Why not if I may ask? It still can carry regular bombs given that its not carrying the Kh-22 partially in the bomb bay. It’s a similar loadout option to that of the Lancaster’s which have to have the bomb bay modified for the tallboy loadout.
Because cruise missiles have ranges larger than the size of War Thunder maps. Bomber gameplay with cruise missiles would boil down to spawn > immediately launch missile > land or j out > repeat. Bombers would never even engage in combat and would simply camp the airfield the entire match. Sure, this sort of tactic would limit the payload of the bomber but I highly doubt the majority of players would prefer to risk their bombers with free-fall bombs when farming with missiles from a safe distance is an option.
Slightly off-topic but I believe if true cruise missiles are ever added to the game they’d only work as AI targets
True, but it lacks true precision when its not tracking an actual target. Given its poor accuracy in real life when used on land based targets even with 50+ years of field upgrades, I don’t think it would even hit a base from spawn. It was a missile designed to track ships against the background of the water, which is why it has struggled as a land attack option. Plus you would have to choose between one KH-22 with a much smaller warhead of 1000kg vs. that of the FAB 9000’s 4200+kg of tnt.
Would be awesome so see in the Hustlers almost Vietnam set up. With infantry coming with a likely Vietnam era this plane would have a line up.
+1 Dorito Bomber would be amazing, definitely squadron worhty!