Reason: due to a persistent critical bug, these helicopters are easily shot down by FIM-92 Stingers at ranges of up to 4 km, making defensive countermeasures largely ineffective. Combined with their poor optics and targeting systems, they struggle to reliably spot and engage enemy SPAA before being engaged themselves. This places them at a significant disadvantage compared to other 9.7 helicopters, and their effective combat performance is much closer to that of 9.3 counterparts.
In the Cold War BR range (approximately 8.X – 9.X), almost all helicopters are extremely vulnerable to man-portable IR missiles such as the FIM-92 Stinger and similar systems. Their countermeasures are largely ineffective, and their flight performance, optics, and targeting capabilities are insufficient to engage SPAA effectively before being engaged themselves. As a result, these helicopters are often practically unusable in actual combat situations.
Compared to other vehicles at the same BR, they are at a significant disadvantage. We believe they either require a reduction in Battle Rating or meaningful improvements to their survivability and combat effectiveness – including but not limited to UH-1, AH-1, Bo-105, and Mi-24 series.
Reason:
As a subsonic attack aircraft equipped with TV-guided bombs, the Yak-130 lacks any flare or chaff countermeasures. This leaves it completely defenseless against aircraft such as the Tornado and J-7D, which have been moved to 9.7 in the recent BR updates and are capable of carrying high-performance infrared air-to-air missiles. In the current matchmaking environment, the Yak-130 is frequently exposed to threats it has no means to counter, and therefore it should not have its BR increased. Remaining at 9.3 is both reasonable and necessary for its combat viability.
Reason:
Compared to the BMPT on the tech tree which has a five-man crew, the BMPT-72 features only a three-man crew configuration. This significantly reduces its survivability in combat, and makes it more prone to being rendered inoperable by penetrating hits. Given this notable disadvantage in crew protection, the BMPT-72 is at a clear drawback relative to its tech-tree counterpart. Therefore, a reduction to 11.3 is justified to better reflect its actual combat performance.
Reason:
Compared to other T-80U series variants, the T-80UM2 is not equipped with a thermal vision device (TVD), putting it at a significant disadvantage in target acquisition capability. Its combat efficiency is far inferior to that of its counterparts and other main battle tanks at the same BR, with severely limited situational awareness on the battlefield. Therefore, a reduction to 11.3 is justified to better reflect its actual combat performance.
We’d also like to comment on your suggestions about the Su-30MK2 AMV and Su-30MKK.
Currently, both aircraft make up for a significant part of the vehicles played at the 13.3 - 13.7 Battle Rating range. They constantly play against each other, meaning their effectiveness stays at a tolerable level. If we were to raise their Battle Ratings now, they would start facing top aircraft that carry a lot of ARH missiles and AESA radars, which would drastically affect their effectiveness and might require us to lower their Battle Ratings back again.
Therefore, we’re not going to increase their Battle Ratings in the current Planned Battle Rating changes. We do however plan to increase them in the future when we introduce the new maximum Battle Rating for aircraft.