i agree, i never liked the F-35’s colorscheme (or anything else of it on that matter). would look a lot better in the F-22’s scheme, or even the old 60’s RAF Grey/green camo 😎

they should use this color scheme because that’s where the UK’s actions gonna be for the next 25 years

TAI rolls out Turkey’s first Hurkus trainer

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/picture-tai-rolls-out-turkeys-first-hurkus-trainer-373621/

is the Hurkules based on the Korean KT-1 trainer?

They never learn…
😡

perhaps Greece, Syria, and Iraq should form their own alliance against Turkey.. the Super Best Friend Alliance, with Armenia as an observer.

There is a series of photos of Russian AF Yak-130 #26.. all stencils, cockpit placards or MFD menus are in Cyrillic (not surprisingly..)

interesting, inside cockpit labels are in english, outside cockpit its in Russian

Tejas Fighter Jet Won’t Be Combat-Ready Before 2015

meanwhile its cross border and somewhat technologically inferior cousin, is being pumped out by the dozens.

Newer than every KC-135, newer than Rivet Joints, newer than a lot of P-3s . . .

I’m pretty sure the Nimrod airframes could have been zero-lifed, & the combat system, sensors, cockpit, etc. completely replaced, as in (e.g.) the Spanish/Airbus Military P-3 upgrade, for a relatively modest price. The problem was in (1) trying to build what were effectively new aircraft, built to modern standards of precision, while incorporating large parts of old aircraft built to ‘bodge to fit’ standards of precision, (2) bloody awful project management, & (3) downright dishonesty by the people in charge at both the MoD (see JBritchford’s post) & BAe.

Remember the senior BAe engineer who refused to sign off the MRA4 plan because he considered it to be unfeasible, & how BAe got round the necessity for his signature for the project to proceed?

All the reasons he gave for refusing to sign, back in 1996 or whenever it was, turned out to be entirely correct.

Fedaykin:
A320 is (& was) available with a part-British engine option, the IAE V2500. There could have been a good market for an A320-based MPA, ready before the P-8, & with BAe building wings & doing the conversions, RR making a big chunk of the engine, & as many British weapons & sensors aboard as possible, it’d have provided lots of revenue for the UK & BAe. Over its lifetime, BAe could have got a lot more from a part-BAE A320 MPA than an all-BAe Nimrod MRA4.

Funny thing about the Nimrod AEW was that the things which killed it (e.g. weight, space & power requirements for all the kit) all went away soon afterwards, as electronics shrank. Erieye was flying in 1987, & delivered in 1996. Think what could have been fitted into a Nimrod airframe if work had begun a bit later, based on newer technology. Wedgetail? Pah! Too late, mate!

it certainly is tragic that the Nimrod was canned.. another nail in the coffin to the once glorious British aerospace industry. At the rate things are going, South Korea will have a more active aerospace industry than the UK 🙁

Trend is definitely toward jet powered airplanes. See P-8 replacing P-3C.
Jet has higher cruising altitude by about 15 to 20k feet and can provide more power to radar and onboard electronics.

yes even Japan is moving to jet powered patrol aircraft

perhaps they also got it right going jet powered C-2 instead of the A400 thats turboprop

same size, same cargo

vs

Might be a bit off-topic, but still – as far as Bulgarian MiG-23 and 29 are concerned, the MiG-23 had definitely the better radar – about 10-20 km more range and moreover it was more mature at least in the beginning. MiG-23MLD’s were also quite manueverable. However, keep in mind that our MLD’s were one of the last ones ever produced and some of them produced for the Soviet Air Force – thus they have all possible upgrades (both in electronics and aerodynamics).

Thanks, that pretty much confirms what many air forces have been saying.. the MLD’s superior radar over the early MiG-29. Many people underestimate the MiG-23MLD’s capabilities.