured vehicles at all costs, but can punish other SPAA and light tanks.
- 30x170 HE-I-T: HEI-T* · HEI* · HEI* · SAP-I - Belt adapted to hunt down planes. Damage to SPAA and light tanks is reduced severely.
- 30x170 APHE-I: SAP-I · SAP-I · SAP-I · HEI-T* - Belt adapted to hunt down light tanks. Damage to planes is reduced, but still adequate.
- 30x170 APDS-T: SAP-I · APDS · SAP-I · HEI-T* - Anti-tank belt. Flank and destroy careless MBTs, damage heavy tanks, while doing AA duty. May not cause fatal damage immediately due to APDS not being the first shell in the belt.
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | ||||||
| 10 m | 100 m | 500 m | 1,000 m | 1,500 m | 2,000 m | ||
| SAP-I | 53 | 50 | 39 | 29 | 21 | 16 | |
| HEI-T* | 9 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 4 | |
| HEI* | 9 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 4 | |
| APDS | 110 | 101 | 95 | 69 | 52 | 41 | |
| Shell details | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (m) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g) |
Ricochet | ||||||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
| SAP-I | 1,080 | 0.36 | 1.2 | 9 | 30.6 | 47° | 56° | 65° | ||||
| HEI-T* | 1,080 | 0.36 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 85 | 79° | 80° | 81° | ||||
| HEI* | 1,080 | 0.36 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 102 | 79° | 80° | 81° | ||||
| APDS | 1,175 | 0.3 | - | - | - | 75° | 78° | 80° | ||||
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|
| 620 | 310 (+310) | 0 (+620) | No |
Optics and night vision
| Falcon Optics | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type of optic | Magnification | Night Vision Devices | ||||
| Image Intensifier | Thermal Imager Resolution |
Notes | ||||
| Resolution | Light Mult | Noise Level | ||||
| Gunner's Sight | X1.8 - X3.5 | N/A | N/A | N/A | Not Fitted | |
| Commander's View | X6 | N/A | N/A | N/A | Not Fitted | |
| Driver's View | X1 / 3PV | 800X600 | ? | high | Not Fitted | Only useable with tier 4 upgrade |
Use night vision to avoid hostile tanks or to fight them at close range at night. The image intensifier is not installed for gunner or commander, so be cautious when shifting between third person and other views during night.
Usage in battles
- Combat tactics
Generally, Falcon drives around the battlefield, trying to hide in hard to notice flank positions or behind houses and shoots at planes. In case if someone drives by - flanks them and destroys them, if the AP belt is equipped.
It's generally better to stay out of sight, using terrain elevation or houses. You only can choose one belt, AP belt is adequate for any work. If you want to shoot just planes you can take explosive ammo, but then you are almost completely useless against armour. APDS belt allows harassing even heavily armoured vehicles from sides. You won't need to reload until you are done.
In case if some tank noticed you and wants to destroy you, you can use the fact, that tanks turrets are usually far from the front of the tank. Bait enemy towards your cover, stand far enough away from the corner to see enemy tracks, but not to see an enemy turret, and shoot cannons at the track that is further away from you. That will force the moving tank to topple over and mess with the enemy aim. Before enemy realized what has just happened shred their side armour and destroy them. If that failed - run, they won't be able to get you anyway. You can do that in duels as well, however, just destroying them is better at that point.
In RB, it's possible to hide in forests, waiting for relatively poorly armoured German medium tanks, light tanks and alike, however, if they notice your vehicle first you probably won't do enough damage to stop them from firing again.
In AB, it's possible to just drive around and shoot at everyone, since it's even faster there, however, people dislike being shot at by autocannons, and someone will certainly notice the noise and kill-feed, so don't expect to live long, especially against Soviets, who have lots of frontal armour and BMPs, which are superior to you in every way.
Some enemies to be concerned about:
- ATGM: These are worse than any tanks because they won't accidentally hit your loader with AP shell, they will just explode you. Attack only when having the upper hand, be that long range, cover, or surprise.
- Maus: It's invulnerable to you and has 2 cannons. Even the IS-7 technically can be defeated in point blank duel with APDS belt, but not the Maus. In AB this means, that you can't drive anywhere it can look and fire at.
- American and Soviet tanks, heavy tanks in general: A lot of them have heavy machine guns, which can penetrate the Falcon. They also have superior frontal armour, so try to be careful around them.
- Counter-tactics
Ground:
AP and APDS belts are most effective when fired at your side armour or the back of the turret. If you are attacked by a Falcon, just turn both hull and turret to take better angle against them.
It's best to not let them get a jump on you at all, since it may be able to destroy 2 tanks before anyone even realizes what's going on. Just don't stand with your sides open towards flank directions, instead, turn your hull's front and back there, if the enemy you are currently fighting cannot fire at your hull anyway.
On rare occasions, ramming the Falcon damages it's guns. Ramming at full speed often damages tracks or at least temporarily stops it.
Air:
The Falcon has questionable accuracy at 2 km range, but it still can force you to disengage just by firing in your general direction. It's still better to not mess with the Falcon and avoid flying too much near to buildings if you know it's there, since its users often fire in the back of planes passing by.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Very quick and highly manoeuvrable which allows it to easily flank enemies
- High penetrating APDS rounds can actually do some major damage at the tier
- Very high one-second burst mass
- Fast turret traverse speed
- Only has one ammo belt per gun so no need to reload
- Has a 2-plane stabilizer for both cannons, meaning you can shoot accurately on the move
- All belts contain APHE Shells with 53 mm of penetration
- Commander has Night Vision Device
Cons:
- Weak armour
- Average speed without an experienced driver is 30-35km/h
- Shotgun effect when fired continuously for more than 10 seconds. Will most likely overheat at that point, too
- Approximately 30 seconds worth of ammo before needing to rearm at a capture circle, which might be not possible
- HEAT and HESH rounds will knock the Falcon out in one hit
History
Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the vehicle 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
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 |
