Build your own Airforce

BRIEFING
To: Minister of Defence

You are the Minister of Defence of W and your task is to build up your country’s forces. You are in charge of buying all kinds of equipment to provide your country with security, protection and defense.

Since W has won a war of independance from X country, X has promised to get W back under it’s control by all means. Your Army is in a decent condition, Navy has a few Submarines, Destroyers and smaller surface ships and your Airforce’s Combat capabilities are almost non-existant. Your Airforce consists of a few old strikers like J-22 Orao and older lighter transports but all these aircraft are unserviceable and must be retired. You must start your Airforce from SCRATCH.

X has promised that as soon as it builds up its forces that it will attack. Though not in a shape currently, they outnumber you something like 4:1 in tanks and artillery and are about even with you in manpower. Their Airforce consists of few a good number of Su-27SK Air Superiority fighters and Jaguar Strike Aircraft. Their Army consists of a very large number of AH-1W Super Cobra Attack helicopters which will be a threat to your armor nonetheless. Their Navy has a few Surface Ships and submarines along with a Light Aircraft Carrier carrying Sea King AEWs and Sea Harriers F/A-2s.

X has also another enemy, Y, which though has promised that if X does invade your country once again, will provide Naval and Air power. Y does not border your country since W is a peninsula but they are across the B sea. Their Navy consists of 2 Heavy Aircraft Carriers carrying E-2C Hawkeyes and F-14A Tomcats and a large number of Destroyers and Submarines as well as a few Nuclear Powered Subs. Their Airforce also consists of quite a few E-2C Hawkeyes and a large number of Mirage-2000-5s.

Your other neighbour, Z, which is also across the sea is an Island. They have decided to stay neutral but we are suspicious of their plans because they have some oil fields and islands in dispute with them so they may strike us when we are vulnerable. Their Airforce consists of large number of Mig-31Bs and their Navy is very powerful with 5 Medium Aircraft Carriers carrying lots of Tejas?.

Your mission is to build up an Airforce which can counter all of these Aircraft and you will need Aircraft(s) that will be able to perform
-Air Defence to protect your enemy Airforce from conducting operations through your land
-Maritime Patrol to patrol your enemy ship?s activities in the seas
-Strike of enemy ammo depots, bases, etc
-Heavy Close Air Support with either Fixed Wing or Helicopter aircraft. You are heavily outnumbered
-ASW, your enemies contain quite a few subs which can be a danger to your land and navy
-Anti-Shipping, which must be stressed, you must have a number of Anti-Shipping missiles with range of no less than 70kms to engage enemy Surface Ships and Aircraft Carriers
-Border Patrol & Surveillance, you must watch your borders for any enemy activities or watch for surprise attacks
-Must have Light/Medium and Heavy Transports which must be Fixed Wing aircraft
-Must have Helicopters that will be able to perform Utility, Transport and Cargo duties
-Must have capability to give your pilots Basic and Advanced Training

W has found some oil which will help us greatly purchase this military equipment. Besides taking into consideration Aircraft quality and capabilities you should also take into consideration their purchase prices, commonality, maintenance, support and logistics issues. CREATE THE BEST COST EFFECTIVE AIRFORCE The less Aircraft and Weapons types in your Airforce, the easier and cheaper it is to maintain and support it.

You also cannot really afford expensive weapons like modern 5th generation Fighters or expensive bombers like Tu-160 Blackjacks or B-2s of any sort.

My AF:
Main:

-Russian Option: Mig-29M1/M2 Fulcrum(AA, Anti-Shipping, Strike, Reconnaissance, SEAD, etc)(K/KUB Carrier Capable) + Su-39 Frogfoot(CAS, Strike, Limited Air Defense, Limited Anti-Shipping, etc)(Su-25UTG Carrier Capable)
OR
American Option: F-18C/D Hornet(AA, Anti-Shipping, Strike, Reconnaissance, SEAD, etc)(Carrier Capable) + AV-8B Harrier II(AA, Anti-Shipping, CAS, Strike, SEAD, etc)(Carrier Capable)
F-18 + AV-8 Harrier II vs. Mig-29 + Su-39
F-18 + AV-8 Harrier II advantages over the other two:
-They share the same radar which is better for commonality, although both options are good for commonality, they share similar weapons and avionics
-The AV-8 Harrier II is a little better than Su-39 in terms of Air Defense because it has a better radar and can perform STOVL which allows it to operate anywhere.
-The F-18 is probably a little better than Mig-29 in terms of Strike
-The F-18 although more expensive to buy, it is cheaper to maintain

Mig-29 + Su-39 advantages over the other two:
-Do not come with any political strings attached
-The Su-39 is much better suited for CAS and Strike than the AV-8 Harrier II.
-The Su-39 is much cheaper to buy than the AV-8 Harrier II and probably cheaper to maintain
-The Mig-29 is probably better than F-18 in AA and in Anti-Shipping roles
-The Mig-29 is cheaper to buy although a little more expensive to maintain

