I am fairly certain that the ESTL pod is fitted to the outer wing pylons meaning that it takes up a pylon for missiles. I think I read that they use the AIM-9 and AIM-120 system interface. Doubt there is another pylon just for it. I guess it could fit on the wingtips as well.
Guess i mistook another item for station 4 my bad
This pod is modular too so you can swap out the different modules like the MAW sensor and such for other things, not sure what the other things could be but maybe extra EW for planes that don’t have any.
Yeah, iirc they were only added with MS20. Though trying to find exact stuff with MS is occasionally a nightmare.
First fully operational version of the ESTL pod flown in 2014 from what I’ve found, MS20 was around in 2015 so not possible to do before hahaha
Ive seen some sites claim MS20 was around in 2014 so its hard to say. Again until actual info pops up as to which model ESTL is compatabile with its hard to justify what it should be added to. Considering how screwed the Gripen are it would be best to leave it out. Just let the NG/E have access to their internal MAW. Could see gaijin making the C 14.0 over MAW lol
And kneecapping BOL again for reasons that evade us. Can’t have the CMs too effective on Gripen, especially not if it got MAWS.
I mean we’re still waiting on the belly pylon lol
Yeah, and I’m still quite upset about it 😿
I don’t understand how hard it could be for them to just add the belly pylon, there are pictures of planes flying with bombs there and the foldouts and so on…
Well, you see, it is a Swedish design, so the sky will fall upon us before they decide to fix anything in a manner favourable to it.
1 Like
hahaha, true that
Well its a swedish aircraft. They have to want to fix it, and they haven’t wanted to bother with their aircraft in years why start now
1 Like
How about opening up a suggestion thread to implement an MS standard for the Gripens in the game, perhaps that is a more viable way to go now that we have consecutively tried bug reports again and again…
1 Like
This is why we could engage in a discussion and desire for the developers to implement such a system much like the “Block” models for F-16. It would be the same thing…
I think the reason they are against it is because it would be unfair and hard to balance. Don’t get me wrong the Gripens deserve their Mk.IV radar and the SAAF model its Mk.III but if they did that they’d have to essentially undo and make a different HUD for the SAAF Gripen as its the only nation to be unable to upgrade their Gripens from 2006 due to financial problems. In 2018 SAAB sent one of their directors to SA to try to get them to purchase MS20 but their financial problems were so bad that most of the Gripen Fleet were grounded regardless of 3rd party help to make cheap alternative fixes to the SAAF Gripens. In 2020 SAAB took a contract to help SAAF repair and upgrade their gripens to be a bit more modern but not MS20.
Overall its just not in gaijins interest and trust I’ve talked to Smin a lot on this topic. And i mean a lot.
We have Gripen C’s which are using a radar they never had since they never used the A’s radar. We have a Gripen A with weight it never got as it never received the in flight refueling probe. So many problems are ignored.
5 Likes
Tbh I wouldn’t be mad if the SAAF Gripen was only made to the MS18 standard and the others getting later versions now that the Brits have the EF2000. Can’t remember if Thailand have done the MS20 upgrade yet but Sweden and Hungary have.
1 Like
Thailand is MS20 capable, its one reason they pushed for the Gripen E because they liked the C models. SAAF Gripen C is a MS19 Model, no offical primary sources but a lot of secondary sources claim they are MS19, they have HMD and IRIS-T so they would need to be MS19.
I have a bug report to get the Gripen identified by their MS but no mods have looked at it even when messaging them oh well.
Given the time from when the SAAF purchased and had the Gripen arrive we can guess their model additionally SAAB has no records of them being brought to MS20 standard unlike every other nation with Gripens.
My bug report on the MS for the Gripens.
https://community.gaijin.net/issues/p/warthunder/i/sZKUlBXaOvMF
1 Like
Hm, i will look into this starting from next week and either make a new bug report or a whole new suggestion. I have ordered more books than what i originally have on the Gripen so i will use multiple sources but any specific sources about the MS upgrades would be welcome. I know that some MS upgrades even have blocks in them so i think the best way to go is a whole new suggestion and ping some moderators to look at it.
Will start with this next week.
1 Like