TCA is run by Northrop Chief Engineer Andrew Skow - what they now sell are options Northrop used to offer from factory.
Northrop doesn't build the F-5 anymore, so they can't offer these products and services. That's why TCA exists.
They're not really upgrades - they are factory options that can be applied after-the-fact. The QMCS wasn't designed or engineered by TCA, it was made by Northrop for their F-5 series. I know this sounds like semantics, and even their own website is confusing - there just isn't that much data out there on the open internet. But if you talk to these guys, these were standard options, like the refueling probe, like the INS, like the Maverick capability. Northrop was happy to do quad carry, it was tested and certified by the USAF and purchased/implemented by customers.
Also, there are images out there of F-5's with 4x sidewinders, like the Swiss birds for example. So the US F-5's are capable, with the right pylon.
It's like the Heatblur F-4E and the AIM-7M - all that was required was a pylon change, so they implemented it because that was what is best for the community. That's all the people are asking here - the evidence has been provided, it's just a matter of implementation.
I would understand the apache argument because they said they're making a very specific version of the apache. But I ask this: what version of the F-5 do we have in DCS? It's not a USAF F-5E, because the F-5E didn't have this RWR, only the Swiss F-5E had this RWR. We don't have a Swiss F-5E, because the Swiss F-5E had the digital radios and INS from factory. We don't have a USN Swiss buyback F-5N for the same reasons. So what variant do we have? It's not an F-5E-3, it's a franken-jet.
Let's keep on this train of thought with the Swiss F-5E's and implement the quad carry, INS and radios. Call it a Swiss F-5E and forget about the F-5N (which was further modified beyond the Swiss jets with new displays and MFD's and all that crap)
ED should be able to talk to a few of the Swiss guys, isn't ED based out of Switzerland after all?
lol