I don’t understand why you all try to knock this deal, it bring jobs to many europeans as the Rafales uses both German, British and for that matter American supliers.

F-35 seems to be having problems with transonic/supersonic acceleration but doing good in the subsonic part of the scale.

http://www.defensenews.com/article/20120118/DEFREG02/301180013/F-35-May-Miss-Acceleration-Goal?odyssey=mod_sectionstories

“We’re dealing with the laws of physics. You have an airplane that’s a certain size, you have a wing that’s a certain size, you have an engine that’s a certain size, and that basically determines your acceleration characteristics,” Burbage said. “I think the biggest question is: are the acceleration characteristics of the airplane operationally suitable?”

Richard Aboulafia, an analyst with the Teal Group, Fairfax, Va., said that the revelation was not particularly surprising.

“It’s a strike fighter,” Aboulafia said. “It’s not an interceptor; it’s not an F-22.”

I wonder what F-35 performance is external loads, thats going to be interesting for sure.

What can the bird carry inside?

More bad news for the Rafale

The European-made Typhoon fighter is winning the fight for the $11.5bn (£7.1bn) contract to supply 126 fighters to the Indian Air Force in a deal worth $5 billion and 2,000 new jobs to Britain.

The multi-role combat aircraft, manufactured by a joint venture between Britain’s BAE Systems, Italy’s Alenia Aeronautica and the German-Spanish giant EADS, has come top in the Indian Air Force’s technical assessment of rival bids, beating the American F16 and F18s, the Russian MiG 35 and its closest rival, the French Dassault Rafale.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/industry/defence/8114951/UK-closes-in-on-11bn-fighter-deal.html

PARIS – Qatar and Kuwait are interested in buying French Rafale fighter jets but are waiting to see whether the United Arab Emirates will make a purchase first, France’s defense minister said Jan. 9.

http://defensenews.com/story.php?i=8791189&c=MID&s=AIR

Airbus A380 fleet should be grounded, say engineers

One question though, why should a MICA missile cost over $2.5 million a pop ?

Good question. I know that mbda and the Indians are working on a sam system together based on the MICA. Maybe the deal includes vital TOT or production in India?

5th generation;

1. Supersonic and improved agility over 4th gen
2. True multirole
3. Low frontal RCS and IR signature
4. Low level of pilot workload (Data-fusion & cockpit layout)
5. Some form of HMD
6. Turn-around at 75% of NATO minimum
7. Datalink
8. AESA radar

There I did it, now we know what the definitions means.

feel free to point out anyone who was banned purely because they took an opposing view on JSF (which is the subject of your affections – not mine) ie someone who wasn’t banned for trolling or inane commentary. I can think of maybe 2 and both are on here..

http://www.defencetalk.com/forums/air-force-aviation/f-35-multirole-joint-strike-fighter-2013-115/

If Japan tried to go the RR/GE route they would say goodbye to having those F-35s before 2020. Also, the additional funding needed to finish F136 R&D would double or triple the price of their F-35 purchase not to mention the increased lifetime costs due to the small economy of scale issue.

Well their engine industry could get something very valuable back for it.

Personally I think they’d be better off going the twin-F414 route if they wanted to somehow change the design before its built.

How would that look?

Spud – Given that a three-order-of-magnitude difference between an RCS-treated conventional fighter and an F-35 is likely to be moonshine, except possibly at a 90-degree beam aspect, it’s not so much a “generation” as a trade. RCS is reduced but at a substantial cost.

Whether it is worth it is a complex and scenario-dependent discussion. If it’s worth in in some areas, but not all, may lead towards a mixed-fleet solution. The US has been attempting to drive towards an all-stealth force for 25 years at immense cost. Result so far: an aging USAF/Marine force, and a huge future commitment.

Would it be better to focus on shaping, rather than new exotic composite materials and ram coatings that seem to make thing rather expensive?