To solve the problem, three reinforcing bands were added between the air-intake and the fuselage. “This is a biggest design failure for the J10”, the source added.

Sounds reasonable. We can also clearly see them in the pictures.

Germans.

Last I heard the last (German) F-4 squadron in the US (that flew under US marking) was closed a while back. Were they there for a drill or something?

A Dakota, recently arrived to Eilat, standing static in Eilat airport.
Nothing extremely rare or cool, but I know at least one person in this board that will be lovin’ it 😀
http://s13.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3KEHLXV1LQ4BA15Y5PGGRZ158V

J-10B 01? :rolleyes:

Erez:

I’m talking only about parts for American F-16 aircraft, not those on the international market. I don’t follow the service contracts for the USAF too much, but I suspect the DOD heavily favors American vendors. Maybe big prime contractors like Lockheed subcontract some work out to overseas firms, but Congress tends to see every defense dollar as money that could be spent in somebody’s home district. Going offshore too much can become a political football.

We’re going to see more on this issue as time goes on, however, with Lockheed pushing the rebadged US-101 as a presidential helicopter and Northrop Grumman maybe pairing with EADS on a tanker proposal. Offshore companies seem to want a bigger share of the huge U.S. defense market, but I’d be surprised if Congress changes its tune (then again, I’ve often been surprised in the past by Congress).

Well as Arthur explained, the F-14 has a serious problem of lack in places and know how for its maintenance. Even in the US. There isn’t even one American commercial aviation industry with the ability to upgrade the F-14s through an extensive upgrade. That could be one of the reasons they agreed to a Polish deal. However, what they should have done was to retire the F-14s right now for the lack of parts, in stead of going into that deal. It also might be that the US is testing the quality of the Polish industry, to see if they should be incorporated in future projects.

A 275k contract from the Navy is a very, very small deal. Sounds like this is one of the small bones the Pentagon has been throwing the Poles recently. The Poles were complaining a while back about the offsets they were getting and the lack of contract work in Iraq. Got to keep your friends happy as best you can.

Agreed, but why not ask them to supply F-16/18/35 spares?
To me it seems that by giving them a contract to produce useless spares they show lack of trust over the Polish quality of production.

Can’t argue with you there, Erez.

😉
One more thing – the Tomcat’s most complicated system is probably his wing. Except France, Russia is the only country in the world (AFAIK) that messed up with that technology seriously. They should know the best how to work with the Tomcat wings.

Swidnik does build structural parts – i wouldn’t be surprised that an F-14 upgrade does entail some structural work. And about Israeli avionics – why not? It wouldn’t be the first time that Israel lends a hand to the Ayatollah’s air force 😉

Well it’s a different situation. Then, from ond hand we had a crazy Saddam, and today, from the other hand, they’re gonna get nukes with our addresses on them :p
So about avionics, China, Russia and maybe France (if they’ll violate the US embargo) are their favorite markets.
And stractually speaking, they better talk with mother Russia. They are perhaps the only country in the world (other than the US of course) that can do a major overhaul to the old Cat.