SAAB 35 XD/F 35 WNDS Dev server thread

[SilverBud]

Ah, right. This was the dev thread. I’ll copy what I said elsewhere;

They already gave it the wrong missiles, namely the 9B should be the AIM-9B FGW.2. At the very least it should be an option to bring it!

Obviously the 9N should be the AIM-9N-2, and I got sources to back this up. The missile may not be in the game, but with my incredibly limited amount of coding knowledge, I would presume changing a value from 2.2 to 3.2 is not an impossible task, at least.
I also know it isn’t a balance issue, because we already got stuff like the AV-8C with a remarkably similar missile, except it has 5 seconds of burn time. Yet that thing is at 9.7! Sure it also has way less ordnance, but when they can only carry two missiles each, what does that matter in air combat, right?

Center pylon is still missing (5), and the manual states it can mount bombs on it so that’s a given.

Are the MK20 Rockeyes essential? Not really no, nor do they serve a purpose at present unless they get a buff to airfield bombing damage. So until they have a purpose, those can stay off really.

They literally added the control panel for MFCD in the cockpit,

which is problematic because it is currently missing a pretty crucial part of MFCD; namely the tailhook pods.

Speaking of countermeasures; EMFCD is still absent. Could it be logical? Yes, it is optional for awhile in its lifespan, however it seems unwise to add the most upgraded model of the aircraft without it, when the previous model does not feature EMFCD at all.

(Don’t forget the added right wing root flare modules!)

The tailhook has been added, and is modelled, but it doesn’t actually do anything. I can kinda see that since it isn’t meant for carriers, and the only place using wires is still carriers, but ehhh… Idk. It’s visually there, but doesn’t extend, yet game does not support its purpose on runways yet either.

The missils amusingly currently have no pylon connecting them to the wings, but that’s surely just a visual glitch that will be fixed before launch.

Obviously there are some textures missing still, but that’s just a matter of time.

[SilverBud]

The F-35 WDNS had the ability to operate AGM-12s removed, as the missile was considered obsolete by the time the upgrade was made. This was retired alongside stuff like the napalm bombs as well. The Bullpups are only featured on the pre-WDNS model, the simple F-35.

[idklm]

mehhh, missiles seem to be bad, it doesn’t have a radar (which will help a lot if you’re planning to deal with planes), bombs aren’t so useful, you simply won’t be able to search for targets if there are enemy spaa’s around, barely any counter measures

[Cozeo]

Like I said, the F-35 is missing some countermeasures. As for radar I don’t see why you would need it anyway cause you dont have any radar homing missiles and your eyes should be sufficient enough to find someone from a third person view perspective. The digital RWR will give you all the info and awareness about the threats around you. And I find 6 x 1000lbs bombs a better loadout than the strike viggens small 120kg bombs. And don’t get me started on the gun placement on the AJS. But I guess it all comes down to personal prefrence. If you want to carry a max of two maverick missiles or have to make direct hits with the small 120kg bombs then be my guest.

[SilverBud]

I gotta disagree. I admit the missiles are bad (that’s mainly why they got removed from the upgrade), but instead I get toss bombing of enemy spawns if I need to deal with the SPAA. I can just mark it and then CCRP it worst case scenario.
The Draken radar is already terrible at searching for much of anything, and since it also lacks radar missiles as mentioned, that’s basically not relevant for the airframe. Lastly the countermeasures. Gaijin casually skipped the 166 other slots it should have. Besides the 110 in the EMFCD pods, it should have the MFCD upgrade at all times with its additional 44 countermeasures in the tail, plus the current 12 they at least gave it. And since EMFCD doesn’t exist without the wing root flares, that adds another 12 there. So now we go 178 countermeasures to work with, and it doesn’t affect payload capacity in any way whatsoever; win-win

[TheLastYouSee_psn]

The one is game is a WDNS upgrade one?
In game it just calls it an F-35, does the one that could still use AGM-12s look different?

[someweirdname]

regular F35 has the pointy J35 nose

F35 WNDS has the Recon S35 nose with the step in it and the cameras visible

the one in game has the Recon nose and is thus the WNDS variant

F35 Pre WNDS

Pointy nose

F35 post WNDS

step in the nose

[_Ulven]

I don’t get why it only gets 2 aim 9s. There is a F-35 wdns at display outside the aviation museum in my town and it has 4 hardpoints labeled for the Aim-9b and J. And 3 countermeasure pods on the tail.

