maurobaggioWhen was the 767 purchase cancelled?
In March 14 of 2013 the Brazilian Air Force had announced that the winner of the competition was the Boeing KC 767 to be converted by IAI from Israel, however the contract was not signed due it was not foreseen in the 2013 budget.
However the fact is that it has not been signed because the President of Brazil was not happy with the result of the competition from Brazilian Air Force and so blocked the signing of the contract once the analysis of the President the propose from Airbus KC 330 would be the best option.
The decision on the future of KC 767 or KC 330 anyway could be determined in 2014.
Dassault owns large share of Embraer??? Rafale F2 not F3??? Much higher costs??? Need some clues here pjz
Dassault owns large share of Embraer???
The Embraer is a private company with shares in the market since its privatization in 1994, and so its common shares are traded every day on the Stock Exchanges BOVESPA and NYSE.
However in the case of Dassault this could be 2.1% of the shares from Embraer, while the Government of Brazil has 0.3%. See link below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embraer
However the participation from Dassault and others French companies in the Embraer could be much higher than this, and just to demonstrate this, see the link below:
Rafale F2 not F3??? Much higher costs??? Need some clues here.
For a competition that has been going on 18 years , in which France offered the Mirage 2000D-5 in 2002 instead of Rafale , given that France considered very advanced and expensive Rafale for the Brazilian Air Force , and the same could be said of U.S. who offered the F 16 C/D Block 40 instead of the F/A 18 E/F Hornet .
However after the proposal of Su 35M Flanker from Russia in 2002 by both France and the U.S. has changed their proposals for Brazil when it reopened the competition again in 2008 .
However between the Mirage 2000D-5 in 2002 and Rafale F3 in 2010 there is a huge difference , and this difference would be the Rafale F1 and Rafale F2 since the Rafale F3 came after them .
But perhaps coincidentally the competition for the Brazilian Air Force was only reopened when the Rafale F3 could participate in this , after all the contestants of the French could be the Su 35M2 Flanker by the Russia , and even the F/A 18 E/F Hornet by U.S. , and in this case the Rafale F2 might had been eclipsed before those .
Luckily for the French the Government of Brazil had disqualified in 2010 the Su 35S Flanker ,which are a more advanced version of the Su 35M2 due to a lack of understanding about the transfer of technology , indeed the Russians has never denied or confirmed that information .
But the correct version proposal to Brazil in fact is now the Rafale F3 , and the costs about it has been discussed a long time , but as I mentioned earlier , the costs are not the main reason for declaring the winner , since Brazil has been emphasizing the technology transfer and industrial offsets .
However the higher cost should be compensated in same order by the value of the transfer of technology and industrial offsets , and because of this detail is that it has not been possible for the Government of Brazil to justify the purchase of the Rafale F3 since 2010 .
Thanks to the Russians is that Brazil could choose the Rafale F3 , since it depended on the initiative of the French perhaps some improved version of the Mirage 2000D-5 should be proposed to Brazil in 2010.
maurobaggioBecause Brazil gives it low priority, & Greece gives it a high priority. Brazil spends a smaller proportion of its GDP on the military, & a smaller proportion of its military spending on weapons, equipment, & operations. It spends more on pay, pensions, forces housing etc.
Indeed the current President of Brazil has been giving a high priority to the military sector, since the two largest projects budgets in 2013 from Government of Brazil are in the military sector such as:
It has been speculated that the predecessor of the current President of Brazil had taken the difficult decision to buy the Rafale F2 for the Brazilian Air Force this program would be today in fulfillment.
The explanation for this is that the current president and his predecessor had failed to justify the purchase of Rafale F2 due to its high cost compared to other competitors, especially the F/A 18E/F Hornet, since all competitors (Gripen NG and F/A 18) offered the same package of technology transfer and industrial offsets.
The interesting preference for the Rafale F2 could be because the same it is French, as the Embraer has 30% of its shareholders owned by the Dassault that is the designer of the Rafale F2 that has given the priority from Embraer to get the resources to develop the KC 390, as well as Submarines Scorpene are French too.
Despite all the technological, commercial and political competence of the France, this preference by French companies has been surprising the other countries once the France has achieved civil and military contracts of great importance of the Brazilian Government, while other countries has been frozen or canceled their contracts, such as the purchase of the Boeing KC 767 for Brazilian Air Force from Israel who had won the competition, but that the President of Brazil has been canceled them because prefer the Airbus KC 330 despite this last one was overcome in the competition.
Perhaps by coincidence the KC 330 belong to Airbus of which France is one of its largest shareholders.
maurobaggioThe comparison with Greece isn’t appropriate. The scale is different.
Brazil’s economy is about ten times as big as Greece’s. The Olympics are therefore about ten times as affordable. Just before the start of the Olympics, Greece took delivery of the last of an order of 60 F-16s, having previously bought 80. It bought another 30 after the Olympics, making a total of 170 bought over 18 years. That’s like Brazil buying 90 fighters every year for 18 years. Brazil is not planning to spend anywhere near as much, in proportion to its resources.
Brazil can easily afford 36 new fighters, whether or not it’s hosting the Olympics.
If it were so easy for Brazil to buy 36 fighters why three different Presidents has not taken this decision for 18 years?
Before to try answering this question if someone would like to do it, that should be important to recall that for 18 years three different Presidents of Brazil had claimed about economic difficulties for choosing a new fighter for the Brazilian Air Force.
