[QUOTE=JSR;1937754]
IL-96 is never designed for AWACS. and there is no twin engine IL-96 either.

Please list the planes that were designed from the outset as AWACS platform.

Kuwait never operated Mirage 2000, but Mirage F1 was operational since 1976.

http://russianplanes.net/id79521

A 9-12 still in service. 😀

Back at the end of March MiG-29s 9-12 participated in VVS exercise.
http://www.tvzvezda.ru/news/nocomment/content/v_astrahanskoy_oblasti_istrebiteli_2803.html#

MiG-27K and MiG-25BM were never exported to other nations. Even India received MiG-27M-based variant. MiG-25BMs were the first aircraft flown back to USSR after reunification of Germany. Therefore it is extremely unlikely that Soviet AF, or design bureau would risk valuable aircraft in a warzone.

It would have made sense to order MiG-29KUBs for Navy, even for the land-based units, so that a number of the pilots familiar with the new type would increase. That would facilitate transition for carrier-borne operations.

The only advantage that SU-33 had over the original MiG-29K was longer range. WCS, weapon load, RWR were almost identical to original land based Flanker. In contrast, MiG-29K used radar, RWR, ECM similar to MiG-29M (9-15), it had genuine multi-role capability with PGM, ARM, and most importantly was compatible with R-77 which made it superior in BVR. Due to its more advanced design the testing of MiG-29K was more protracted and that together with Sukhoi political influence was the real reason why single-role SU-33 was chosen.

USAF should have kept EF-111 Raven in service, especially since there was no replacement available in a near future. Raven offered much better performance than USN’s Prowler in terms of speed/acceleration, while its avionics could have been upgraded to Prowler’s level.

Does Su-35 still have a G limitation with full fuel load or has this problem already been addressed?