The F-104J Problem

[The Wiggly Armed Man]

While people have been focusing on the Panther D, there is a weird thing with the F-104J. While it's basically meaningless since 9.7 is cut off from facing 10.0, and all the F-104 are being moved to 10.0 or above, and in the process the 10.0 and 10.3 BRs are basically meaningless outside of ranking how good an aircraft is; there is an issue with how the new F-104s will be structured.

All of them will be moved to 10.0 if they aren't already except for one: the F-104J. It does have the best F-104 performance alongside the Chinese F-104G, but for some reason the Chinese F-104G isn't also being moved up to 10.3 alongside it even though it is MUCH better than it. Now they're all identical in performance, they're just different in the ordnance they can carry and I'll go over that below:

F-104J

• 2 x - AIM-9B Sidewinders, 14 x - M247 Hydra 70
  
• 2 x - AIM-9E Sidewinders, 14 x - M247 Hydra 70
  
• 2 x - AIM-9B Sidewinders
  
• 2 x - AIM-9E Sidewinders
  
• 14 x - M247 Hydra 70

German F-104G

• 2 x - AIM-9B Sidewinders, 1 x - 1000 lb Mark 83
  
• 2 x - AIM-9B Sidewinders, 1 x - 750 lb M117 Cone 45
  
• 2 x - AIM-9B Sidewinders, 1 x - 500 lb Mark 82
  
• 2 x - AIM-9B Sidewinders, 1 x - 250 kg Matra 25E
  
• 2 x - AIM-9B Sidewinders, 2 x - AS.20
  
• 2 x - AIM-9B Sidewinders, 14 x - M247 Hydra 70
  
• 2 x - AIM-9B Fgw. 2 Sidewinders, 1x - 1000 lb Mark 83
  
• 2 x - AIM-9B Fgw.2 Sidewinders, 1 x - 750 lb M117 Cone 45
  
• 2 x - AIM-9B Fgw. 2 Sidewinders, 1 x - 500 lb Mark 82
  
• 2 x - AIM-9B Fgw.2 Sidewinders, 1 x - 250 kg Matra 25E
  
• 2 x - AIM-9B Fgw.2 Sidewinders, 2 x - AS.20
  
• 2 x - AIM-9B Fgw. 2 Sidewinders, 14 x - M247 Hydra 70
  
• 4 x - AIM-9B Sidewinders
  
• 4 x - AIM-9B Fgw. 2 Sidewinders
  
• 3 x - 1000 lb Mark 83
  
• 3 x - 750 lb M117 Cone 45
  
• 3 x - 500 lb Mark 82
  
• 3 x - 250 kg Matra 25E
  
• 3 x - AS.20
  
• 14 x - M247 Hydra 70

Chinese F-104G

• 2 x - AIM-9B Sidewinders, 1 x - 1000 lb Mark 83
  
• 2 x - AIM-9B Sidewinders, 1 x - 750 lb M117 Cone 45
  
• 2 x - AIM-9B Sidewinders, 1 x - 500 lb Mark 82
  
• 2 x - AIM-9B Sidewinders, 1 x - AGM-12B Bullpup
  
• 2 x - AIM-9B Sidewinders, 14 x - M247 Hydra 70
  
• 2 x - AIM-9J Sidewinders, 1 x - 1000 lb Mark 83
  
• 2 x - AIM-9J Sidewinders, 1 x - 750 lb M117 Cone 45
  
• 2 x - AIM-9J Sidewinders, 1 x - 500 lb Mark 82
  
• 2 x - AIM-9J Sidewinders, 1 x - AGM-12B Bullpup
  
• 2 x - AIM-9J Sidewinders, 14 x - M247 Hydra 70
  
• 4 x - AIM-9B Sidewinders
  
• 4 x - AIM-9J Sidewinders
  
• 3 x - 1000 lb Mark 83
  
• 3 x - 750 lb M117 Cone 45
  
• 3 x - 500 lb Mark 82
  
• 2 x - AGM-12B Bullpup
  
• 14 x - M247 Hydra 70

The F-104J with only two AIM-9Es get raised to 10.3 while the Chinese F-104G with four AIM-9Js and actual ground attack capability gets raised to 10.0. The nearly identical German F-104G remains at 10.0, though its missiles are slightly worse than the F-104J's. The official reason given for this raise is that the "F-104J has been the best performing Starfighter" which just shows how balancing solely by player stats without taking the actual performance of the vehicles into account is a poor way to go about it.

Best Missiles: Chinese F-104G > F-104J > German F-104G
Highest Amount of Missiles: Chinese F-104G = German F-104G > F-104J
Ground Attack Capability:Chinese F-104G = German F-104G > F-104J

My only hope is that when it's raised to 10.3 it'll be given the four missile loadout its been proven to have, at the least, and there's also clear evidence that it used AIM-9Ps based off of the fins of the missiles seen used on the aircraft in pictures.