No lineup sure so 10.7 would be better, but its at least a bit more viable in that environment I would say.
If they dont get the 30mm ADEN, can we see their GRB BR drop a bit at least to give them a bit more of a use there? Akin to say the A-10s for air rb too?
Also seems like the RDA might have a rough time of it being a missile slinger only, would it be possible to have the skyflash and missiles be easier to unlock due to it having no natural guns? Normally we see them getting a pair of aim9s, but that will be very painful on this plane.
The grind to get viable weapons is going to be really hard, especially given its relatively slow and the main use will be bombing to try and unlock those… when everyone around it will be bombing all the bases prior to it getting even half way (akin to the A-10 issue). An air spawn might be necessary even for it to get a sniff at a bomb drop.
Also, if the other hawk 200 only gets 30mm adens and not the 25s, it would really help having a lower BR for it with 9Gs or something, as the 30mm is nice and all, but the 25mm would have been the saving grace with its way better ballistics.
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Also needs 4x Skyflash instead of the current 2 without guns
Would be nice, but frankly I am more terrified at the prospect of having to spawn on airfields without any defensive weapons and only bombs trying to bomb ground bases that dont exist anymore because enemies bombed them already to unlock rank IV modules.
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Yeah… Thank god I play ASB
I simply dont have the energy to learn to ASB, I would love to, but i have a lot of issues with my wrist these days and motion sickness doesnt help, lol.
I personally believe the Hawk 200 is perfect at 10.7 with the 9Ls, we can get earlier Hawk variants with weaker missiles at lower BRs later
At 10.7 it perfectly compliments Britains ground RB lineup at 10.7 and is in a pretty decent position in ARB
It really is a shame that the RDA variant isnt getting a gun though, despite a gunpod being clearly useable on other Hawk 200 variants and listed in the aircraft specifications
I would rather they put the other hawk 200 at 10.7 GRB, tbh I would prob pick that over it and uptier to 11.0 currently simply for the skyflash capacity and extra wingtip sidewinders while carrying ground attack (radar also helps to detect enemy fighters up in the game too). Sometimes you gotta be in a meme plane to shoot down the enemy air.
Had a whole lot of fun getting like ~10 k/d for ages in the shar FA2 doing similar and making a kill run of 30 kills without being shot down too over several games xD. Probably aim to do that with it.
I see what you mean, but I think it makes more sense for the version without a radar and with internal guns to be the ground attack version in my opinion.
Given that the Phantom FGR2 is 10.7 in GRB and the A-10As are 10.3 / 10.7 respectively with more loadout and more flares… (Heck A-10A Late has better AGMs)
The current GRB BRs make no sense
I honestly didnt realise this, that thing carries all the skyflash missiles too. Really I dont see why the Hawk 200s cant be lower in GRB then. Sure they have smart weapons but as you say, the A-10 also has some.
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Yep. Hawk 200 to 10.3
RDA to 10.7 with AGM-65Ds
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From looking at photos of Malaysian Hawk 200s it appears that they do also have this “bump” on the fuselage, despite this they have been photographed with a gunpod.
The Hawk fitted with the gunpod is registered as number 21 (M40-21) of the Mayalsian Airforce.
This same Hawk is pictured a few times with the gunpod, from a better angle its clear that the bulge under the cockpit is present but the gunpod just sits directly behind it.
Hawk ZJ201 is the Radar Development Aircraft (RDA) Hawk I believe that we have ingame. ZJ201 has a bulge which is almost exactly indentical, therefore there isnt really any reason that the bulge would block the gunpod.
Photos of Hawk M40-21 are quited limited as it sadly crashed in on the 23rd June 2005 and was destroyed, unfortunately killing it’s pilot in the process.
However from the limited photos we have we can confirm that the gunpod is mounted despite the “bulge” below the cockpit being present and therefore the Hawk 200 RDA should be able to fit the gunpod inga,e/
Sadly it doesn’t seem to quite be the same overall when compared and used to test with the pod. The devs have attempted to fit the pod in the same way as shown on production examples, but it doesn’t fit. The devs said the underside structure is different for the two prototypes (ZH200 / ZJ201).
Thats a shame, any potential in it being easier to get/start with skyflash at least to compensate the lack of a gun on the plane? As I posted prior the grind on the plane is going to be rough even with a gunpod, the lack of 1 is going to be pretty torturous for players.
On both Hawk 208 and the Hawk RDA the bulge ends almost exactly in line with the wing root, it is identical in shape.
On the Hawk 200 RDA, ingame and in real life, it ends in the same spot just at the wing root.
Therefore there is no reason for the gunpod not to fit, both aircraft have the exact same shape so fitting the gunpod should be entirely possible on both.
Yeah the bump is there on production ones, and the front fairing for the pod on Hawk 200 is reprofiled to slant downwards where it meets the bump (can see the panel lines and screws for the slanted front if you look closely below)
The panelling is obviously different to the standard Hawk gun pod that sits on a flat Hawk 60/100 underside. Indeed the modified assembly is visibly a separate unpainted piece of metal on the particular Malaysian Hawk 208 shown (though usually it’s painted).
Problem is, both ZH200 and ZJ201 had this additional ridge on top of the bump, that means it is again differently profiled where the gun pod touches the bump on production Hawk 200s
Realistically, you could probably fix it with some tin snips and a set of files to make another front fairing for the pod.
None the less, Gaijin are mistaken if they think the standard (Hawk/Hawk 100) gunpod with a totally flat top, fits Hawk 200 without some modification
That “ridge” looks much bigger ingame that it actually is, its barely raised at all
The ridge also extends either not at all or very little into the space where the gunpod is mounted.
from a side view, the ridge may as well not be there.
Sadly its been extensively tested, and so far efforts to find a gunpod for ZH200/ZJ201 exhausted. It fits on the production style belly, but not on the prototypes. They do indeed appear to have a different structure.
The devs are open to any new information or evidence for a gunpod for ZH200/ZJ201. But the Hawk 203/8/9 gunpod simply does not fit them.
Fair enough, I would have thought it was close enough that gaijin could have accomodated the very minor change, but I understand their reasoning.