IMO, answering such a question request to take into account the climate (warm water or cold water, heavy or calm weather), location deep (sea or coastal waters), type of stealth vessel (frigates, corvettes…), electronics and sensors used, skills of the crew, type of missile used (I doubt than some older missiles can have a real chance to target a low obsersable aircraft especially if they can’t benefit from constant updates from the ship).

In the end I don’t think there is a simple answer. The exocets used during the Falklands war as well as naval aviation during WWII might teach us one thing or two about the advantage of air power, but I wouldn’t want to be a F35 making a run against a T45…

TR1, they do not have any prof for their accusations. But i think over all in electronics and software the west got the upperhand. Take a look on the civil side. Name one big russian brand.
i can name the top of the iceberg of type western:
Software/electronics:
Google
Apple
IBM
Microsoft

And in high frequency/antenna devices
Nokia
Motorola
Ericsson

These firms drives the community and economy as well as the know-how of western workers in those areas. Easily transfered to radar benefited tech.

I don’t know about electronics to make any statements (although my opinion is similar to yours), but as far as programming skills are concerned, Russians have a reputation for being very good. There is a reason why the Pentagon is trying to recruit as many of them as possible for its cyber warfare program.

So they may not have a brand to show off, but I wouldn’t under estimate them in that area. Plus they’ve got some experience working with ESA technology for years, so again, they might have more than a few tricks up their sleeves.

There was never a US Monopoly in AAM´s.

In BVRAAM maybe.

They will not have massive teething problems and will smoothly work because they are not American?!

Because the US spent the money pionnering the tech, the other will use cheaper computer available, spying, and exemple of what was done in the US to build their own version much cheaper.

Putin did say something along these lines when talking about the PAK-FA costing much less than a F22…

Remember the original T-10? Or the LCA? How many months behind did Eurofighter get before production started? And those magnificent successes, the Nimrod AEW and MRA4? Or the auto-detachable Airbus refueling boom? Etc, etc, etc…
There´s a “laundry list” of non USA military programs that got massive problems.

You may add the A400M, Tiger attack helicopter, NH90…
Although Europe has the excuse of massive budget cuts for decades, and working with different culture, and Germany… lol

A mix of extreme gold plating and barrel pork politics.

lol indeed.

Given the market that exist for upgrading used F16, and the number of customer capable to provide spare parts and such, I believe it makes more sense if buying second hand to buy F16 rather than the Gripen.

Although the maturation of the Gripen NG could change things should the upgrades being compatible with previous variant, but I still think that it would cost more to upgrade a Gripen than an F16, making the latter the better choice… Plus of course the diplomatic benefits from buying US should be greater than what Sweden can offer…

There is a reason why most air superiority fighters are big heavy two engines aircraft like the F14, F15, EFT etc.

Better load, with longer ranges, with less deterioration in performances due to the load, more power from the engines to power more advanced electronics which is particularly useful for BVR engagement over a wide area.

They also tend to retain better aerodynamics performances over the upgrade life of the aircraft etc.

There is a reason why even modern single engined aircraft tend to be bigger than previous generations like the Gripen NG, JSF etc.

So where’s the Charles de Gaulle in all of this?

Sure Mali is a landlocked countrry but a carrier is still useful as a floating base or for delivering troops/choppers/etc? The US used carrier aviation in landlocked Afghanistan as did the French.

Also haven’t heard any news about the use of any of the 3 Mistrals in support either.

The CdG is about to go into dry dock for maintenance, one Mistral was used for the raid into Sommalie and should still be there as according to some sources the mission there wasn’t officially closed… What that means is for everyone to guess.

I think another one is deployed or coming back from an excercise, and I’ve no idea where the last one is, but I doubt they would be used given the fact that France has plenty of bases nearby.

Air operation over Mali