Just to toss this out, how good is the old 3025 standard as a AA unit with Flak ammo? I mean we have talked about upgrading to LB-5X for AA and Anti-Armor roles, but is it a suitable AA platform with just the ammo change?
Well, it's one use for it. As with any application of Vedettes, you'll really want to bring several since LB-X or not and regardless of what ammo you pack you'll still have only one 'real' gun per tank.
Compared straight-up to the notional LB-X upgrade firing cluster (since that's what it would do in that role), you'll have less range, no cluster to-hit bonus (still the -2 for flak, though), and less critseeking against most targets. You'll do on average more raw damage against airborne targets once you do connect (and may be able to threshold some fighters that the LB-X couldn't really scratch beyond the obligatory lawn-dart check), though less against anything on the ground (I think -- TacOps doesn't actually say whether to round up or down when halving the damage, and here we're talking the one weapon for which it would matter. Feeling a bit pessimistic, however, I rather suspect that the intent is "down").
Overall the LB-X is probably the better all-purpose gun, but a stock Vedette with flak ammo won't automatically suck by comparison. At least as long as it can then
find itself some airborne targets.
(Also note that as per errata flak ammo
doesn't actually do extra damage vs. infantry. It's simply treated as a hit from any other direct-fire ballistic weapon, which will normally work out to one dead trooper per hit here.)