I guess USN/USMC F/A-18C (1994), CF-188 IMP II (RCAF) & RAAF F/A-18 HUG could be 13.0 but not sure 13.3 maybe F/A-18E Super Hornet Block I or Block II
The Hornet is a good dogfighter with a pretty powerful radar and a huge amount of ordinance (like A2A-wise its comparable to the Eurofighter in terms of raw missile carriage). Which is why I think it will be so high. If they decompress the brs to 12.7 now, then have early amraam fighters at 13.0, 13.3 wouldn’t be all that high imo, even for a legacy hornet (particularly if like the Swiss one’s it had dual-racking for the AMRAAM’s.
The F-18 Legacy Hornets must come.
I, for one, have reached a point where I think it’d be best for as many tech trees to have as many toys as possible. I want all of the international 4th gens for all of the nations, within reason, so that no nation gets obscenely left behind. And because it can create more interesting lineups. So I think we should be biased FOR, not against, international operators.
Now, I don’t think everybody is considering just all of the possibilities here:
Legacy Hornets are operated by:
RAAF (this could go to Britain or America)
Switzerland (this could go to Germany)
Spain (This could go to Italy!)
Malaysia (Britain?)
Kuwait (Britain?)
Finland (Sweden)
Canada (Britain)
This isn’t too crazy, but I think Italy could easily get Hornets. I’d be all for it. Spanish air tree in Italy! The Mediterranean nation.
Unlike many random nation pairings, Spain and Italy make sense, as they were both at least biased the same way in WW2, and both in NATO in the Cold War, and in generally the same region. You could add Spanish vehicles to Italy and it’d make sense for them to fight alongside each other in basically any applicable War Thunder era, which is a better connection than Hungary or South Africa have to their main trees.
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Germany could get it since Switzerland used it.
As a Swedish main I will be really upset if I don’t get it. And I will post on every forum complaining and crying, instead of putting in the work and grinding the US tec Tree like a normal person.
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I’ve since then learned that they use the F/A-18C so when they add that one you’ll 100% get it when they add that one as:
Bruh you know that logic will never work in war thunder
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The F/A-18 is currently my most wanted aircraft (aside from Mirage IIING, Mig-21F-13 “007”, and A-4M), so I 100% want to see it.
However, I have a controversial opinion on it, that most seem to disagree with: If it is coming next update (and if not then, sometime soon:tm:), I’d want it to be the initial A-model: No AMRAAMs, no super good air-to-ground stuff, just basic AIM-7M and AIM-9L/M (as well as Walleye I/II and AGM-65E, if compatible)
Edit: I also am hoping for the F/A-18D at some point. I need muh two-seater Hornet
I might be one of the few that agree with that.
but then again they could make an easy C&P CF-188 out of that and give it to the UK or I can grab the first true C&P Canadian jet.
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Either Canadian Hornet or Aussie Hornet for Britain lol
Sweden can get Finnish Hornet, and if Gaijin’s really feelin it, then Swiss Hornet to Germany
And then if Gaijin really wants go down that route: Spanish Hornet for Italy
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Spanish EF-18A/B for Italy when Gaijin
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Early light Multirole Fighter from USN maybe F/A-18A refit 1988 or 1990 but not sure located to attack aircraft or USN fighter aircraft, good Air-to-Ground armament and targeting pod but not super
F/A-18D coming to attack aircraft line after USMC AV-8B+ Harrier II (2023) in rank 9 ?
Part of my wonders if the flanker and Eagle should have waited to be added with jets like the F-18 and Chinese J10 added instead. These would fall more in line with the F-16, MIG-29, and Gripen while filling out other tech trees with top jets. instead we have an odd situation where some nations are now even further behind others.
Then they could have added flankers, eagles, along with the Euro fighter and Rafale at the same time.
Now we have questions on if/when the hornet gets added what versions will they add, will we see F/A-18A added or will it be the C version in order to better compete with the later versions of other jets. Maybe even the super hornet as well, If they add the super hornet first before the legacy hornet then that would feel odd to see the legacy hornet added later. These would be too close in BR to where everyone will play the one that does better be it the super or legacy.
At this point maybe move top tier up to 13 or 13.3 then have the F/A-18A at 12.0.
The reason I think we’ll get the A initially is the same reasoning I had for US and Israel getting the F-15A, and Japan getting an early or limited F-15J:
Gaijin has set sort of a precedent when it comes to some of these more modern planes (and sometimes even older ones): If there’s a decently-sized gap between the earliest model and latest model, they’ll add an early version first, later model sometime after.
Hence why we got the F-4C before the F-4E, Mig-21F-13 before Mig-21Bis, F-15A before F-15C, F-16As before F-16C, Mig-23M before Mig-23MLD, etc.
Another thing to think about here is that the F/A-18A sort-of fits within what we have right now: it’s gonna add a little more multirole capability than the F-14B, but will also perform vastly differently while also serving at the same Battle Rating.
The final and biggest reason (only second to the “precedent” reason): the C-model Hornet can carry 12x total missiles, 10x of which are AMRAAMs. Unlike this loadout in DCS or IRL (at least from what I’ve heard/seen anyway), certain aspects of parasitic drag namely in the pylons isn’t a thing. With the A-model, you can carry 6x Sidewinders and 2x Sparrows, or 4x Sparrows and 2x Sidewinders.
You mean she can carry 2x Aim9 and 6x Aim7.
No, 6x Sidewinder (one on each wingtip, and 2x dual mount on wings) and 2x Sparrow (fuselage hardpoints)
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F/A-18A+/B+ does, but not for the original F/A-18A/B. The station 3/7 was locked for air-to-air weaponry until introduction of the AMRAAM.
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I just had an idea: add a canadian and/or australian f/a-18 to the british TT as premiums
I’d rather see the CF-18 as TT and the aussie one as a squadron vehicle
Actually, on the topic of the export Hornets…
If Gaijin really wants to go that route, I could see EF-18A and EF-18M in the Italian TT (though not sure if Spain was ever declared a proper dub-nation for Italy, or if it’s just implied at this point), either Australian or Canadian Hornets in the British tree, Finnish Hornets in the Swedish tree, and potentially Swiss Hornets in the German tree (the Hornet has now become the new Mr. Worldwide)
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