I have been thinking lately about how the Hornets could be implemented in-game overall, and I think I have a general idea of what may be event/TT, and what nations could get them:
Tech Tree:
US: F/A-18A and F/A-18C in Naval-fighter line, F/A-18D potentially in the Marine/Strike line (if deemed appropriate by Gaijin)
Britain: either Australian or Canadian F/A-18A
Germany: Swiss F/A-18C
Sweden: Finnish F/A-18Cs, likely multiple to represent the different upgrades
Italy: Spanish EF-18A and EF-18A+ (depending on how needed both modifications/the upgraded Hornet may be)
Japan: Malaysian F/A-18D (as part of the SEA sub tree, if deemed necessary by Gaijin)
Event Hornets:
F/A-18B (likely for US TT) and possibly a Kuwaiti F/A-18C or D at some point in the far future
How they could be implemented:
With the Hornets essentially being effectively denied for this coming update, we very likely won’t be getting them in-game until October/November at the earliest. I could see Gaijin having the Hornet be part of a huge December patch as an answer to the “when”. The “how” however is a bit more complicated.
I can see one of three paths being taken: The Hornets are added similarly to the American F-16s from Apex Predators, where both an early and a possible later version are added at the same time, albeit foldered. However, I feel that may only be done for the American ones just due to an early USN/USMC F/A-18A being deemed as rather… “lackluster” in the current meta.
For the second option, the Hornets would be added more like other 4th Gens, with an initial variant first and updated variant later.
And for the final and third option, which would probably be the most disappointing to (to me at least lol): the A models are skipped over, with Gaijin going straight into the A+/Cs, with the early models being used as event vehicles. This would make me very sad :(
There’s also what would be added for other nations during the same update that may very well change what nations do and don’t receive the Hornet, such as Eurofighter and Rafale.
I hope and I think the Eurofighter and Rafale will be the stars of their update similar to how the Mig-29 and F-16A were in theirs so they aren’t overshadowed by other equally cool airframes.
With other nations receiving other gap fills at lower brs like in Apex Predators.
they do not say that, that link is specific for the AGM-65, stating that the integration would be technically possible, but would incur high costs. Furthermore they mention that the weapons no longer meet the operational requirements.
They do not define what would cause the costs, if its the technical integration, buying targeting pods to actually use the missiles effectively, retraining the pilots, buying new Mavericks since the existing ones are at the end of their operational lifespan, or even at the end of the missiles lifespan itself.
Remember the existing Swiss stocks are from 1984, those are AGM-65Bs!
Not to mention that the Hornets would only arrive in 1998, which is already after the slated shelf life of 10 years for the AGM-65 (EVALUATION OF SPARING MODELS FOR A MISSILE SYSTEMS US AIR FORCE INST OF TECH)
They would not get far with their existing missiles, so integration costs seem much more likely to be connected to that (combined with the fact that they are unlikely to be used since the Swiss AF simply doesnt have enough F/A-18 for both the primary mission of air defense and CAS, which is also stated in your link)
tbf when top tier gets to 14.3 the F/A-18A might be fun to play again since ARH will be much more balanced. plus the chance of adding EW in the next year is MUCH higher than it ever has
Yeah so they did get it with A2G
Also the info from the Swiss trials to replace the F/A-18s states that it can’t be compared to other aircraft in strike roles due to not having any air to ground
The had weapons to use in tests for the Gripen Rafale and the Eurofighter but the Swiss F/A-18 can’ use any of it as they didn’t want to spend money to make it able to use A2G
They did experimentally, should be enough for them to get it cause it would be BS if other countries get F-18s with BOL making them objectively superior to the US ones.
