If you stand back a little from that statement it sounds like Government saved the RAAF from an essentially superfluous contest, that if concluded could have locked Australia into operating a 1990’s technology fighter for the next 25 years.

Once the JSF as clearly defined, why would Aus want to buy a fleet of semi-mature EFs of Rafaels that one day might provide the all round capability that the RAAF needs and the F-35 provides?

Yeah, a rather bizaar line of thinking considering the Typhoon and Rafale have not only entered service but are actually ramping up to their second generation versions respectively whilst the F-35 is barely into its development program.

Like what? Drop bombs? Fire missiles? About the only thing the F-4 had going for it was the larger payload. It was slower, less manueverable, and had less range. If you wanted to drop a butt load of Mk117s while under escort then the F-4 was your man. Other than that though. . .

Ah but our F-4 has a feature which makes all the difference at the time when it comes to operating radar guided missiles like Sparrow…the person sitting in the back!

The pilot of a Crusador III would have had a tough time flying and operating the radar at the same time too much information.

Govt likely to drop plan to procure F-22 planes

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20081228TDY01302.htm

The moves to abandon efforts to acquire the cutting-edge F-22 follow signs that the incoming U.S. administration of President-elect Barack Obama is leaning toward curbing or even halting production of the aircraft, the sources said.

Well if that is the case then it would be a death knell for Japan ever getting the F-22, Lock Mart will start ramping down the line.

Expect a very heavy US sales push of the F-35 towards Japan, probably along the lines of local production and a specialised air superiority variant with greater Japanese content.

Then again gives EADS a slightly greater chance to get Typhoon through the door as an interim measure.

Unless the transport crashes (it’s happened and took out two Flankers as I recall). Anyway, I just thought it odd that some choose to ship them to the customers and others fly them there.

Then its an insurance issue with the transport company lol:D

Seriously its one of those how long is a piece of string questions, some countries self deploy the aircraft to show they can in a power projection sense. Other countries will transport them in a cargo aircraft for cost and safety reasons, whilst others will do this as they don’t have the overflight rights to get the fighter to its destination.

Also if the transport aircraft crashes as unfortunate as that is, its not the expensive to train and valuable fighter crew who are lost.

Huh. IIRC for SK and Singapore and their F-15s they just fly them there.

Well thats their decision, the F-15 and the Su-30MK2 both have the capability to self deploy if necessary but I suggest you have a look at the logistics tied up to deliver in that way.

Its far cheaper and safer to put them in a transport aircraft.

Fed: Interesting choice mate but seriously, the MB-339’s are still perfect for their needs. I do agree that they didn’t need the F-16’s, perhaps having the Macchi’s as their front line backed up by a small number of Super Tucano’s. Now couple these with ISAR capabilities of the R-99A’s and you start to have a force that can cover NZ’s area of operations with ease.

Looking into it your right about the MB-339, sadly the whole F-16 episode was the excuse that the in coming Labour(?) government needed to kill the whole capability against the advice of their own armed forces.

I think they could even kept the A4 if they had been clever about it, the Kuwaiti Skyhawk that went to Brazil eventually were fairly low mileage and in good nick.

Would love to see that piece you are talking about. Do post it. Also:

1. What do you think of my model?
2. What do you think of the mechanics behind a quantitative analysis of air combat?

Oh its in here somewhere, its pretty much what I wrote this time just a couple of years back. You could find it if your prepared to go through several hundred of my posts:D Nevertheless I pretty much said the same thing.

I will have a look at your model.