Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses is a bit more complicated in BT because Air Defense is not just the job of purpose built units, though many that are purpose built are not surprisingly good at the job. In my opinion this can break down into two different areas- ASF/CF and VTOLs.
First, and a bit easier to address, is the ASF/CF side of executing a Wild Weasel mission. I am split on whether a Conventional or Aerospace Fighter would be best for the job- just like other ground attack roles. The CF has the advantage that it is cheap and therefore less expensive to replace when lost on a Wild Weasel mission. CFs can also be more mission specific focused since they lack the endurance, firepower and ruggedness of ASF. On the other hand, ASF are more rugged as mentioned which means they can survive the inevitable damage a fighter takes on a Wild Weasel mission. They also carry more ordnance internally and externally to deal with the AA they encounter on their sweeps while a CF might have to return to base to reload & refuel. ASF are also able to fly in a different manner than CF, with the orbital drop & suborbital hop to hit targets that would be out of CF range.
With that in mind, what sort of CF or ASF are going to be best for SEAD? The best AA weapons in order (IMO) are the LB-5X, AC/5 with Flak ammo, HAG/20, LB-2X, LB-10X, other HAGs, AC/2 with Flak ammo and the Clan Large Pulse Laser as the most useful AA weapons. I place artillery into its own category partly from the cumbersome nature of the systems under BT rules but also due to their dual nature and not being as confident in my understanding of how they interact with the variety of Aero-to-Ground rule sets. For them, as I understand it I think Arrow IV, Sniper with Flak and finally Thumper with Flak would be the order for artillery in the ADA role- A4 overcomes its limited ammo count by being able to reach the highest; Sniper mixes damage & ammo count; and Thumper is cheap, easy to mount and has a high ammo count. Long Tom is ruled out b/c the system is so expensive, has a low ammo count, rare, and is better used as normal artillery. Knowing that any damage and thresholding is the bane of fighters (plink & lawn dart!) the first thing to look for is a design that can negate the types of damage most likely to be encountered & effective when going after AA sites & defenses . . . artillery & AC. This means that unlike superiority intended fighters where the best armor deals with energy weapons, the best armors for Wild Weasel tasked designs would be Ballistic Reinforced, Reactive and finally Stealth as the best armors. After a quick look I cannot find Ball-R armor on any fighters but as it would address the typical AA weapons of LBX, Flak loaded autocannons and HAG though perhaps not artillery it halves all damage recieved though does nothing against the LBX plinks. Reactive deals with artillery and autocannon's AP rounds, I think this would work better for SEAD missions hitting strategic targets like spaceports, ports or other hard targets that are more likely to be defended by artillery systems in fixed defenses. I also think it would work well for level bombers since one of the AA threats to them would be A4 AA rounds
by my understanding. The final armor type, Stealth is not so much about negating damage as avoiding it by being harder to hit- after all its pretty hard to be plink'd to death if they cannot hit you . . . Which is a important advantage when considering the long reach of LB-2X and AC/2s with Flak rounds. One other thing to be looked at when choice ASF to be tasked to SEAD, Omnitech. Omni makes it easier to repair, can swap weapons loads to be repurposed even if using Ball-R or Stealth as they are the most useful armors in other roles, and of course carry tailored loads- AA vehicles or infantry manned field guns? SRMs with infernoes, AA mechs? Gauss Rifles or other big guns, clusters of AA targets? LRM racks with swarm missiles. The final consideration is the what size of the ASF or CF works best for the mission. For the ASF, this might be a
great role for those smaller faster designs which would have difficulty surviving a dogfight against the armored bricks of heavy fighters. A Wild Weasel bomb load would not slow down such a aeroframe too much which gives it more options when engaging AA sites, provided ASF are selected for SRM & LRM racks to supplement external ordnance. For CF I would tend to go the other way, large enough to deliver a maximum payload to the strike zone so the least number of more fragile CF are exposed to the risks in a SEAD mission. It helps that most CF tend to be armed with missile launchers which can properly supplement the external munitions.
What weapons are ASF & CF best equipped with to go hunting AA and EW sites? Weapons of fire, scatter/area damage and homing are the best choices the Wild Weasels. This means Inferno SRMs, Inferno Bombs, A4-Inferno, Cluster Bombs, A4
Cluster, RL10 pods, ARAD missiles, LRM Swarm/Swarm-I, LRM Semi-Guided, and A4 Homing will be superior to other weapon systems or external munitions. Which mix works best for a SEAD mission will depend on what the type of target is you are trying to hit. Hitting fixed emplacements like Sniper, Thumper or A4 sites protected by revetments or other fortifications would best be attacked with Inferno SRMs & A4, ARAD and A4 Homing as well as going after supporting EW with ARAD weapons. For AA vehicle groups, Inferno SRMs & A4s, Cluster Bombs & A4, RL Pods and LRM Swarm/Swarm-I serve best since vehicles are weak to fire and lots of little hits and AA vehicles tend to have supporting vehicles nearby to attract Swarms. Autocannon and artillery field guns are best dealt with by Inferno SRM & A4 and Cluster Bombs & A4 since the troops that man the weapon burn and cluster munitions burst overhead ignoring ground cover or being dug in. Finally the one that most people worry about- those AA mechs like the Rifleman or Orion- typically armed with scatter guns or ACs able to load flak. For once they are not the targets best serviced by infernoes, but rather Cluster Bombs & A4; guided stuff like Semi-G, Homing A4 & ARAD; finally the RL10 pods which can deliver a lot of damage but exploit any openings hole punchers like A4 Homing make. Note some of these weapons require teamwork or some non-weapon equipment to be loaded- TAG pods on the ASF or as part of the CF so that other Wild
Weasels can put the hurt on what is being lased. Protecting strikes against known targets defenses would call for specifically tailored ordnance mixes as illustrated above.
As part of a general tactical sweep supporting close air support a Wild Weasel should be loaded with a mix of infernos (either internally in SRM or MML ammo bins or externally as bombs or A4), ARAD (preferrably LRM or LRM loads in MML), cluster bombs and RL10 pods. This provides a very flexible load for any of the 4 target types or if no AA presents itself the ordnance can be used for general tactical bombing- like hunting field artillery or fire support positions.
