February 7, 2008 at 7:31 am
there are a few air forces in the world that use both European/American aircraft and Soviet/Russian aircraft.
it would seem that in almost every case, their western aircraft have proven to be much more worth than their Russian counter part.
This is not representative of every variant of aircraft that these countries make, but primarily on the export models which often are not up to spec.
IAF: Prefers Mirage 2000, offered high serviceability rates and even though it was not equipped to do the job, was valuable in high altitude ground attack than the dedicated attack aircraft, the MiG-23ML. Their MiG-27 may have been better initially than the Jaguar, but the Indians found the Jaguar to have more potential in capabilities and upgrades than the MiG-27.. not as maintenance costly ..both the Mirage and Jaguar.
Iraq AF: Mirage F1 more of a threat to US forces than any of their other Soviet aircraft bar probably the MiG-25. More useful for anti shipping than any other Soviet type. only the Su-25 was better in other specific roles.
Iran AF: Prefers their Iraqi F1s over their Mig-29s. Prefers their F-4s and F=14s as well, new aircraft they are building are based on old western types, not Russian or Chinese aircraft they use. The only non-western aircraft they actually like is the Su-24.
Yugoslavia: Wanted the Mirage 2000, had to settle for the MiG-29
Peru: Prefers its Mirage 2000 over MiG-29
Sri Lanka: probably one of the few cases where they prefer their Russian aircraft, over their Western one (the Kfir).
Germany: found more use of its F-4s over the MiG-29