Originally posted by Vaiar
Oh yes, there are!!! 🙂 I am from the Netherlands myself and although some minorities (like some black people or homosexuals) feel discriminated at times, one of our biggest minorities, the Frysians, is treated perfectly fine (probably because you can’t see much difference between them and ethnic dutch 🙂 )

I agree that Berlusconi is doing things wrongly. Though I disagree with you that leaders in democratic countries should always listen to their people. Sometimes the majority is supporting the wrong choice or is in the hands of some popular and charismatic politician who only pursues his own interests. Whether a leader did the right thing by ignoring the majority is only a matter time can tell us.

(BTW, PLA = People’s Liberation Army, I thought you were from the PRC/China)

Ordinary people does not have usually the information which the Leaders have. So their understanding of situation is different.

“The aircraft’s radar counter-countermeasures system is the first operational system with an “adaptive cross-polarization capability against coherent monopulse Doppler radars,” the Lockheed Martin official said. Less technically, that means the Block 60 will have a defensive system especially designed to foil the most advanced double-digit surface-to-air-missiles. Double-digit SAM systems include the 80-120-mi.-range, Russian-made SA-10s and SA-12s and the emerging S-400 family of missiles with an advertised range of up to 240 mi. The radar’s electronic counter-countermeasures use spread-spectrum techniques to see through jamming. In all, the EW system offers 11 new or updated technologies for foiling radars and radar-guided missiles. However, the transfer of these techniques did not require the release of U.S. control over source codes for the EW or radar computers.”

Isreal must have pretty good intellegence before conducting such an action. Iraq WMD was separate issue created to remove a certain regime.

Do the objective analysis .Mig 21 was a top plane at that point of time. Mig-23 was not in active service. There were thousands of soviet advisors in Egypt and Syria in previous wars. Mig-25 provide the information. And i don’t think current Iranian fighters can defeat Python4 and AIM-120 equipped F-15 and F-16 and i have read from UAE F-16 article that EW suite is even effective against S-400. S-300 or whatever is thrown at these fighters backed by Phalcon radars cannot do much.

Originally posted by Vympel
Who says fifth-generation necessarily equals stealth?

With out Stealth define a fifth generation aircraft?

Some thing from Russian source. I think Russian equipement does not look that advance to China any more.
MOSCOW. Dec 22 (Interfax-AVN) – Chinese Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan was shown Sukhoy’s new makes and upgrade offers as part of his official visit to Russia, a competent source in the Russian Defense Ministry told Interfax-Military News Agency.

“On Monday the Chinese delegation headed by the defense minister visited Sukhoi’s airbase in Zhukovsky near Moscow. At the airfield of the Gromov Flight Test Research Institute they were shown Sukhoi’s new makes and upgrade offers,” the source said.

“The emphasis of the demonstration was on the upgrade of the SU-27SK Flanker jets into the SU-27SKM version, which Russia offers to China and other countries operating the aircraft,” the source also said. According to the source, the aircraft was also demonstrated in flight, piloted by test pilot of the Sukhoy Design Bureau Yevgeny Frolov.

The source added that Chinese Air Force operates about 200 SU-27SKs. According to him, the upgrade will imply longer service life, all-weather day/night capability, and wider range of weapons. There are several option packages, he said. One basic option package upgrades the fighting performance, while the other emphasizes multifunction capabilities. It will be economically reasonable to apply these packages to different parts of an operational fleet to get a diversified force. The SU-27’s new weapons will be the air-to-surface Kh-31P Krypton, Kh-31A Krypton, Kh-29T(TE) Kedge missiles and the KAB- 500KR, KAB-1500KR guided aerial bombs.

Arrangements for non-Russian dumb munitions are also optional. The SU-27SKM will also have a satellite navigation system with new operational modes, more precise navigation and guidance. An air refueling capability is also offered to extend the operational range. Ample upgrade opportunities for the upgrade of the SU-30MKKs were also offered, the source said. According to the source, the Chinese delegation will depart home on Monday night

Some thing about UAV
http://www.indiadefence.com

Of special interest was Pakistan’s showing at the show which took a handsome pavilion in the center of one of the two huge halls under the banner of the Integrated Defence Systems of Pakistan, much like India’s DRDO, but much smaller. On display were Pakistan’s Nishan series of Aerial Target systems (somewhat like the Indian Lakshya). There were depictions of composite material home-built Vector Mk 2 UAVs with day and night IR cameras, which can operate for 4 hours up to 12,000 feet much like the DRDO’s Nishant The Starfish naval ground mines, telemetry antennas and fuses and other products were also shown, but the main draw were the two Pakistani Air Force planes parked on the tarmac.

Originally posted by SOC
I wouldn’t necessarily call Pakistan acquiring a BVR weapon small news, it would necessitate a rethinking of some tactics, and a reassessment of Pakistani abilities by the IAF. Of course they’re probably already doing that, as they have the weapons and understand the concept themselves, but as it adds a new wrinkle to a potential conflict it isn’t necessarily small news. Just the way I see it though, feel free to disagree.

Any airforce should train assuming the worst from the otherside so just because PAF donot have BVR it does not mean that IAF will not train in evading BVR tactics.