That plane took off long time ago, not gonna happen.

Double post.

Since one of the Indian requirement was a mast mounted radar the outcome of the tender was crystal clear, they are trying to reinvent the wheel for political reasons, brivery or both.

Owlcat: licence production of F-35 presents problems. Firstly, what does the Brazilian air force do in the meantime? It has no lack of light attack aircraft, & if it needed advanced trainers would already be getting them built in Brazil (look at what Brazilian industry builds, & has built), but its first line air defence aircraft are almost worn out. It needs new fighters, & soon. Secondly, because of the industrial set-up of F-35, licence production is difficult to arrange. Brazil could probably only get final assembly & check out, which would not meet Brazilian ambitions.

In the meantime they could upgrade their ground based air defenses ahead of World Cup and Summer Olympics for a moderate amount of money.

I know that F-35 could give them some headaches but maybe they could work some type of arrangement as they are in a better position than some of its future users, both in required numbers and political weight.

Buying a limited number of Su-35s as a stopgap for a PAK-FA variant à la FGFA or even lease some Su-30s from India if they really need the capabilities of a heavy fighter.

Obviously Rafale with technology transfer is of course a better deal than F-18 or Gripen with a limited one or none.

Whats so speciall about Algeria and French jetfighters? Dont the countries fairly good/normal political relations to each other nowadays?

The recent events in Africa have proven that merry marriages can become sour divorces quite fast.

I am more interested in why they feel the need to beef up their rather powerful AF further? Who is the mighty neighbour they need do keep at bay? Morocco? Niger?

Maybe it’s not about their neighbors but the herd that have rooted in the neighborhood.

Or is it just bcz Rafalle proved damned good in blazing various Islamistic Toyota militias who are hellbent to overthrow the local government of the day? I could buy that I gelive…

Last time a Rafale flock met wild Hiluxes in Africa they were providing them air support.

Isn’t cheaper to buy a few more Su-30MKMs or some advanced trainers like Yak-130 or T-50 that can be used as a light strike aircraft if needed or in air policing roles for less money and with a longer service life?

Retiring Hawks and any F-5 left could also ease the burden of maintenance.

Today arial warfare is no longer that of WW2 for decades.

Of course not, the actual trend is to bomb at will enemy assets from near outer space while they are parked alongside the runaway :rolleyes:.

Fighters do no longer loiter in the air for hours to protect a given area and try to spot something hostile by their own.

No one has talked about lone loitering for hours using IRST trying to emulate an eye impaired man with a flashlight.

[The “highest ranking Israeli ace” about arial kills is not a pilot but a ground controller, the one who sent that into the engagement and give the related support by his/her experiences from several encounters before!]

So the emphasis of Soviet VPO on ground control was right?

Today non serious military is sending out aircraft in a high threat area for searching hostile ones or looking for ground targets.

Russian VVS over Georgia in 2008 comes to my mind.

Something at hand from the MiG-23 and F-4S, when operating outside a functioning network or within a depressed one. All the present Israeli fighters F-16/F-15 have HMS and Phyton and no IRST. Even with IRST you are in need of a functioning network to get the arial picture in need. The main advantage of an IRST is it could not be jammed during daytime in general, but that is of little help when it comes to your AAMs.

And MiG-29 had both IRST and HMS+R-73 since the early 80’s, one does not exclude the other.