The best deal for Brazil might be to agree to buy a batch of Rafales, but receive used Mirage 2000s as well (ex AdlA), and have them as a two-tier system. The Sukhoi may be very capable, but so is the Rafale, and they may get a better deal overall buying the Rafales.

I remember quite a few years back being on HMS Montrose, and one of the officers there said something quite odd – he stated that the ship was intended to be able to carry Lynx, Merlin or Apache. I was very surprised that he mentioned that the ship was to be capable of carrying the Apache, but he seemed to be sure of it.

The other issue is that relying on the 20-ton capacity (more like 17 tons in normal use) C-130 has been seen as a limit for the future Army vehicles. By switching to a 30-40 ton capacity aircraft would allow future fighting vehicles to have better armor, which is quite important. As for the JCA, it should be an off the shelf design, i.e. either the C-27J or the C-295, since it is needed in service now. The problem for the Army is that the USAF tried to get in on the act, in an obvious attempt to derail the whole project (it slowed the whole process down, since Congress delayed the Army program to allow a common competition, on the USAF’s schedule).

As for capability, frankly I think a mix of C-27Js and YC-15 sized aircraft would probably be ideal, as long as the USAF doesn’t try to gold plate the whole project!

Is it perhaps possible that the USAF felt that going for the HH-47 was more likely to survive budget cuts (i.e. any Democrat forced DoD funding cuts for FY08 onwards)? By going for the HH-47, they can get delivery nice and fast, before any budget cuts begin to bite home, whereas the HH-71 would have taken a while to get up to production, thus would be more vulnerable to cancellation/cut backs.

On a slightly more worrying note, the fact that they are using M-16 lookalikes (Iran builds the Norinco CQ under license) and US type uniforms could be a sign of something more sinister. Given the alleged links between the current Iranian regime and the insurgency in Iraq, it would not be a great surprise to see them delivering US-type kit to some of the bad guys, to make the bad guys appear to be US or Iraqi troops.

I agree, a lot can be learned through indigenous production, but sometimes a lot can be gained through ‘license improvement’, i.e. license production of a design that you then improve. Look at Westland with the Sea King (S-61/H-3) and Wessex (S-58/H-34), where an existing design was improved to produce something a great deal better than the original. Few would argue that the UK couldn’t have produced their own designs, but arguably got a better result spending R&D money on improving an already successful design.

Perhaps the best thing is to accept a two tier force – have a small air force with F-22s and stealth bombers etc, and a much larger force with cheaper jets, like newer versions of the F-16. The ‘golden bullet’ force would kick down the door, and would probably not need much more than a couple of hundred fighters and UCAVs. Once the door is down, and the need shifts to close support and general fighter duties, then a massive force of cheap F-16s, A-10s etc would be more suitable.