¶ Vehicles
There's not too many jets in the base game and in our modpack, which makes it particularly easy to understand which one is which and what their role is in the case that you ever had to pick the right one for a specific task.
In the vanilla game you have:
NATO
- F/A-181 Black Wasp II - Stealth Air Superiority Fighter (Jets DLC)
- A-164 Wipeout (AKA A-10 Thunderbolt II) - Close Air Support/Ground Attack Craft
CSAT
- To-201 Shikra - Stealth Air Superiority Fighter (Jets DLC)
- To-199 Neophron (AKA Yak-130) - Light Attack Jet
- Y-32 Xi'an - VTOL Gunship (Apex DLC)
AAF
- A-149 Gryphon (AKA JAS 39 Gripen) - Multirole Fighter (Jets DLC)
- A-143 Buzzard (AKA L-159 ALCA) - Light Attack Jet
Some more examples from mods:
- Mig-29 - Air Superiority Fighter
- Su-25 - Close Air Support/Ground Attack Craft
- F-16 - Air Superiority Fighter
It's important to remember that most if not all of these aircraft can carry Air-to-Air munitions as well as some sort of ground attack munitions (e.g. bombs) therefore giving them multi-role capabilities.
¶ Summaries
While you can find statistics about the aircraft online and by checking them out in game, I'd like to offer some insight into each of the aircraft having flown them in various situations.
¶ F/A-181 Black Wasp II
The stealth variant has brilliant BVR capabilities, even beating out the Shikra if you only pay attention to statistics. It is a delta wing however and just like any other delta wing, it is great in 1, maybe 2 turns but it severely struggles beyond that due to it losing all of its energy extremely quickly. This can also be an advantage of course, but don't expect to do well in a sustained turn fight against aircraft or players that can keep their energy up. It's not an incredibly quick aircraft but this aircraft shines in BVR and you should make every effort to put distance between you and the enemy. PS: It has a tailhook, which is essential for carrier missions.
¶ A-164 Wipeout
It's a legendary aircraft that keeps the strengths and weaknesses of the real counterpart even with the re-design for the game. It can carry a ridiculous amount of munitions making it the aircraft to pick if you need to provide support for a longer period of time without returning to base. The gun strikes fear into everyone around it, making it a particularly good tool for propaganda. It's not very agile and struggles to build up speed flying straight therefore you should stay away from air-to-air engagements.
¶ To-201 Shikra
The fighter that isn't nearly as good at stealth as the Black Wasp if numbers are anything to go by, but it makes up for it with its agility. It is simply the best aircraft in the game if dogfights were the only thing that mattered. It's worse than the Black Wasp for BVR fights, however if you can close the distance (which isn't that difficult considering it's faster), you should be able to control the fight. Don't get complacent and make use of all the plane has to offer to secure victory.
¶ To-199 Neophron
It's the CSAT A-164, but with some of the same advantages as the Shikra. It's faster in a straight line and more agile in turns making it an alternative option for patrol sorties when Shikras aren't available in large enough numbers. It cannot carry as much payload as the A-164 and therefore has to rearm more often. Just like the A-164, avoid the air superiority fighters as much as possible; you'd need to play your cards right to have a chance at beating one.
¶ Y-32 Xi'an
An incredible enjoyable aircraft to fly due to how flexible it is. Being able to land and take-off vertically or horizontally makes it an incredible asset, especially considering it's also able to transport troops. It's more of a gunship than a fighter but if you ever found yourself locked in an air-to-air fight, you can make use of thrust vectoring to out-turn the enemy and survive longer. It's a 2 seater, so coordinating with your gunner will be necessary to be effective.
¶ A-149 Gryphon
It doesn't have the ability to carry as much payload as the other fighters, great stealth capabilities, or insane agility like the Shikra, but it's one of those aircraft where the pilot dictates how effective it will be. It is worse than the Shikra and Black Wasp across the board, but if the enemy pilot makes mistakes, it is possible to be victorious with the Gryphon. Just like the real life counterpart, it is also a much cheaper aircraft than the other offerings. (e.g. F-35) It's just not superior to the other fighters. Keep that in mind every time you get in it. It's also a delta wing like the Black Wasp, so attempt to keep your energy up as long as possible.
¶ A-143 Buzzard
It looks cheap, it feels cheap, it is cheap. I feel bad for anyone that has to fly this against any of the other jets listed above as it's genuinely horrid. It's great if you're alone in the air and can just provide support from a safe distance but the same applies to any of the jets above. It can carry less payload than the rest of the jets, it's slow and it looks awful too. The only advantage it has is its size, making it incredibly difficult to hit with guns if you managed to survive to take it to a dogfight.
¶ Conclusion
Hopefully these relatively short summaries help you get an idea of what each of these jets are like. Modded jets can perform drastically differently as it's up to the modder to balance the aircraft, which is why I have excluded them from the list.