I would not be too surprised if the Indian Govt forces their Air Force to make some major American purchases like F-16/15/18 along with the M2K-5. There are strong doubts if Dassault will get a blanket 126 order. A high probability exists of the order being split. The reasons would be more political than strategic.

Ofcourse the Air Force would protest but still ….

Well then obviously something else is going on, since no 50 MW reactor is going to propel any decent SSN or wannabe SSBN and as severodvinsk said liquid metal reactors are a pain in the ar$e.

If you are talking about the 30/50 MW odd PWR that had been tested. Do tell me what sort of power it is going to provide esp if the ATV is going to be an SSBN ??
The Akula SSN has a 190 MW reactor and the Akula SSBN/Typhoon has 2 of them 190 reactors ?? Considering that then into what sort of category does the 50 MW reactor fit in ??

In ’99 the Yugoslav air force managed to shoot down a NATO UAV from a Mi-17 with a machinegun. Maybe the Israelis could add in a bit of technology to make this technique more effective but its a good basis for anti-drone warefare. (I coined the phrase – copyright ink 😎 ). Considerring the need to visually identify these drones in order to avoid shooting down a civilian aircraft helicopters seem like a great solution – dontya think?

That’s too expensive an idea to go after each and every UAV. Probably could be an option of last resort.

Better still would be to jam the radio links guiding the UAV.

If you consider that the company Diebold, responsible for the whole electronic election system is one of the largest and most loyal donators of the Republican Party and that Walden O’Dell, chief executive of Diebold Inc. is a pretty common visitor at Bush’s ranch in Crawford, TX, the things start to appear in a new light. I mean, how do you want to keep elections secure in today’s times of people hacking even CIA or Pentagon?

I encourage you to use google and to type *diebold security drawbacks*, you will have some very interesting stuff to read…

Moreover there were reports that all the software used was ‘non-proprietory’ and ‘open’. I fail to understand as to why ‘open’ software is needed to count election votes ?? W/e needs to be done and known can very well be ascertained even in a ‘proprietory software’ protocol. Yes I know that there were issues that last time ‘proprietory’ was used but then I believe that those were again an excuse to introduce ‘open’ software. Another ploy as I see it.

A lady who voted for John Kerry found George Bush pop up on the screen. Again it is never going to be confirmed that the ‘electronic voting terminals’ were massively rigged esp in the ‘swing states’.

but I wonder who might want a J-11 that couldn’t get a FLANKER from Russia anyway.

Pakstan.

At this point in time China is concentrating on building the following:

Heavy Multirole Fighter J-11 (in service)
Light Multirole Fighter J-10 (in service)

The engine is AL-31 😀

Life Time of Su-30MKI Power Plant Al-31FP Has Been Certified

(Source: Irkut; issued Oct. 26, 2004)

Within the frames of the contract for delivery of the Su-30MKI aircraft to the Indian Air Force, bench tests of the AL-31FP engine with thrust vector control (TVC) have been successfully completed in

The tests of the engine had been carried out in parallel, at the bench of its designer – “NPO “Saturn” in Moscow, and the series production plant – JSC “UMPO” in the city of Ufa. The results of the tests confirmed 1000 hours mean time to overhaul and 2000 hours assigned life that were declared in the contract. Besides, the tests confirmed the mean time to overhaul making out 500 hours of the controlled jet nozzle.

The “Certificate of the AL-31FP life-time” was signed on October 6, 2004, by the leadership of the Russian Ministry of Defence, the Central Aviation Engines Institute (CIAM), “NPO “Saturn”, UMPO, SUKHOI Corporation and IRKUT Corporation.

All the works to certify the AL-31FP life-time were conducted upon order and at the expense of Irkut Corporation. Costs of AL-31FP research and development (R&D) were around 20% of the total Su-30MKI contract R&D costs.

Irkut Corporation President Alexey Fedorov stated that “engine life-time has always been one of the most critical factors to define customer’s choice. I’m glad that the tests have been accomplished successfully and we managed to implement parameters that were declared. Test program was very long and complicated, and I would like to thank for excellent work all who participated in its realization”.

The AL-31FP is the only engine with TVC under series production in the world. TVC improves safety of flight in all modes, prevents spin and enables the Su-30MKI aircraft to operate in the super maneuverability mode, thus ensuring a critical advantage in close-in air-to-air combat. The AL-31FP thrust amounts to 12500 kgf, the engine is controlled by means of an electronic regulating system. In terms of its lifetime parameters, the engine complies with the international standards of fighter power plants and has no equivalent in Russia.

Mastering of the AL-31FP license production has started at the facilities of the Indian HAL Corporation. Its maintenance and repair will be carried out in a service center being established in India jointly by Russia and India.

-ends-