Yeah, Britain has several aircraft with no guns. Even my top guess for our next aircraft, the Sea Harrier FA2 will likely never run with guns (the gun pods are swapped for AMRAAM)
But if we are getting a Gripen. Then whilst the D fits better, I think i’d prefer the C with the cannon. After 9 months of BVR Trucking in the F3 (where the gun is just dead weight) and then 2+ years of the Phantoms (where the gun is usually dead wieght). It would be nice to have something that can turn fight. With the current state of IR seekers, guns still decide outcomes of fights more often than you’d think
Well, the F-104S is a bad example then. Sure a lack of guns isn’t a reason not to add a aircraft variant, but we only have a couple of gunless planes so far and most of them are premiums/event vehicles or bombers/attackers which don’t necessarily need a gun to begin with
I don’t understand the enthusiasm for 140mm cannons…
It is true that penetration proved to be higher (just a little), but these vehicles will surely have slower reload rates and a reduced capacity to store ammunition (mainly due to the larger projectile size). So I don’t see too many benefits in these vehicles. Also, most are old prototypes and use old ammunition.
They will by no means be the best tanks available in the research lines. I can only imagine them as event vehicles.
I don’t think anyone seriously believes they would be the ultimate end of the line vehicles. They’d be very interesting though. Big gun and big boom. I’d love to play a Leopard 2 with a 10,5m long barrel that accelerates a dart to 1900m/s for example.
They wouldn’t be end of the line. The Leclerc is probably the most advanced tank in the bunch.
They’d probably perform like modern gun based tank destroyers. Stuff like the M1A2 SEPv3, Leo 2A7+, T-90M, and Leclerc XLR have the most modern systems for end of the line vehicles.
Since it’s unlikely current next generation developments will be added, at least in their normal state. They’ll likely have completely made up characteristics.
Idk, it’s Definitely felt like they could be teasing how we might see a Chinese fighter sooner than later, which would make me think J-10 since it’s actually domestic, but could also be the J-11