For what it’s worth, considering all the talk of ‘projecting naval airpower’ by Liam Fox, wouldn’t it be more prudent for the Royal Navy to opt for the F35C rather than the short legged F35B?

I think the F35B really is too ‘niche’ to make it worthwhile for the broader roles required from current and future operations. And if the UK intends to tighten its purse strings and get the most ‘bang for its buck’, perhaps the F35C is more appropriate, especially considering the larger class of aircraft carriers now on order?

Just my two pennies and shilling’s worth…

Edit: In hindsight, maybe I should have put this in the ‘UK to ditch F35B for F35C’ thread…sorry.

IAF MiG-29s have been plumbed for wing tanks

Interesting, quite rare to see 29s with wing tanks.

Is this something specific for IAF 29s or are there any other versions out there by different 29 operators with wing tanks?

Do the IAF 29s also use the large belly tanks?

Mostly likely Pakistan. They are the only Erieye users with Saab 2000 platform. PAF was never keen on KJ200. KJ200 was a political decision and was forced down PAF’s throat by Musharaf by reducing the original order Erieyes from 6 to 4. So it is possible that either KJ200 have failed to deliver as promised or PAF was able to get out of the Chinese contract and is going back to the original order size. If true it will also address speculation regarding data connectivity of JF17s with Erieyes.

The PAF hasn’t ordered the KJ200, instead, it has opted for the ZDK03, which although has the same Y-8F600 airframe as the KJ200, has a disc shaped rotadome rather than the blade type antenna of the KJ200 or Erieye.

I doubt whether it was a political decision, as it was more likely to do with diversifying AEWAC assets to provide some anti-sanction capability and cost factors.

A shame the type seems to be rapidly disappearing from service though I can’t say I’m surprised. Though the Fantan does have many limitations, it still seems like a great low-cost choice for close air support.

Completely agree with you on this, it is a shame these very rustic and durable birds are being phased out, but I guess their time has come and gone.

However, saying that, they still do offer an impressive mix of cost effectiveness and performance for the current scenarios of COIN and CAS operations, particularly in the AfPak theatre of operations.

I know the PAF had some teething problems when they first entered service with them, back in the early/mid 80s, a number of pilots lost their lives due to accidents. One of the many changes introduced by the PAF was the use of Martin Baker ejection seats, which dramatically improved pilot survivability. I think one of the issues with the Q-5 (or A-5 in the PAF) was its low speed handling characteristics. Considering it was derived from the Mig-19, it wasn’t really designed for low-slow pofile missions. However, its high speed agility is useful too, particularly for ground strike missions and for getting out of trouble quickly 🙂

I’m not too sure about their current status in the PAF, they were intending to be phased out quite soon, although a handfull maybe still be in use from PAF base Peshawar in the North West of the country.

I love the sound of their high speed low passes 🙂

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8NxGCeFYXQ&feature=related

Russia’s Blinders were all gone by 1995. The picture Otaku posted shows a glorious line of preserved beauties at Engels. Unfortunately it’s a mere shadow of the glorious pile of 93 Tu-22s I saw there in 1996…

Ukraine flew it’s Blinders until 1997 or 1998. Lybia probably stopped flying them in the mid-1990s. So they have all been retired quite a bit longer ago than earlier this year.

Still, an absolutely gorgeous bomber!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdCEJa-vo3Y
Watch the flypast at 0:44…

There’s an impressive line up of TU-22 Blinders in this video at 1:48. Any ideas where this is? Also, were the engines of the Blinder always that smokey?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P506iHKnLnk&NR=1&feature=fvwp