The FGR4 entered service officially in 2008. But Britain never really bothered with teh Tranche/Block designations iirc. It recieved continuous upgrades throughout its service and is still into the future. I think a few of the older airframes are being retired as they would need more expensive modifications to fully acocmodate the CAPTOR-E iirc, but a vast majority could be considered T3/4s at this point.
But other nations have recieved mid-life upgrades and end-of-service upgrades such as the Rafales AESA radar and HMD. So I dont really see the issue in giving the Typhoon a few as well (also strictly speaking, the Typhoon we have could be considered the 2017 version because thats when it first fired the Brimstone, though that was a Brimstone 2 not Brimstone 1)
Though much of that “balance” seems rather unfair to me.
Like would EGBU-24s be really OP?
Or ePaveway IIs?
Or even SAL-Only Brimstone 2s?
Even beyond loadout. Would kill for proper Stiker I modeling (the HMD) as its missing a load of features or just give us Striker II which shouldn’t actually add all that much in terms of “balance” but a nice QoL upgrade as its a colourized display.
Also just adding the CAPTOR-M and PIRATE would actually give the Typhoon a fighting a chance at the moment. An official suggestion has been submitted for CAPTOR-E, thats just how bad the CAPTOR-M is modeled at the moment that we might as well just skip it.
Cruise missiles become a tricky implementaiton. Whilst they might provide us some limited FnF ability. They could also probably destroy bases with just 2 missiles and hit any base, any where, even on the largest maps. The easiest way to farm anything in SB would just be to take off, reach launch speed and fire them before RTBing. Given the Typhoons climb rate with just 2x Storm Shadows and min fuel. That would take seconds.
it would be insane.
Brimstone 2s (even just limited to SAL only) would be the fairest option. Just mitigate quantity with the fact they arent FnF, but its unfair to nerf both the lack of FnF and the missile performance themselves. Havng to operatre well within range of any SPAA is really annoying when everyone else can sit at 30+ KM without issue
The problem is that its only IR in terminal phase. So unless they just ahistorically model it. It would still need some form of IOG at the very least. Which would still allow for base killing most likely
100% fixed Typhoon. Yes, probably could just about compete with F-15C with AESA. But the likelyhood is, the F-15C is going to get AESA long ebfore we see the Typhoons get CAPTOR-M
Yeah, AESA is basically just very fast M-scan with a few extra bells and whistles. But still blows any M-Scan except wierdly the Foxhunter, out of the water.