Why do you want to maintain the distinction between the export F-18 variants and the US-made version? Meanwhile, the Swedish-made Gripen itself is almost identical to the other three versions (Except the South African Gripen which uses the R-darter). Or do you think that the RB99 (Sweden), AIM120A (Hungary), AIM120B (Thailand) are completely different things? If the Finnish F-18 needs to be different from the US version, then the Swedish Gripen C should also be different, giving it the NG upgrade (NG is basically an upgraded C).
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While i mostly agree with your point, this:
Just isn’t true, the NG is a programme aimed to bring the Gripen E to life, not a specific plane or upgrade package. There are 3 planes that were used to test different aspects of upgrades/changes that were of interest to test to see if they were going to be used in the E later on (39-8 for aerodynamic tests, 39-9 for system tests, 39-10 for the finalization, Source)
So depending on which version at what stage and year you can find a NG with anything from just slightly better electronics and radar (PS-05/A Mk.4) to a complete Gripen E.
Yeah, sorry for my ignorance. But I really don’t remember any Gripen C being upgraded before the Gripen NG/E. If the reason for not having an HMS for the F-18 is to maintain the uniqueness of the vehicle, they should do something with the Gripen C to make it unique instead of copy pasting.
It’s gone through several minor and major upgrades in stages:
Wikipedia i know… but i don’t have any better at hands at short notice.
Problem is that the in-game gripen C already has most of those upgrades, and only a few of them can be added without also adding in completely new mechanics to the game.
Edit:
I personally hope that they add the NG to the Swedish tree in some form (since there are so many different iterations the DEV’s can pick and choose things to add for balance and uniqueness of features) before adding the E. That way Sweden has the opportunity to get something intermediate before they add super modern jets at which point they can add the E with all the bells and whistles.
Well the only reason could be that they hate Nordic players. Ironically one of the closest copy paste vehicles is the Gripen C and ignores the long overdue Japanese unique vehicle the F-2.
Given that France has the Rafale F.3 and Germany/Italy/England have a late Tranche 2 Typhoon each, I’d say that we’re past the point of adding super modern Jets already. I think the Gripen E should’ve/could’ve been added already
Not really. Sure some are quite modern, but not really “super” modern which is why i emphasized that :P
Additionally Gaijin has jet to add MANY of the mechanics/ordinance that make those modern jets what they are and are more likely to add those features/weapons to even newer versions added to the game later (F-22 , F-35 , SU-57 , Gripen E , Tranche 4/5 typhoons , etc , etc). So while we might have some modern airframes in the game, they are not really that modern compared to their IRL counterparts. (For example the Viggen D could carry AIM-120B’s IRL but has not gotten them in the game to balance the jet to a specific BR)