:rolleyes:
tsk tsk tsk

Alas it is a shame especially as TangoIII is a forum hero who clearly devotes much personal time to searching for interesting news articles and is often first to post an exciting new development without bias.

News agencies are going to be far more tough on people who copy and paste their articles even if they are credited and go after the forums as well. Sensible policy is a short sentance in your own writing and link to the article.

I know it has been argued to death but in the end getting the Super Hornet was the sensible choice.

They are taking on a type which is young in life but mature in development directly off the production line at short notice. There are some logistical advantages as well but in the end the Super Hornet was the right choice.

There are alrady plenty Block 25 airframes stored at AMARC, see:
http://www.f-16.net/aircraft-database/F-16/stored-aircraft/airforce/USAF/526/
and following pages

Getting AMX is not an option, as I already wrote on the previous page we need a multirole aircraft, not interceptors and not ground attack or CAS aircraft.

Also a combination of F-16 and AMX is impossible due to the very small size of the fleet.

If you guys want to debate a realistic scenario, than it’s only F-16 versus Gripen.

Hmmm but how many of those Block 25 are flyable without a serious overhaul? More then likely they are being parted out to keep ANG F16 in the air.

Not a bad idea. The Romanians and Italians share similar languages as well!

Surplus AMX’s may not be great in air defence without a decent radar.

Indeed that was my thinking Italy and Romania already have a working relationship and the F16 ADF at the end of the Italian lease should have good amount of life on them. In respect of the AMX I was thinking of them as more of a replacement for the radarless ground attack Lancer but that does bring in the disadvantage of operating a two type fleet.

With F16 ADF Romania would also have a number of places to put them through MLU if they wanted and even look at incorporating Israeli upgrades continuing the relationship they have with Elbit etc…

Han class SSN (Type 091) Photos.

Since the Han class nuclear-powered attack submarine is no-longer state-of-the-art, the PLAN is publishing more photos of it in outlets such as the “Naval and Merchant Ship” magazine.

http://china-defense.blogspot.com/2009/12/han-class-ssn-type-091-photos.html

Well it never was state of the art in the first place but nevertheless nice pictures.

The Hunter was at RAF North Luffenham (now MOD North Luffenham). I believe it was used to represent a FITTER.

See comments on the following

http://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/hunter/survivor.php?id=313

It has now been moved to Wattisham and is going to be restored.

http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=95427&highlight=XG194

TJ

Oh god I remember now! In the 90’s when I was an Air Cadet I did a camp at North Luffenham…it was the dullest ATC camp I ever went on. The base had nothing really interesting on it and they didn’t take us to another base to actually see anything interesting like … I dunno …. AIRCRAFT! We didn’t even do the usual museum visit so we had a very boring week, albeit with Prince Andrew dropping in for a medical (remember our squad having to salute him as he lounged outside a building with his navy pilot buddies). We were the first camp of the summer and so many cadets complained that the future camps did all sort of exciting things like visit a Rapier battery and go to a harrier base…grrrrr I was so angry when I found out.

[QUOTE=A4Scooter;1504592]
The P8 could be purchased at half the unit price, AgustaWestland already build a helicopter which could meet our needs the AW139 or AW159 (both of which are designed for the battlefield) QUOTE]

Well in respect of the P8 when the UK was in the market for a replacement for the the Nimrod MR2 it hadn’t even been considered in the US.

There was no P8 to buy, the offerings was the MRA4, two different P3 and a new generation Atlantic.

The turboprop solutions give a significant performance shortfall over a turbofan. The only turbofan choice was the Nimrod, the refit is massively overschedule now meaning Boeing got around to developing the P8.

The other catch is the P8 capability wise isn’t as sophisticated as the Nimrod MRA4, the UK when it comes to ASW likes to go for a gold plated capability. In the MRA4 they get a small number of the best money can buy rather then US solution of lots of good enough for the job.

That is clearly a PS’d image – probably of an Indian AF Il-78MK – you can see the Israeli-supplied IFR pods on the rear fuselage and wings….

Does anyone know if the Pakistani Il-78 will use Russian UPAZ pods – or Israeli pods like the IAF ??

Ken

UPAZ pods.