It does have speed. But it literally can’t outpull an AIM-9B right now and has no countermeasures. AIM-9Ps are also meh.
The F-1 can still maneuver decently to allow you to position yourself. With the F-104J in the past you could use flaps at high speed and get one good turn in, and if Gaijin didn’t nerf the flight model then yes, I would choose F-104J over F-1, but no longer.
well Japan did make a Ramjet version of the AAM-4 a while back fully built and tested but never used on a fighter still maybe an option. Essentially their own meteor in a way.
I checked some information, the fb-10a may not be that op, it’s also a low drag missile, and it’s operating height is 7500m, lower than pantsir, so it may not be such a big problem.
The J-10A bleeds speed faster so can get nose up quicker but at the cost of energy. If the Gripen keeps their energy up and rates they’ll eventually get behind the J-10A who is slow trying not to fall out of the sky. Of course this means the Gripen needs to be a little defensive initially to avoid the initial attack but then they should be safe after.
if and when the F22 comes it will probably be the death of top tier, hopefully they lock it to a BR where it will only see other stealth aircraft like the F35, J20 and Su57 (if you can even call that thing stealth)
“In development” can mean a lot of things. From gathering information before making the model/flight model to finishing it. I highly doubt the F-22 will happen that soon.
Or maybe make it so that only a certain amount of 5th gens can appear in one match. Like two or three max. The rest will all be 4++ fighters with AESA and very long range missiles such as AIM-120D, Meteor, PL-15, etc.