Functionally the Charlie you own is an arcade game. It would be relatively easy for ED to do a cockpit reskin of the existing model, and remove the weapons configuration display that has no real functionality in the sim anyway. The the other item is that the "A" never carried AAMRAMS. ED could very easily keep the FC Charlie around for YOU, while only selling an A model in the future iterations of Flaming Cliffs. From a marketing standpoint, my idea makes a lot of sense, as new players could dip their toes into the game with these "Easy Mode" early models of these aircraft. Aircraft that really did have less capability. As they get better, and crave more of a challenge, that's when they step up to the fully fledged "Study Level" F-15C. Its a way to more clearly differentiate what the customer is buying, and create a desire to upgrade later. Otherwise why buy the study level F-15C when I can buy a cheap F-15C and still kick ass on the Multiplayer servers?
Woogey's post in DCS Flaming Cliffs 2026 Proposal was marked as the answer