Effectively the only difference between the A-6E WCSI and TRAM as things currently stand would be access to the AGM-123, which is a rocket(AGM-45B motor) assisted GBU-16. Unless they add buddy guidance so another player can guide the standoff AGM-84E, they don’t have the post release control capability, so its just a AGM-65F(both use the -65D’s seeker) with a slightly larger Warhead.
The SWIP further adds capability to carry the AGM-65E & -F, -84 and -88. and provide post release control to the AGM-62 ERDL, AGM-84E
My issue is that with the F-14B being added, a number of options are now effectively obsolete to a degree since its a much more survivable airframe, with similar or better capabilities, and the slightly lower BR won’t move them out of reach of 11.7~12.0 Fighters. So I no longer really have a sense of what is coming next, or at least in what order things are going to arrive, considering the number of potential options.
Before the F-14B was announced, I would have said the F-111E/-F, the AV-8B(NA), or tech Tree A-6E TRAM counterpart would have been most likely, but i couldn’t now say that we won’t see an F/A-18, F-16C-40 or F-15E / F-16XL as a wildcard.
The sequential progression though the blocks is going to be important in order to prevent a similar fate to the F-4E, where capabilities were handed out slowly overtime (and still remain incomplete), when potential blocks some advancement it also allows for things to go as fast as needed to keep up with other additions since there are many options, and delays the appearance of the Multirole variants until there is sufficient airframe diversity to support them as well as allowing the remaining dedicated Strike airframes to see their relevance before things devolve into true missile spam with 10’s of Fox 3’s in the air at any given point in time.
in regards to the F-16’s I think a Block 25 would be likely be a good lead in airframe for US for when the AIM-120, assuming that they don’t go with the AV-8B+, or if they need a slightly higher performance variant the block 30/32 would be next in line, since it can also get better Sidewinders if they are needed.
They probably should have added the -9L to the F-14A (and modeled the AN/ALR-23 IRSTS) and bumped up the BR to 12.0, and added another Attacker in the F-14B’s place.
They could do it with the F-14B but that would be beginning to force a rapid escalation of the capabilities of newly added fighters, which will make things worse overall, or at least without a revision to how IRCCM works in game, since they defeat flares wholesale at least for now.
It probably is but its to early to know if its an F-15 or F-16 variant at this point, or if it’s even planned to be accompanied simultaneously by its counterparts in other nation’s trees, or otherwise matched in some way. and its probably going to be expediated since there is a pressing need due to the -2000 losing its AIM-7’s, though why the removal was coupled to the new airframes release will probably never make sense.
