Oh yeah,thats right,Ace Combat 5 just has the armed X-29.I know the other two have the X-31.Sounds like you’re right about the Kh-31 though.

again the innocent optimism…

well, i think that is a interesting idea, but we must see the reality, at 15000mts there is enough air density to absorb high frecuency energy ( well thats the reason why we can fly without X-ray protection at such heighs), if i remember well there were two options or an IR laser (efficient, but to emmit a decent power output it needs a huge “glass”) or a X ray (iodine-oxigen), the 747 use this last, so we must see what is the true range, also the laser must point the target few seconds (few seconds to that precision margin its an eternity), the time of energy “reload” and how many shoots can do -remember that the fuel of the plane is compromised by the energy-hunger laser and the tactical range-, the machine will work, but will be also limited.

Im not a ballistic ICBM missiles expert, but i think that the MIRVs are deployed at hundreds of km from the target (i dont know if are thousands).

and knowing how the russians think, well i wouldnt be surprised if they deploy inner reflectant coatings for their missiles, at the long way is only light (and is reflected, actually in that way the laser works), and the cilindrical surface is pretty perfect to that

anyone have a pic of the soviet Il76 80s airborne laser???

I have a good pic of the Russian Beriev A-60,but it was too large to post.Theres also a nice profile at the Wings Palette site at WP.SCN.RU,and look under Modern Transports,IL-76,Russia.The pics I got were from the Beriev Company site which I found by googling “Beriev A-60”.Very nice color pics of this rare aircraft.I know for awhile the site was taken down,but as far as I know,its back up again.Very Interesting aircraft.

The 737 is alright,but the E-2 is better for a smaller nation such as the UAE or Singapore.I’d say price also had a role to play in that.

Personally I’d go with the F-8 over the FC-1,and from what I’ve heard of the F-8IIM is it is about the equivalant of the F-4 Phantom II in terms of agility and speed.This probbley isn’t close to being true.

The Dash 7 was used mainly as ice recon,spotting ice bergs much but I heard it was taken out of service

Possibly,however when you consider how many Warsaw Pact aircraft would be streaming into western Europe,it’d be hard to tell which were armed with tactical nukes and those that weren’t.Also the would have been at very low altitudes,so IMO,I’d say at the very least a couple would have gotten through.As far as the AA-10 goes in the Ethiopian/Eritrea War,was this the full standard Russian model,or a cheap,downgraded export model?

Well,I love both the F-20A and the Mig-29,so this was tough,but I’d go with the Fulcrum on this one.Sure the F-20A had BVR,but only the huge AIM-7,which wasn’t the most reliable missile,granted,it probbley would have gotten AMRAAM at some point,but this is 1986,and the AIM-7 was the only BVR missile it carried.Also,along that line,a small aircraft carring such large missiles isn’t going to be as agile or have the range of the Mig-29.The IRST would have helped the Fulcrum make attacks against the F-20 where,since the Mig-29 wasn’t using its radar to give away it’s location,would probbley been very sucessful.The Soviets had longer range IR missiles,versions of the AA-7 and AA-10 that the Mig-29 could carry which would out range the AIM-9s the F-20 carried.The F-20 would have made a great dogfighter and while many would have been lost to the AA-11 and the HMS,I’m sure more then a couple Fulcrums would have fallen too.But the Fulcrum would probbley be holding the trump card since it could carry tactical nuclear weapons and was employed as a nuclear strike aircraft by the Soviet air force and so could have wiped out all the F-20s on the ground along with their base while the F-20s that managed to get airborne where delt with by the fighter escort Mig-29s.And before you say how crazy that sounds,remember that at 1986 was the height of the Cold War in Europe and in any first attack,someone was going to use tactical nuclear waepons to take out the other guy’s airfields.

I think at this point,a larger tanker would be a better value.The KC-767s the USAF were interested in buying,there was the option that they would be second handed 767s converted to tanker status.Why not then convert some off the shelf 747s or MD-11 freighters into tankers? They would be cheaper to aquire and be able to carry more offloadable fuel.Both the 747 and MD-11 would also be able to carry more cargo or troops compared to the 767 or A330.