Hi Sens. Presidents are allowed to, it seems !
Since “RS” was Reconnaissance /Strike and Strike means Nuclear,it kind of makes you wonder about the early “SR” 71 concept doesn’t it? 🙂

I always thought the S in SR-71 was Surveillance. Kinda like the S-2 Tracker and S-3 Viking.

EDIT: OK I was wrong. The S in S-2 and S-3 is anti-submarine (which explains an SH-2, SH-3 and SH-60 – anti-submarine helos).

So what of the ‘S’ in SR-71 or RS-71?

Well according tohttp://www.designation-systems.net/usmilav/nonstandard-mds.html#_MDS_SR71 it did mean Strike even though the strike mission had been dropped.

*falls on own sword for dishonouring himself*

An unlikely candidate…but they’r also made in Romania now…maybe we can get some “Dracula”s??

The AH-1 licence production deal was scrapped in about 1997. The Romanians modified 24 IAR-330’s to SOCAT standard instead.

The question is whether or not the Chinese would cooperate with a westernised JF-17. At any rate, why not try and get some of the surplus Gripens from Sweden now? You’ll be set for the next 20-25 years, fully NATO compatible should Serbia decide to eventually go that route, and have a nice little modern multirole fighter jet.

From my little knowledge about the JF-17, the Pakistani version is relatively westernised (Grifo S-7 radar, Mil 1553 standard, Western weapons compatibility).

And from what I remember the Pakistanis also fly relatively westernised F-7’s as well.

So I don’t think Westernisation is an issue. In fact a bigger issue would be introduicing a Westernised fighter to an airforce that has since the early 1960’s focused on Soviet interceptors as it’s main combat aircraft (though the Yugoslav experience with the F-84 and F-86 as well as slightly Westernised Oraos and Galebs, but these are in onw way comparable to modern 4th generation fighter).

What were the 30 new aircraft acquired in 2005? Helicopters or planes? I read something about Russia acquiring some Mi-8MTV-5s (Mi-17MDs) a week or so ago.

Also, yes, by law, the Russians don’t spend any money on the military whatsoever outside of Russian firms. No foreign anything, all 100% Russian. The only possible exception is relations with former critical industries in Ukraine- I think they recently signed an agreement of cooperation to help extend the life of the SS-18.

Here’s the article about Mi-8MTV-5s:

A mere 40 new helicopters by 2015? That’s still rather pathetic. By 2015 the average Russian helicopter will be more than 30 years old! 40 new helos when you have a couple of thousnad of machines that need replacing is a mere drop of water in an ocean!

The thing I love about these old fighters is that they tried so many different things. Aviation is getting boring – there is nothing out there that makes you go “wow, that’s ingenious!”

Nowadays the most unique thing that happens is when an airforce doesn’t buy F-16’s or MiG-29’s…

Here we go!! Mister Asia Pacific arising “superpower” is here again to tell us how miserable we are for merely sticking up for our own countries. The fact is ,the poorer my country is, the more ill love it 🙂

In comparison to the Solomon Islands or East Timor, Australia is a super power! And in comparison to Serbia or Albania were are a super power too – a good economy, a well trained functioning military with modern equipment.

And love your country – patriotism is a good thing.

But engaging in a dick waving contest amounts to nothing, especially when both parties don’t have much to brag about anymore and are merelyengaging in hypotheticals and lack of reality.

So i believe that AFs like the Salvadoran, will have to stick with turbo-prop attack aircraft like the Super Tucano (if they want to buy new aircraft) because of their tight budget. With this in mind, theres a small market available for a low-cost fighters in the small budget air forces.

Saludos.

I agree with you. Aircraft are too expensive to acquire and maintain so many airforces have refocused on cheaper transport and COIN capabilities.

Even many of the European air arms are nothing more than symbolic forces operating a handful of jets to meet NATO requirements.

I thought about this idea the other day.

Poorer countries do not need a super modern stealth fighter – they need simplicity and reliability.

Other than the F-5, another type that is quite suitable is the A-4 – good payload, rugged and decent flight characteristics.

An upgraded Hawker Hunter is another alternative.

But the sad thing is that most poor airforces can’t even afford such simple fghters. That is why the Hawk 200 and AMX were never big export success stories.