Ladies and Gents oh and shouty people as much as F-35 is relevant to this thread how many it will sell around the world is not. Yes F-35 will sell lots of units no sh;t it has a home market of 2500+ orders however this will not change the fact that it is more than a decade away for the RAAF if anything it pushes it away even more and this means that if nothing is done now the RAAF could have no F-18A+ life left 24 F-18F’s in need of mid-life upgrade and no F-35’s
I know I keep beating the drum but as I have said buy 30 F-18 international roadmap with AESA radar IRST- next generation cockpit- enclosed weapons pod and at least their pilots can start to get to grips with modern avionics and weapon systems and also as said this gives them a capable strike-fighter up to 2035 which will be joined by F-35 in 2025+ and replaced by more F-35’s or what ever is out there post 2035
Please do not tell me that F-35 is the answer to all the worlds air forces when it clearly not let also not make F-35 out to be something it is not it will be a good strike platform but it is no A2A fighter yes it has stealth and BVR which will help but with a average power to weight when fully fuelled and Only 4.6g in a sustained turn and in the B/C no internal gun ( I thought this lesson was learnt years ago with the F-4) I would not like to get court by a real A2A type like Typhoon – Flanker or Pak-FA
well the Iraqis turned down a french offer for some of them last year, and they even didn’t want their planes which were in france since 1990… and probably no one flew as many combat missions with the type as the iraqis. Iraqis rated the MiG23ML better as a fighter/interceptor. and in fact by 1990 only one squadron of mirages was used as a pure fighter… all other squadrons were in attack/recon role.
Mirage F-1 MF2000 is a very different aircraft to that of the 1980’s vintage they operated before. The MF2000 upgrade make the F-1 an true multi-role platform.
RDY-3 Radar allows F-1 to fight at BVR in A2A and anti-shipping and gives it a all weather day and night strike capability
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Much of the upgrade is based on technology developed for the latest Mirage 2000 versions (Mirage 2000-5 and 2000-9). The cockpit is transformed, becoming a modern, digital glass cockpit with two-colour multifunction displays replacing the analogue flight instruments and the old analogue Cyrano IV radar screen. The aircraft is also fitted with a new HUD with a broad panel up front control panel (UFCP) and features full HOTAS controls. The aircraft has two SAGEM mission computers interfaced with a MIL STD 1553B digital databus, and a hybrid Sigma IN/GPS. The MF2000 has new secure voice radios, and the cockpit is compatible with a helmet mounted sighting system. Finally, the pilot sits on a modern zero-zero capable ejection seat.
The Mirage F1’s electronic warfare capabilities are similarly enhanced, with a new digital radar warning receiver (RWR) and an external PAJ FA ECM pod designed to detect, classify and counter search, fire-control, and missile seeker radars. The aircraft is also fitted with Corail flare launchers and Phimat chaff dispensers
The upgraded Mirages retain their internal 30-mm DEFA cannon with 135 rounds per gun, and augment these with a variety of externally carried weapons. For use in the air-to-air role, the MF2000 can carry AIM-9L/M Sidewinder, Magic 2 or IR MICA missiles with MICA EM available for BVR use.
For air-to-ground missions, the MF2000 can carry a wide range of guided and unguided munitions. Use of the Damocles day/night laser designation pod allows the carriage of a variety of laser-guided bombs, but perhaps the greatest expansion to air-to-ground capabilities is provided by the new AASM precision-guided, stand-off rocket-boosted bomb, supported by a mission preparation system provided by Sagem Défense Sécurité and a debriefing system from Thales.
For more specialised missions, the MF2000 is compatible with the ARMAT anti-radiation missile, and with the MBDA AM39 Exocet anti-ship missile
It has been claimed that with RDY-3 radar and MICA missiles, the upgraded Mirage F1 enjoyed the same BVR air combat capabilities as the Mirage 2000-5, while the combination of Damocles and AASM transforms the aircraft into a ‘pocket Rafale’ in the air-to-ground role.
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All this at a cost of 1 billion dollars for 18 aircraft if I was Iraq I would pick up 36 of them to go with the 40 F-16’s and Mig-29m’s
When talking about the RAAF we know where they want to end up (F-35) but right now the plane they want is simply not going to be available to them for 10 years and at this time the same can be said for the threat I think they should start talks with the US and Boeing to be the launch customer for F-18E International Roadmap it has a lot of good stuff that will keep the RAAF ahead of the game in this region up to 2030 at which point the long waited for and wanted F-35 will not only be in service but well bedded in
Again we know what his mind set was and how poor Saddam and his planning team were. Anyone who has carried a threat reduction exercise would know that an invasion of an oil bearing state would bring war and second had he done his home work and a TRE properly he would have known the US could not justify the use of nukes . In 1991 he had only one real course of action he could see what was happening after the invasion it was time to go big or go home and in 91 he should of withdrawn to the boarder and issued an warning. However in 2003 it was a different matter it was only matter of time he was on his way out the door and mass air strikes and proper use of the assets such as scuds could of given the coalition a bloody nose.
We all know that Iraq would have lost no matter what and that its air force suffered from all of the issues listed above however once the build up had started with the number of aircraft they had they should of done all they could to hinder the work up . Given the job I would have planned an air strike against a US carrier sending an 120+ aircraft a mix of Mig-21/23 making up the main force with 8 ship Exocet armed Mirage F-1 strike force also large scale air strikes against the airfields with 400+ aircraft it should have done more
I don’t think here is much in it however it is interesting to see the F1’s in Mali along with M2K and Rafale’s. what I do think is that for countries like Croatia where we are talking of 8 to 10 airframes F-1 MF2000 at a cost 450-600 million dollars for set numbers is a big step up in capability from interceptor only to full multi-role with BVR capability I also think that the Likes of Iraq and Argentina are mad for not take this aircraft on as stop gap solution to their problems
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