That might just be too rarefied for me lol :p

I have been pondering how the Chinese might of got their hands on a GEC-Marconi holographic HUD. It was designed to allow projection of FliR imagery from the LANTIRN pod on the F-16 and they started testing in 1982. That would bring it right into the time period when the US and UK were working with China on various projects but in particular the Super-7 and F-7S Sabre II. Maybe they were given at least technical details maybe even a few examples to look at then.

There is nothing attractive with a beefy airframe if there is any way around it

A beefier airframe means the fatigue index will be used up slower leading to a potentially longer service life.

Semantics, they both wanted her as did others that is a bidding war to me.

Way too early to work that one out, as of yet details are vague on the matter. No doubt there would be a number of potential buyers, when Largs Bay went up for sale there was more then one suitor for her. India would indeed be a logical customer but I could see Brazil having a stab at getting her as well as Australia for that matter, the new Australian coalition government has made a big thing out of stopping immigrant boats and the Karel Doorman has capabilities like the landing ramp, large landing deck and hangers as well as a sensor and comms suite that is impressive for this class of vessel which makes her well suited in that role. The Karel Doorman also has capabilities that overlap HMAS Success and HMAS Tobruk, both vessels in line to be retired this decade. She in particular is an excellent replacement for HMAS Tobruk a vessel that technically should of been retired in the 90’s.

I could almost see Australia and Brazil getting into a bidding war like they did over RFA Largs Bay.

How exactly did Russia provoke him? Nothing happened pre-war that did not happen in past decade. I don’t see any “bait”, just unreal Georgian policy. Saakashvili gambled to grab Ossetia and failed.

Conferring Russian citizenship en masse to people living in South Ossetia and another separatist region Abkhazia, significant numbers of troops in the disputed area ostensibly as observers and numerous incursions into Georgian airspace eventually leading to the shooting down of a drone. They were provocations to the Georgians even if Russians don’t see it that way.

And no, Russia did not have significant numbers of troops prepositioned. All they had was two reinforced motorized rifle battalions on the Ossetian border and these are the forces that had to rush to stabilize the situation.
Part of the explanation for some of the problems encountered by Russian forces during the war was exactly the fact that there was no many month long process of picking out who would strike where, and where all the Georgian targets were.

They did have significant equipment and forces pre-positioned many already in the disputed region. There was no way Russia would of been able to respond as quickly if it hadn’t.

As I said the Georgian were stupid to do what they did but Russia is hardly squeaky clean when it comes to what happened.

Afghanistan was huge Soviet Success. infact that Soviet experiance gained in Afghan war prevented further rise in islamism. thats why you see so many pipelines built in CIS now in safety. while Middleast is in flames and more depended on tankers. Nato is lucky that Russia didnot create hell for them in Afghanistan.

You know I sometimes wonder about the fantasy world you live in JSR. Only you would think that a war that led to the death of fourteen and a half thousand Soviet troops and a humiliating withdrawal was a huge success.

I presume the Mig-29, the aircraft actually made its Western debut in 1986 with a visit to Finland.