Difficulty and Planner

Joint Strike Fighter has five skill levels that can be set from the Options section of the main menu. These settings only affect the Campaign AI. The higher the level, the better the enemy will be at locating your plane and destroying it.

Use the mission planner to adjust waypoints to make terrain following work for you.

If targets are off the Campaign map, select the map view and right click near the hidden area, then switch to the Edit (waypoint mode) and place your waypoints. Remember that by tapping , or clicking on the Mission Planner button in the top right corner, you can hide the Mission Planner windows all together.

Wingmen and IFDL

Your Wingmen are there to escort you. Your job is take out ground targets and assist your wingmen in taking out air targets. Use Wingmen sparingly, they are best utilized for taking out CAP over bombing targets.

To prevent any air mishaps, wait until you have cleared the runway before you call any formation with your wingmen or issue orders.

As soon as you are off the ground call for your IFDL link (SHF and 6 for AWACS)

If you lose your AWACS (E-3D) you will not be given another - no further IFDL data will be available.

Having trouble getting GPS targetting to work? You have to not only select a GPS capable weapon but must also select A2G mode on the MFD.

Use SHF, then 1, then 2 then 2 to order your wingmen not to engage unless tracked until you are ready to use them to clear the target otherwise they may reveal your position. Ordering Radio Silence is a good idea at some point also.

Order your wingmen to turn ECM ON when in an area heavy with air resistance.

While terrain following is great in many instances there are times when a high alt approach works better. Be sure to load your wingmen with extra weapons in these cases.

When engaging multiple aircraft order your wingmen to wide separation for maximum effectiveness.

The Arrow formation divides four aircraft into two sections, each with a LEAD and a cover. The Arrow is useful for a traveling formation over enemy air space and is well suited for attacking ground targets.

Learn to use the Decoy Front and Decoy Down formations for greater effectiveness when engaging multiple enemies. Read the manual!

ATC

When its time for takeoff request clearance and the tower will switch on the runway lights.

When you approach your airbase you can toggle the "S" key to get the SLS glide slope. The color of the slope will indicate whether the air base is friendly (green) and enemy (red), and thereby letting you know if you are permitted to Quit and Save after a successful landing.

When you are close to your airbase, you can request landing clearance from the tower and the runway lights will be switched on. This is very helpful at night.

Attacking Convoys with SA-13 protection is very hard. It is recommended that you carry a HARM missile and then allow the Gopher to illuminate you. Then fire the HARM to take out the Gopher. Come in parallel to the convoy and use the AGM-154B Cluster Bomb to destroy the vehicles.

Weather is realistically modeled. If the weather is poor, turbulence increases and visibility decreases.

In the worst weather use Synthetic Terrain Overlay and Synthetic Object Overlay if you need to fly very low.

For info on the real jsf.. JSF Program