Aircraft Weaponry
These are all the pickups and weapons that are available while you're in flight. With a brief explanation to go with it.
AAS-21 Swarm Missile
The Swarm missile is the staple of air combat. It's a missile that can easily deal damage to ground targets while you're providing support for ground units, but it really comes into it's own, like any of the Hawk's weapons, when you're battling another Hawk.
Holding L1 while you have a Hawk in your crosshair will cause a red targetting reticule to lock onto your enemy. The longer you hold L1, the more targets lock on. A maximum of 8 locks can be achieved. The Swarm missile is a great weapon that comes as default with your hawk. Learn to use it, because it is a deadly weapon in the right hands. Or wings.
PRCM/D Chaff Bomb
The Chaff Bomb is your primary defence in a Hawk. Deploy this when an enemy hawk has locked a homing or swarm missile onto you and the lock will instantly be broken, leaving you free to evade the enemy without the worry of missiles homing in on you.
AA-19 Homing Missile
Much similar to the missiles that the ground Rocket Launcher comes equipped with, the Homing missile is a 'Fire and Forget' weapon. As with the Swarm missiles, you hold L1 until a target is achieved, release to fire, and as long as there is a successful hit, you can count on some major damage to your enemy.
XK2 Directed Energy Weapon
This weapon is a crafty one. It has 2 modes of fire. One is to simply get your enemy in your sights and press L1 to zap them, dealing a fair bit of damage. The other is to hold L1 until it completely charges. This way if you tag another hawk with a completely charged shock, it will slowly drain their health until the charge runs out, which is usually after they are dead. Be warned though, a fully charged shot uses all 10 shots. The charged shot can also be used to harm enemies within a certain radius for ground support.
CB-4 Cluster Bomb
Does exactly what is says on the tin. Drop this baby on a populated area and watch your kill count mount up almost instantly. Just make sure it's not populated by your team..
AS-3 TOW Missile
The TOW missile is a remote missile. Get your Hawk somewhere secluded and fire it, guide it out into the air and track down another hawk with it. It's a tricky weapon to land a kill with on another Hawk, but it can be used to taking out AA guns and groups of enemies quite effectively. Use R2 to give the rocket a speed boost.
Series 7 Stealth
The Stealth is another very useful method of defense. It cloaks your craft to both radar and to the naked eye. Fly into a cloud and deploy this and you'll leave your enemy boggled.
AAM Proximity Air Mine
Use L1 to drop one of these in your wake and it'll either leave a deadly trap for someone to inadvertently fly into, or deal with an enemy Hawk that's on your tail. Useful weapon when used properly.