That Myanmese F-7 is fake alright.

Yes, it is a pity really. I would love a some authentic photos of a Myanmarese F-7s carrying a Litening pod pod, a load of LGB’s or Pyhon IIIs. 😀 wishful thinking 😀 I have been looking for photos of Myanmarese aircraft for a long time with hardly any luck.

Depending on who you believe Botswana paid from:

$2.8 (shipment of five aircraft at $14 million plus, according to Arms Sales Monitor, No. 36, 28 February 1998)

to:

3.84 million (Shipment of 13 at $50 million, according to Defense News, June 10-16, 1996)

for a CF-5A/CF-116. I suppose the higher figure could be including the maintenance and training package. Does anybody know what the going price is for:

A used Northrop F-5E?
The Chilean Tiger III upgrade?
A Chengdu F-7MG/PG?

So I guess the Sweish Ambassador does not know what she is taking about then!?

anderstryggve is right, there is no mention on the Swedish parilament’s website of an Erieye sale to Pakistan being even discussed in Parliament, much less approved (I looked). The only thing the Swedish press has so far even mentioned about this deal is that the sale of this equipment is being discussed by a parliamentary commission. Some of the more reputable Pakistani sources seem to be hinting that the commission has cleared the sale and that negotiations are ongoing but once again there has not been so much as a squeak from the Swedish media on the subject. Don’t flame unless you can accompany your post with a link to a Swedish govt or state media site or better yet an official press statement from Ericsson, and by the way the Ericsson website does not contain any information on the state of any negotiations with the PAF either and the Ericsson press officer is on record as refusing to talk about it.

…given that we have seen senior Swedish government officials refuting the radar and fighter stories in the recent past (a week ago), there should be a similar level official statement from the Swedish government confirming the possibility of a sale…

The Swedes certainly tripped all over them selves make it clear they would not sell the Gripen to the Pakistanis. Last I knew the Swedish Govt. was still debating whether or not to classify the Erieye as a weapon which they wouldn’t be wasting their time doing if ‘no sale’ was a forgone conclusion so the door to the start of negotiations is still open. Where did you see senior Swedish officials refute the possibility of a radar sale?

From the Swedish media:

According to stv.se (Swedish public service television):
http://svt.se/svt/jsp/Crosslink.jsp?d=1804&a=228354

The interesting bit: “Närmare att bli verklighet är ett köp av det flygburna radarsystemet Erieye av Ericsson Microwave Systems. Förhandlingar pågår, enligt Musharraf.”

Which translates into English as: Closer to realization is the purhcase of the airborne radarsystem Erieye from Ericsson Microwave Systems. Negotiations are in progress according to Musharraf.”

Another quote from a Swedish newspaper which is mainly interesting because it quotes an Ericsson official:
http://www.hallandsposten.se/dagenshp/artikel.asp?a=121435

The interesting bit: “Vi säger aldrig något om en affär, inget får komma ut innan det är klart. Avtalen handlar både om många intressenter och politiska beslut, förklarar företagets Evakarin Nilsson, pressansvarig.”

Which translates into English as: We never disclosed anything about an affair, there will be no information until the matter has been finalised. The negotiations include many aspects including political decisions, explains the company’s press officer Evakarin Nilsson.

My somewhat rusty Swedish not withstanding: At the moment the word is that negotiations are proceeding with Ericsson and are dependent on political green light which has so far not been given but is not by any means ruled out. I hope those sources are ‘Western’ enough. 😀

i always wonder what will be done with those burried migs….hope they bring back some…only some

I would haul one of them F-7M’s back to the UK it would look way cool all fixed up on display next to the Hunter FGA.9 at RAF Hendon. Never mind a MiG-25……..

Great pics!
Thanks for sharing.

😎 Cool! 😎 Where did that come from?

Here are two more of Saddams toys.

The single seater is probably an F-7M from the same batch as the above photos. I would love to see a bigger print of this picture. Anybody?

The other one may be an FT-7 although it could also be a MIG-21 ‘Sparka’. I lean towards FT-7 because the paint job looks alot like the standard Chengdu desert camo for the F-7M.

Cheers
SR

Funnily enough, I just read a russian announcement (I believe by MIG, whatever it’s now called, RSK MIG?) that an upgraded MiG-21 is more than a match for an F-15. Of course, only a fool would believe that.

The MiG-21’s that fought over the Beeka valley were not significantly upgraded and they certainly were not what you seem to confuse them with, MiG-21-93’s. Furthermore the best I have ever seen the Russians claim for the MiG-21 is that the most advanced of that family the upgraded MiG-21-93 has an advantage over 4’th generation fighters who are, and I quote “…NOT armed with air-to-air active radar homing missiles.” by that they mean BVR missiles. (This quote came from an article by Anatoly Kanashchenkov, Director General and General Designer of Phazotron-NIIR and Yuri Guskov, Deputy Director General, First Deputy General Designer of Phazotron-NIIR) I would in fact be interested in seeing any Russian claim from a serious source that claims a MiG-21 of any variant could beat the pants off the F-15, especially in view of the fact that the Soviet airforces own assessment of the more capable MiG-23 admitted it was at a disadvantage against the F-15 who had greater radar and BVR range. (A summary of this Soviet report was published in our own beloved Airforces Monthly Magazine, October 2003 issue pages 76-83)

And, your point? The Syrians only had MiG-21s over Bekaa?

No not just Fisbeds but still a substantial number of MiG-21’s along with MiG-23’s who once again were at a disadvantage vs the F-16 and especially the F-15.

I suppose we’ll never know, but in 69-70, when arab hardware was fairly comparable to israeli hardware, the arabs didn’t do too well either. In fact, they did pretty awful. So my personal HO–it don’t matter what you give the arabs, they’ll still get shot down.

By the time they finally lost their respect for the Soviet instructors and began to think for them selves and devlop their own tactics the Egyptians for example were actually doing rather well and certainly alot better than the Israelis were and are prepared to admit.

This last claim of mine is according Tom Cooper of acig.org and David Nicolle in their recent Book, “Arab MiG-19 and MiG-21 units in combat”. Perhaps you should take this up with the guys at acig.org? Just be courteous they do not like people with flamethrowers over there. 😀

It would be more correct to say that my views are diametrically opposed to his.

Hmmm….

…culturally and genetically antithetical to what the arabs are..

You did write that didn’t you? 😀