-Why I picked those two options, the Mig-29 + Su-39 and F-18 + AV-8 Harrier II are probably the best options. The Mig-29 and F-18 are both pretty even capabilities, they both can operate from Aircraft Carriers(if having any), they would both cost a similar amount in the longer run. The AV-8 Harrier II and Su-39 are good options for them because they both can do CAS and Strike, the Su-39 being cheaper in the longer run but the Harrier being more versatile and more multirole. Both of these options are great for commonality as they will share same weapons and in case of F-18 and AV-8 Harrier II, they will share the same radar.

-EMB-145SA/RS(Airborne Early Warning & Control, Airspace Management, Border Surveillance & Control, Sea Surveillance, Search & Rescue Coordination, Signals/Electronic/Communications Intelligence, Ground Surveillance, etc)
A very good plane with good radar that can perform wide array of missions. Affordable too.

-EMB-314 Super Tucano(Basic & Advanced Training, COIN, Helicopter Hunting, Drug Interdiction, Border Patrol, etc)
This nice trainer not only can perform Basic training but it can also do Advanced Training and can perform other roles like Counter-Insurgency and Drug Interdiction and etc

-S-80TD/TP(Maritime Patrol, Drug Interdiction, Light Transport & Cargo, Troop Transport, Airborne Assault, Search and Rescue, Training, Limited Anti-Shipping & Strike)
A great nice light transport that?s also very versatile. Besides being a transport, it has good avionics and radar and is armed with weapons like Kh-29T, Kh-35 AshM, Vikhr ATGM, R-73 for self defense and other stuff which opens it up for new capabilities. It?s cheap to buy and requires minimal maintenance

-Il-76MF Candid(Heavy Transport & Cargo, Airlift, etc) + Il-78M Midas(Tankage)
Operating a similar type also greatly reduces support & maintenance costs and on top of all the Il-76 airframe is very good & reliable, a nice medium long range transport and tanker which can also perform short take offs and landings(STOL), on top of all it?s the cheapest to buy in it?s class.

-H-60 Variants(ASW, Anti-Shipping, Cargo, Drug Interdiction, C/SAR, Cargo, Utility, Transport, Special Operations, Medical Evacuation)(For Carrier use too)
By operating similar types it also too greatly reduces maintenance and support costs. Good with many variants that can perform all kinds of missions. Versatile helicopter that is also easy to maintain.

1)Airforce Cost Savings in Maintenance, Support, Weapons, etc:
-There are 7 real different types of Aircraft in my Main AF
I)F-18 + AV-8 Harrier OR Mig-29 + Su-39(2 types of aircraft)
II)EMB-145 comes in the RS and SA versions(1 type of aircraft)
III)EMB-314 Super Tucano(1 type of aircraft)
IV)S-80 comes in TD and TP versions(1 type of aircraft)
V)Il-76 comes in the Il-76 transport version and the Il-78 tankage version(1 type of aircraft)
VI)H-60 comes in SH-60 Naval version and the UH-60 land version(1 type of aircraft)
-There are not many weapon types
I)Mig-29 + Su-39 OR F-18 + AV-8 Harrier II all share the same weapons
II)The EMB-314 Super Tucano also uses special weapons of it?s own but those are inexpensive and would be bought in smaller numbers. They would not cause a problem
III)The S-80 uses similar weapons along with the lines of Mig-29 + Su-39, though even if the other American option was chosen of F-18 + AV-8 Harrier II, S-80?s weapons are also pretty inexpensive and would be bought in smaller numbers. If the Russian option was taken of Mig-29 + Su-39 then it would make things a little easier
IV)The H-60 Variants, notably the SH-60 Naval version use obviously different weapons such as Torpedoes and special helicopter Anti-Shipping missiles.

2)Dependability
-Besides also saving lots of money by operating very few types, I have also taken into consideration not to depend on single source of weapons. As you can see my weapons mix consists of Russian, American and Brazilian

Secondary/Optional:
-SAMs are secondary
S-400(Long range SAM)
BUK-M1(Medium range SAM)
TOR-M1(Short range SAM)
Tanguska-M(Short range SAG)
S-400 is arguably the best longer ranged SAM in the World and the only thing that comes close to it is the S-300 series and the PAC-2. It is a generation ahead of them and would only be bought in smaller numbers since it can cover such a huge area of air space. I also chose BUK-M1 and TOR-M1 because their commonality with their Russian cousin the S-400 could somehow reduce some costs and they are also probably the best medium and short ranged SAMs in the World. All these SAMs come in affordable prices compared to pricey Western counterparts.