SHORADs were only in places that needed defending… most of Iraq’s airspace was covered by nothing but interceptors.

Absolutelly I don’t agree with this claim. The losses that SHORAD inflicted to the coalition were substatital and could be seen also as having impact on the operating doctrine of the Tornado.

If Iraq had any capability left for intercepting anything wouldn’t have flied his aircrafts to his very friendly Iran neighbor.

I am especially wary of the claims of S75s shooting down F14A+, F15E and other aircraft… at the end of a JP233 run, a ROLAND would be the most likely culprit however… if the plane had made it past the air defence perimeter of the ROLAND OTOH then it would be something else… if its in the middle of the desert, and there’s no Army divisional HQ around, then its almost certainly a fighter interceptor.

I am much wary then you of claims of F-14/15 shot down by any mean.
These are just ungrounded claims, and just perfect example of BS.

You posted a lot of nice pictures which demonstrate noything but how a desolate waste is IRAQ, any picture of F-14/15 shot down to support your claims?

Tornados were not employed only against air bases. Before I get involved in polemics I want to be sure that sheytanelkebir expressed himself correctly.

If you or somebody else sustain that the only targets for Tornados were air bases, I am not intersted in spending time on counter these ungrounded claims.

Brazil Starts Program To Build Nuclear Submarine In Decade

Poland issues new jet trainer tender

Contenders are expected to include Aero Vodochody, offering the L-159T1, Alenia Aermacchi with the M-346, and Korea Aerospace Industries/Lockheed Martin, promoting the T-50. BAE Systems may also take part with its new-generation Hawk AJT.

….

Also contained in the announcement is a surprise clause, which will enable Warsaw to cancel the process if fewer than three bidders are able to meet the programme’s conditions.

No the blah, blah above is just your rant because you are in love with White Papers and “we do not need guns, we got missiles” mindset that screwed up a lot of countries and got aviators killed.
I think there is a bridge in Alaska you might want to buy.”

I never said a word about the F-20.

I am not ranting, nor in love with white, yellow or red papers. Also I am not going to buy any bridge in Alaska nor in Sicily where I live. Still I would have bought the Wright’s brothers vision.

The only countries that went screwed by wrong mindsets or wrong strategies and that had their aviators killed recently were IRAQ and Serbia (let alone Lybia, since they were smart enough to not fly any aircraft during the campaign and the only aviator loss seems to be limited to a single Galeb pilot struck on ground), IIRC. All of these Countries (including Lybia) followed your “solid strtegy” of sound and proven types employed against more modern a/c and tactics and were defeated.

Take your responsability for the BS, pardon for the very debatable concepts, that you wrote.

OK so now we have the culprit for the ballooning costs of the F-35: swerve :rolleyes:

It is not just the need for raising profits that push aerospace firms around the world keep developing new and more modern aircraft.
You seem to assume that DC-3s, Spits or Mig-21s could do what Hercs, Tiffies or SU-35s do nowadays, just because the formers were doing well their job at their time (or even better following your way of thinking even a Spit could be seen as an unnecessary step forward a Gloster Gladiator).
Oh and you also seem to pretend that there was no need to develop PCs, space programs or the aviation at all. Eventually people lived without these modern devilries for centuries.
Well, I have some news for you: your hate for better and new ideas is called cainotophobia.

And also some more breaking news: the F-20 program was cancelled some 25 years ago. The Tigershark never got ahead of the prototypic phase, so it could be correct not only to say that it does not exist but also that it never existed, especially if compared to the large number of F-16 sold around the world.
It’s history man, I hope that you can live with this breaking new.

After the Italian task force composed by aircraft-carrier Cavour, destroyers Duilio and Durand de la Penne, frigate Zeffiro, and auxiliary ship Stromboli exercise with NATO partners in the East Mediterranean (English text at the bottom of the page), the Cavour and Duilio moved further East to train with Israeli missile boats ISN Romach and ISN Herev (sorry no English text yet, but the image gallery at the official Italian Navy could be decent, if viewed at full screen. Note the Harrier with the special colors below).

[ATTACH]212284[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]212285[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]212286[/ATTACH]

Oh I see what you mean, well anyway the Garibaldi could still be listed here 🙂 – at least as amphibious assault carrier.

For the future LHDs, little steps were made. The program is still in the preliminary phase, and it is not sure the number of the new units (2, 3, N/A?) nor the displacement (20000 T?). I cannot confirm the previously scheduled date of 2018 for the commissioning of the first LHD. Last news were rumors about a possible partnership with Brazil which has a similar requirement for 4 LHDs.

Every future program for the Italian Navy – the new LHDs, the actual number of the FREMM frigates, the Italian commitment to the F-35 program – is under the uncertainty of the next government/parliament – general elections to be held 24–25 February.
I will update the relevant threads of this site for the above weapon programs, in case of interesting news not immediately available in English, anyway future doesn’t look too bright.