Industrial value to influence Finnish fighter competition

once again L.M is referring to gripen C since F-35 cant compete with gripen E on range,
save for heavy A2G loads.

the fact that L.M keep referring to C when in all competitions its up against E,
is telling, no different from giving data on VW when comparing to a Porsche, and pretend to be honest,
after all, its the same manufacturer

read the year of the article – 2009. There was no Gripen E back then to even take into consideration. And its a fact that all sorts of trickery is used to inflate range figures and make it look way better than it really is. The LM modelling is biased towards the F-35 obviously- 4 internally carried AMRAAMs on the F-35 should have been compared with 4 externally carried missiles on the Su-30MKI and all other fighters for an apples to apples comparison.

But the part on the Gripen’s Maximum Mission Radius being 502 NM, in a hi-hi-hi profile with 1 minute of combat, while carrying a weapon load and external tanks..lets just say politely that Gripen fanboys have been peddling much higher radius figures (830 NM/1550 km radius!). That’s more than what LM states the Su-30MKI’s Max Mission Radius is without external fuel tanks. So I know whom to believe and whom not to, even if LM was deliberately creating a scenario that favoured its F-35.

That’s my account of the force structure in 2022. That’s why the MiG-27 has been excluded and the Rafale & Tejas included.

The Bisons were originally scheduled to be retired by 2022, but that’s extendable to 2025. I’m guessing 2 sqs. will persist past 2022 and be replaced by the Tejas Mk1A by 2024. Unless the MoD seals a deal for a new Western type, in which case they might be retired by 2022-23.

As to the last point, I wouldn’t take Wikipedia figures at face value. The MiG-21 figures for one seem like total rubbish, or perhaps just outdated. The MiG-27UPGs constitute 4 sqds, maybe less (I’m not sure about the retirement schedule).

There are in all 3 squadrons of MiG-27MLs and about half a squadron’s worth with TACDE and 2 squadrons of the MiG-27UPG, plus 5 squadrons of the MiG-21M/MF that will be retired. Another 2 squadrons of MiG-21Bis as well. And then another 6 MiG-21 Bison squadrons that will need to be replaced.

So in all 5.5 MiG-27s + 5 MiG-21M/MF + 2 MiG-21Bis + 6 MiG-21 Bison squadrons = 18.5 squadrons will be retired in a phased manner by 2025.

And the orbat by 2025 will look like this, with some rounding off for possible attrition:

14 Su-30MKI squadrons – ~270 Su-30MKIs
3 Mirage-2000I squadrons – ~50 Mirage-2000Is
3 MiG-29UPG squadrons – ~60 MiG-29UPGs
6 Jaguar squadrons – ~120 Jaguars
2 Tejas Mk1 squadrons – 40 Tejas Mk1s
4 Tejas Mk1A squadrons (if deliveries start in 2019 @16 per year) – 83 Tejas Mk1As
2 Rafale squadrons – 36 Rafales

So a total of about 33 squadrons

An unexpected guest during the recent highway landing exercises, I’ve heard of FOD and bird strikes, but a fighter being taken out by a stray dog would have been a first.

Yes, a first for a dog, but not the first for an animal..remember the PAF F-16 that was lost to a wild boar that ran onto the runway at Sargodha?

More images from the recent series of landings by Su-30MKI and Mirage-2000I and TI jets on the Lucknow-Agra expressway

Embraer responds to New Zealand RFI for airlift and surveillance aircraft with offer for 5 KC-390

Spain receives first A400M airlifter