[4Tran]

Most of the upgrading of the variable fighters haven't been to their armament in the first place - instead, it's been on maneuverability, acceleration, stealth, ergonomics and other similar features. That says to me that either the gunpods and missiles had been greatly improved over time (which is certainly possible), or that the UN Spacy had been satisfied with the firepower of Valkyries all along. Either way, firepower doesn't seem to be a particularly important distinction between variable fighters.

In the exercise, the Queadluun-Reas didn't use their missiles or their main gun, so the firepower advantage is more or less moot. While Alto couldn't use any missiles, he still had the advantage conferred by the VF-25's latent capabilities, and that of the super-pack. It was Klein Klan who operated under the greater handicap, which would make sense since they were basically trying to test him.