The article with the dutch F35 is quite accurate…F35 compensates faster loss of energy with good AoA and controlability at slower speed. It was obvious during the previous PAS I attended…It could perform some impressive manœuvres but afterwards it needed quite some time to recover energy when your typical 4th gen jet could pack much more aerobatics than the F35 in the same time frame of the aerial display. Pros and Cons each ways…

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Another in cockpit video, great sense of agility and speed due to the Wide fireld of view of the camera. Starts at 1min

I disgaree,

If electronics are modernized, current 4th gen could still be potent assets with the right combination of UCAV and standoff weapons. Sure a single platform will not be enough and the future leans towards of a “system of system” more than the single silver bullet that wins against everything. In that context an up to date 4th gen fighter supported by other stealth assets like UCAV might prove enough for quite some times. Not the panacea but still, if it is used well with 6th gen electronics it could do the trick (again with other specialized platform when required).

Also the F15 still brings a lot with its massive carrying abilities and good range. With the right electronics it could still be a very capable aircraft for many years to come and complement well F35 and F22 with their small internal weaponery.

Ceremony to launch the F4 standard development. If you understand French you will note the emphasis of the technological leap this standard brings from the French Mindef :

Nice flying over La Réunion Island in the south indian ocean by current rafale solo diplay pilot. (who grew on this Island)

No timescale mentioned there, just says that it’s very ambitious. For GaN transmitter, demonstrator was 2014 (assuming it was on time), and in-service date is 2023. Full MFA demonstrator is currently non-existent, so based on that I’d say sometime after 2030, which is also the opinion shared a French journalist who wrote an article in Combat Aircraft, July 2015, Page 23. The conformal, multiband, multirole antennae development will begin in 2025 for qualification around 2030+. They will get GaN on the existing system first and then begin work on the rest. From a testing perspective it doesn’t even make sense to have the latter interfering with the integration of the former.

Well that’s an opinion but not the true story. The full F4 standard with MFAs is due to be qualified in 2025. Contract has been offically signed by French Gov for 2,1 billion $ a few days ago. The information about MFAs with the standard F4 is widely shared by Dassault, Thales and French air Force (standard F4.2 in 2025). Unless they are completely deluded which is of course not the case this is the plan.