I wonder what the vulnerability of UCAVs being jammed “their control signals” or if worse, being controlled elsewhere

India could have ordered MICA, the French never seemed to have issues selling them weapons.

Mica for their Su-30MKIs? What radar do you think they should’ve installed on their Flankers then? The idea of a Flanker laden with Mica, Storm Shadow and the new French “JDAM” does seem very nice though 🙂

I am sure the US is aware of this, but rather than use a manned fighter solution, it’s using new supersonic UCAVs such as the X-45C.

the benefits?

-unmanned crew = no need for a canopy and systems to ensure human survival, no need for hmds, cockpit displays etc. thus a dramatic savings in weight, size, complexity and costs.

the result, you have a cost effective, cheap and simple modern aircraft that could be bought in numbers and developed into specific role variants. You then can have a manned aircraft such as an F-22, etc (might be better if it was a two seater) to help guide things.

but personally.. I would rather prefer a solution that had a human pilot.

So why risk all the strings and problems for slightly?
If the target is further away then you just use inflight refuelling… if you still can’t reach it then you use a real strike aircraft like an Su-34, Su-24, or Tu-22M3. Currently the Russians have plenty of strike aircraft in the form of the Su-24 and don’t need the Mig-29 to do that job. What they do need the Mig-29 for is the air defence role, which it performs well enough to not even warrant the M2 model being bought. The M2 model does however add various weapons the Hornet doesn’t have like long range IR guided missiles in the form of the R-27ET and of course the new passive radiation homing air to air variants of the R-27E.

Which is true, Russia knows best on what it needs for it’s own defenses, etc. but when it comes to export, that may be a different issue.. we don’t expect Yemen, Yugoslavia, etc to have the advantage of h aving dedicated strikers, they will just have to settle for multirole. (is Iran and Algeria the only MiG-29 operators that also operate the Su-24?)

did Spain ever paint their EF-18’s in a brown mud camouflage like they did with their Mirage F1s in the 80s?

MIG-29M is more sophisticated aircraft than Su-30MK(Digital FBW versus Analog, Radar with full ground modes, composites etc). A proper comparision of MIG-29M technology is with the price of new Su-27SKM upgrade.
Also MIG-29 is in limited production unlike Flanker. MIG-29K costs upto $43M for In despite India is already a big operator MIG-29 for long period of time. So imagine MIG-29M costs for country which already does not have MIG-29.

A faulty comparison and analogy. The MiG-29M series initially had more modes supported than the basic Su-27, however time and money favored Flanker development. the Su-30MKK series has actually completed tests of various A2G ordinances, thanks to a large customer base and funding, something of which the MiG-29M cannot say.

furthermore, the Su-30MKI has digital fly by wire, read
http://www.flug-revue.rotor.com/FRheft/FRHeft04/FRH0411/FR0411d.htm

MiG-29 costs, MiG-29M, MiG-29SMT, and MiG-29K prices are different and you have to recognize it’s differences. Carrier-based aircraft tend to be more expensive than a dedicated land based aircraft, compare the prices of the MiG-29K deal and Yemens MiG-29SMT deal. India is a large user of the MiG-29.. just the MiG-29, not the M, K, or SMT which are considerably different

I don’t think Thailand has officially chosen the Gripen.

although the Gripen is cute
I’d take the F-16, it could do the same roles, carry the weapons farther. and depending on my relation, I can get massive subsidies from the US for it’s purchase as well as the backing of a larger more powerful nation. Furthermore, parts for the F-16 are produced in many nations (i.e Turkey) and I have options of European, American and Israeli weapons to hang on it.

I have to agree with Phantom here, too bad the F-18A-D is no longer produced.

F-18s sure look good with that aggressor camouflage too, I particularly like this one