We’re coping, I’ve more than accepted we won’t get it although I still think a concession so the UK can receive any sort of fighter would be a positive step considering as of current we have no domestic options between FGR and Eurofighter. And yes i recall we are to receive an “aircraft”.
Furthermore its almost a moment away from greatness, it would give the UK a true contemporary to the other aircraft in-game for the first time since the FG phantoms, which is something we all deeply desire.
But Gaijin does change/bend rules (as is their right) to suit the needs of certain nations, they just haven’t done it for Britain.
They will never add an F-14 to any country other than America because it is pretty much the only “unique” 4th gen fighter america has, everything else has been mass exported and is present (or will be) in other tech trees
(Iran is not in game)
Maybe because we haven’t had a competitive top tier A2A in over a year (heck technically we haven’t had any top tier jet at all in over a year) and the last time we did actually get a top tier A2A jet was 2019. Several nations got aircraft that never existed as stop gaps (Yak141 and F16AJ). But the EAP (which did actually fly) with some 9Ls or 9Ms and some Skyflash (or Aim-120), a reasonable number of flares (maybe 2x BOL rails) and a reasonable radar (Blue Vixen or Foxhunter) is apparently impossible. Meaning in all likelihood, we won’t get a single domestic aircraft for a while yet, even though we could. We could have had something months ago.
Other domestic options like the FA2 or F3 won’t be competitive due to the requirement for symmetrical weapon additions gaijin has imposed. Only hope now is Aim120C5 Vs Aim120B for most other nations, but I reckon that is unlikely.