The BR system means no plane is objectively late.
It’s going to be comparable.
I doubt we would see that, since the outer pylon MRMs weren’t continued after the initial flight test using mockup equipment. I don’t know of any functional LAMS-7 launcher being integrated there on any F-2, production or experimental. Would be nice, but I won’t hold out hope.
But the inner pylon seems to have all necessary connectors, as well as respective markings indicating it can carry weaponry like ASMs, MRMs and TERs. Though only fuel tanks and bombs on TER have been seen so far, it seems like the best bet.
6 + 4 would be a nice loadout tbh. And with Penguin in game I have good hope for ASM-2 as well.
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My estimations:
4+4 is “definetely yes”.
6+4 is “more yes than no”.
8+2 is “most likely no”.
Some versions of ASMs use GNSS. We should see them even if “seeker can’t see tanks, only ships”
This is why I said in Air RB, the F-15J(M) will still be better as it is the air superiority fighter. However, in anything but BVR, the F-2 will have an edge.
It having a strong acm mode may be good, but it’s not HMD good, and low acceleration and high speed bleed means it’s just, not gonna be good at furballs. It’s A2G is like, pretty good in terms of pure payload, but is that what you want the most anticipated fighter of the JP TT to be? a glorified base bomber? It’s not like it’ll be good in GRB, no glide bombs, and unless gaijin adds in it’s ASMs it’s not particularly gonna be doing well in terms of actively guided weapons. I know stuff says it can use mavericks, but i’ve found literally no evidence of it doing so.
It’s also possible Gaijin will not add it to the F-15J(M) and instead will add it to a future F-15, perhaps the JSI (yes, I know it’s more paper than reality right now) or a new F-15J(M) at a higher BR. They have done stuff like this in the past so they don’t raise the BR of existing aircraft and “create gaps in BR”.
So it’s like, not really possible. The JSI can not use domestic JP missiles, and their is essentially no newer F-15J aside from the JSI, we literally got the most modern version of it. The only way we could get a “better” one, is if we got with with an IEWS package, which technically started development after the current J-MSIP Type II. Although it also funnily enough finished seeing deliveries at the same time, and saw literally no difference aside from ECM stuff we don’t have in game.
Did you fly rafale? It simply breaks at 1450-1500 km/h. It’s one of the slowest top tier planes because of that.
The F-2 is gonna be maxing out at like 1350-1400
F-2 has increased drag due to the changes done to the wing, elevator and radome/ larger strakes
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That’s how I see it too. Inner pylon is definitely compatible, has the markings for ASM/MRM, and at least ASMs on them were part of initial FS-X plans, so I think it’s very likely the F-2 could, even if it isn’t guaranteed.
Yeah, though there is more on Japanese IR seekers vs ground targets than the Penguin missile at least.
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It’s a multi-role aircraft so doing more than just air combat is something I’d expect. The caveat is the F-2 also is incredible in air combat as well. It’s a more generalist that has a surprising niche of dogfighting.
I foresee them adding it with ASM at this point, especially against ground targets. Who knows, ultimately, but this would logically also give Japan a good domestic top tier CAS option.
They said they have been working on it, but my point is more, they could copy paste it and maybe even folder the F-15J(M), just to justify a new aircraft at a different BR.
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Is that already known? I’ve never seen a mention of what missiles are planned for the JSI
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It has been mentioned by official sources that they’re discussing the potential of integratting them, but it’s not currently planned. It makes sense, replacing the weapons computer means they’d need to reprogram it for the weapons, which the US didn’t actually even approve of for the 15J initially. But, more importantly, they’d need to make the rails compatible for the AAM-4, and find a new place for the J/ARG-1.
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How did you find that? F-16C with 6 AMRAAMS, 2000 lbs bomb and 90% of fuel can reach 1416 km/h at see level. And I’m pretty sure all changes on F-2 make less drag than this huge bomb on my right wing.
Ah, so they’re discontinuing AAM-4 on the JSI… But they will likely keep AAM-5 for it
The claimed top speed of the F-2 on the deck by every source is mach 1.1, or roughly 1350kph.
Considering the bigger radome, LERX, larger and less swept wings, larger tail and higher sitting cockpit I’d say it’s a bit more than one bomb on an F-16C
Maybe ME can save it, since that would be a less AoA heavy FCS mode, but I’m not sure if Gaijin would even bother with it.
Note that ME doesn’t have to be “modeled” visually. The drag/lift/etc values in code can be changed to make it look like it has ME.
TBF, if japan has looked into obtaining D amraams, they are right around 4B levels, better kinematicaly, likely a bit worse seeker, their datalink functionality is a bit classified though but it can be assumed it’s gotta be comparable to the AAM-4s by this point. and japan is working on the AAM-6, so the continued use of the 4B isn’t really their largest priority right now.
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Rafale also has speed limit of mach 1.1, but in the game it can reach ~1.2 (with lots of warnings).
I really-really don’t want to even try making calculations of all this stuff. But I still think that one bomb should make more drag in total.
Aren’t mk84 meant to be aerodynamic?
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Issue is ME drastically changes the control of the plane by basically turning the wing into massive canards. It’s not as simple as the F-2 turning harder (honestly current War Thunder auto flaps might get you tighter turns), but it still lets it turn pretty well while pulling less AoA for a comparable turn. This basically means that (assuming random values) a 180° turn at 20°/s with ME loses less energy than a 180° turn at 20°/s with MLC.
I can still see Gaijin just making “more agile mode” and calling it a day, but I don’t think that would be right.
But if they do add proper ME that could be really interesting, with the options that ME / MLC and the AoA limit / override would give it.
I won’t calculate it either, but the radome on the F-2 is massive compared to the F-16 and the larger wing + lower wing sweep would at least justify a second bomb. But on the bright side, two 2000lb bombs get you above the weight of a min fuel F-2 (which is already 2103lb over the weight of an F-16C-50 empty, with 810lb more min fuel).
Then the only thing missing is all of the aerodynamic improvements, meaning you essentially get a straight line F-2 drag racing sim
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So is the F-2, it’s a plane after all
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Also, something else worth noting in terms of speed, is high end acceleration. The F-2 will trudge up to it’s top speed, with it’s acceleration slowing significantly as it approaches it, stuff like the rafale which have structural limits accelerate much faster near their top speed.
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