The Classifications of aircraft in the game are pretty much out of the window. In recent years everything is a “Fighter”. But while in the past this was, ironically, not a problem today it is.
Ever wondered why the US and Russia seemingly spawn wave after wave of planes in ground RB? Classification is the key. A Fighter might cost 450 spawnpoints and an attacker 500, but take the fighter and clear the skies and the attacker will still cost 500SP while a second fighter with bombs would now be 1200SP.
Just like for tanks SP are per class and not area (Ground/Air).
And while in the later jet age, many planes got to be all-purpose jets, up until the 80s there were still many dedicated attackers and so on. But right now, at around 5.0 the class of attacker starts to vanish.
Planes like the Swedish A21-A3 are a fighter despite the fact that it was a purpose built ground attacker variation of the A21. The Attacker FB1 and 2 are “Jet Fighters” despite the fact that they were built as strike fighters and only ever served as strike and attack aircraft and are designated as such.
Late War FW 190s, Tempest and to some extent the LA 5 are all only classified as Fighters while some variants (which we have in the game) were built as dedicated attackers for ground and naval targets.
There are many other cases of this and it is a serious balance issue for nations without proper attackers. Simply because they either use lower tier ones in higher BR`s to get equal plane spawns or they only get half the amount of planes.
I know many dislike CAS in this game, and to some extent (Guided munitions CAS) I agree. But Gajin has no interest in removing it, so they should at least start by reclassifying planes to their proper roles so all nations can get on a more level playing field. I also would not mind if they reclass some heavy fighters with attack loads as attackers to fill gaps as long as the planes were used in such a way to some effect (which is often the case anyway).