[idklm]

radar doesn’t become useless without radar missiles, it’s still good to find targets easily (considering how advanced radar on AJS is), as for guns, they’re terrible and i agree with that. it all depends on your loadout, you can carry 3-4 mavericks, plus 9-L’s, if you’re willing to sacrifice something else.

[idklm]

seems like f-35 will have a different playstyle, ig. as for counter measures, i hope they’ll add more of them

[JimmieJugend]

Squadron Vehicles: Saab F-35: Red Dragon

One of the new Squadron Vehicles arriving in the Leviathans major update is the advanced Draken of the Danish Air Force! Saab F-35: A Squadron Vehicle Jet Fighter for Sweden at Rank VII At a glance: AIM-9N air-to-air missiles RWR Up to 4500 kg of bombs New sight with ballistic computer No radar Vehicle History In the late 1960s, the Danish Air Force decided to replace the aging F-100D, needing a versatile fighter capable of effectively operating against both air and ground targets. The choi…

No more CM modelled beneath the tail

[idklm]

it got buffed, awesome

[JimmieJugend]

However, no more dispensers have yet been modeled. All the CMs are dispensed from the BOY 402

[Savage-SRC]

Hope they gonna give it its proper missiles (AIM-9B FGW.2 and AIM-9N-2) so it is actually cooked

[SilverBud]

I know the exact one you are referring to, and it is incredibly frustrating! But alas, it is not real. Museum pieces are not known for their accurate ordnance displays when it comes to pylons, and the flight manual repeatedly states (as well as in the F-35 book written by the pilots themselves) that only the outer pylons had the electronics to fire a Sidewinder. This is a case on many planes, like how the Russian top tier jets can’t mount the heatseeking missiles on their belly pylons since they just never had the electronics installed for it (due to something about the seeker being unable to work properly under the fuselage or somethng). And the 9J is just wrong. It’s a 9N-2, which is admittedly just a very modified 9J, but they are not the same performance wise.

So yeah, this is just museum antics that have no basis in the actual electronics of the aircraft according to any primary sources, sorry

[SilverBud]

It is a little ironic that they buffed it, but also over-buffed it. All my sources say the rockets were never mounted on the center pylon (5), and whether that was to a lack of electronics to use them or simply doctrine, I cannot remember at the moment. Nevertheless, it should by that account, only be the bombs that use said pylon (the rest of its ordnance featured on it serve no purpose in the game as of now)

I see they added MFCD, and parts of EMFCD. I can live with that, although I disagree with the chaff-only option. While the manual often calls it chaff (since the standard procedure was to use them as chaff), the book written by the pilots very explicitly calls the 44 tailhook catridges flare catridges. Meanwhile they also specifically refer to the chaff catridges as chaff. This seems like deliberate wording from the pilots, and the cassettes are essentially described as interchangable. The same page at large talks about the MFCD upgrade, and even the EMFCD.

I know most of you can’t read this, but VENSTRE (meaning left), talks about the image on the left. To give a translation myself;
“Two cassettes with combined 22 flare catridges sat in extension of one another below on both sides of the tail. In extension of the cooling air intake to the afterburner maneuver cylinder were two holders with six downward oriented flares.”

Doesn’t that sound very deliberately flare-focused? These cassettes would be interchangable with the chaff ones of the same size, as seen on the right image in the EMFCD pod.

[MrJibJub]

do you know how many flares are in the wing roots? right now i thinking 12 flares are missing. i count 12 in each root and then 12 from the rear side dispensers. i only see 24 flares listed.

[Dragon_Storm_246]

Wing roots only hold Chaff

[JimmieJugend]

Could it be chaff focused because the paragraph is about electronic warfare? Perhaps there is somewhere in the book that specifies the make of the diferent dispensers and the type of countermeasures used? Pretty standard to have the option to change between chaff or flare loadouts

[MrJibJub]

if you scroll up to the flight manual photos you will see the wing root #5 says wing root flare modules. they are for flares not chaff.