Sukhoi have been building Flankers in one guise or another for the past ~40 years. It is not exactly a like-for-like comparison!

[Although I dryly note Lockheed Martin have been building JSFs in one guise or another for around ~15 years!!]

But much of the Su-35 is completely new, avionics especially. Much of the airframe is somewhat different as well.

So basically the break-up of the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, automatically added 6 or 7 new countries to the list of operators of such types as the MiG-21, MiG-29 and Su-25.

#8 Su-25 Frogfoot with 29 nations

Already 29 users! That’s a surprise – especially when you compare it with the A-10. In fact, there are even more users of the Su-25 than the F-16…

2004 figures put the worldwide total for F-16’s flight hours at 11 million. I’d think that counts as widely used.

Good point, and an important distinction to make – to clarify the definition of “the most widely used.”

I find it astonishing how much the F-35 looks like the Yak-141.

lineage in aviation is an amazing thing.

The 2 aircraft don’t even remotely look like each other.:rolleyes: The front end of the Yak reminds me of both the Tornado and the MiG-25.

What are these unique capabilities, which can’t be performed by an F-16?

[QUOTE=Flanker_man;2032281
The idea was proposed, built, tested …. and [B]REJECTED[B]…. in favour of STOBAR.[/QUOTE]

But it wasn’t rejected, now was it? What do you think they were going to fit on the Ulyanovsk? You do realise that ship was already 20% complete in Nikolayev shipyard by the end of 1991? Obviously political events caught up on the Ulyanovsk, end of the Soviet Union and all that, but the same could be said for many other exciting projects which also got the bullet at that time also. Were the Yak-141, Energia rocket, Buran shuttle etc, rejected as well?

Photos of the Ulyanovsk under construction:
http://www.nashflot.ru/page/sssr/ulianowsk/4

That can’t be right 33,000 hrs in 32 year that would mean each airframe would have done less than 2000 hrs each or 60 hrs a year but if it is true grab them quick as they will have 4000+ hrs left on them

That’s exactly what I thought! Are they in good long-term storage somewhere? The F1 is supposed to be a long-lasting airframe…

The Jordanian aircraft were reported to be in storage, & available for sale, at the beginning of last year. I don’t recall hearing that anyone has bought them, or that they’ve been scrapped. Would they have enough hours left to make the ASTRAC upgrade worthwhile?

And are there any ex-SAAF airframes still available? Gabon bought several in 2010, refurbished & modernised.

There is also the Ecuadorean F1s recently retired from service, i wondered what happened to them? Found this on the net:

They will be replaced for 12 and 18 South African Cheetah Brazilian Super Tucano
Ecuador Air Force withdraws to its historic Mirage

11/02/2011
(Infodefensa.com) Quito – The Ecuadorian Air Force (FAE) has dropped the fighter Mirage F1 and A37B , with which he faced Peru in Cenepa armed conflict in 1995, in the course of a emotional ceremony, held at the 23rd Fighter Wing Manta. ‘s historic aircraft flew in formation for the last time as part of an event organized by the FAE, the day of combat aircraft and in commemoration of the 16 years war High Cenepa. Supersonic jets Mirage F1, of French origin, were purchased by the FAE in 1979 and fulfilled life. According to the commander of the FAE, Leonardo Barreiro , the Mirage fleet, consisting of 18 aircraft, in the 32 years of operations, exceeded 33,000 hours of flight. Most aircraft were deactivated last year, but have now been symbolically placed on the track of the Air Base, where pilots were photographed last. ‘s armed forces shot down Peruvian aircraft to three the only air-to-air registered in South America and was carried out with these aircraft on February 10, 1995, piloted by officers Raul Banderas and Carlos Uzcátegui . Banderas, war hero and current commander of Education and Doctrine of the FAE, said that it is a special day for Mirage pilots. ” You learn to become attached to the machines, although they are irons. In combat are part of one , “he said, recalling the 1995 operation. During the same event, the fleet of U.S. subsonic aircraft A37B , acquired in 1975, was also off, after 35 years of operations. These 25 fighter bombers plowed 60,000 hours. And were employed hundreds of missions on the border with Peru. In 1981, in the Cordillera del Condor, in an unprecedented event, one of these ships landed despite being hit by enemy aircraft. All these planes are part of the museum yesterday the FAE. The Mirage F1 will be replaced by 12 Cheetah FAE South Africans acquired last year by $ 78 million. The ships will arrive in June. Meanwhile, A37B are replaced by 18 Super Tucano , bought from the Brazilian company Embraer in 2008, with an investment of over $ 200 million.

http://www.infodefensa.com/?noticia=la-fuerza-aerea-de-ecuador-da-de-baja-a-historicos-aviones-mirage

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