Besides I do not know now the operational status of the Greece Air Force due to financial crisis that has been suffering since 2008, but the Brazil with a supposed ‘ten times’ larger economy than Greece, the Brazilian Air Force has counted in 2013 with 40% of its fleet out of service for lack resources for maintenance.
maurobaggioExactly. The Brazilian government seems to be very reluctant in spending billions on a new fighter aircraft at the moment. Given the criticism about the spending on preparations for the World Cup and the Summer Olympics, it seems likely that this deal will be postponed for years.
In 18 years three Presidents of the Brazil could not decide which fighter should be chosen for the Brazilian Air Force, though a single president decided to host the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016 while in office
The three presidents belong to two political parties, and both had supported the decision of the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016, despite all the cost involved and none transfer of technology or industrial compensation.
However all proposals with technology transfer and industrial compensation has been providing by the competitors( USA, France, Sweden,Russia) for 18 years for Brazilian Air Force has been discarded due to the lack of resources.
The Greece hosted the Olympics in 2004. How is going to Greece’s the economy in recent years?
maurobaggioIn fact I should find out its very interesting debate about the acquisition or operation costs of the
fighters competitors for the Brazilian Air Force as away the technical capabilities from those, but first I should be put some historical facts:
However none from those could be the earner this competition because the simple fact that there were no budget available to purchase anyone from those fighters. Just as now there is no budget also for the acquisition of the Gripen NG or even the Gripen C/D, which would be a lower cost option from acquisition or operation of the others had been listed above.
Still the short list from this competitions should be not defined by financials and technical criteria, since 36 Gripen NG would not be direct equivalent in capabilities as 36 units from Rafale F2 or F/A 18E/F Hornet, simply because it has represented different class of fighters, yet all are high sophisticated but remain as different concepts.
However by putting different fighters concepts in the same competition and than in the short list to equalize 1:1 ratio of the Gripen NG as F/A 18E/F or Rafale F2 should be at best due to political or commercial factors .
The worst hypotheses could be to create an endless controversy over the competition, since there are a significant divergences in capabilities among competitors as well as the acquisition and operation cost if the 1:1 ratio would be keep as remain now.
Because of this certainly the decision about the winner would be too complex to be justified by technical or financial aspects only.
Thus keeping the debate only about secondary factors as technical or financial certainly would not bring the reasons about the competition for the new fighter from Brazilian Air Force fighter has been extending for 18 years, and yet it seems that only in 2015 could be finish off…
maurobaggioDocuments obtained by an important Brazilian newspaper has been revealed that the Government of Brazil in 2003 spied the representatives from Russian company Rosoboronexport that also promoted Sukhoi Su 35M for Brazil Air Force.
Coincidentally the same then newly elected government in 2003 had suspended the competition that participated Su 35M as well as: Mirage 2000D5, F 16C/D and the Gripen C/D.
When the same government years later opened a new competition, in this case the Su 35M2 or Su 35S were disqualified due to the fact that the Russian has not committed to transfer the technology of those figthers. This same government selected in 2010: Rafale F2, F/A 18E/F Hornet and Gripen NG.
However this same government before they were analyzed all offers undertook stating that it would buy the Rafale F2 in 2010.
Before the revelations in 2013 that the NSA spied the current President of Brazil, this same government had already shown interest that would selected the F/A 18E/F Hornet. After the revelation of the NSA the whole process of buying the F/A 18 Hornet has been suspended as well as other competitors may be to 2015.
The current President is of the same party as the previous as well as current President this was the ‘right arm’ of his predecessor, and the decision to select the Rafale F2 in 2010 had certainly passed the approval of this.
The revelations of the Brazilian Journal’s that Brazil had spied the U.S. Embassy in Brazil in 2003, what would happen during other government that which suspended the competition for the Air Force of Brazil in 2003.
Interestingly, in 2002 the government was considered pro U.S. while the new government in 2003 could be described as more opposite to the U.S., but this time had just spied the Russians and Iranians as well the U.S. Embassy.
However there is no reference until now about espionage from Government of Brazil against French or Swedes during this period or thereafter.
While many argue about the qualities of each competitor, the competition would probably be directed to any candidate that ‘political interest’ outweighs any technological aspect or the best interests of Brazil Air Force.
As Brazil’s armed forces are meant to combat insurgents, any candidate it would be appropriate in this case, so the supposed purchase will only happen if the winner is the preferred one by the ‘political interest’.
Those supposed ‘political interests’ probably could eliminate any candidates from U.S. or Russia.
However China might surprise many in 2014 …
As I mentioned until yesterday that Government of Brazil did not spied France or Sweden in 2003 , though today a important Brazilian newspaper has reported that the Government of Brazil had spied France with the purpose of finding out if it was France that could be sabotaged in 2003 rockets launches base from Alcantara , where 21 technicians died from Brazilian space program .
Just the mention of this fact itself would be a diplomatic atrocity against France , since with the assistance of technicians from Russia was found out that the fault that caused the explosion in the vehicle launch satellites Sonda IV on Alcantara Base was only an accident in 2004 .
In this case France should thank Russia for had been cleared the France about any possible involvement in the explosion from Alcantara Base .
Since this same government that had obtained the power in 2003 and remain till 2010 put France as suspicious in 2003, but after this completely changed the position once put France as ‘main strategic partner ‘ . Because of that rating as ‘main strategic partner’ the Brazil had made the most important contracts in this time to buy 50 Cougar helicopters and 04 diesel electric submarine Scorpene from France , moreover made the statement that it would buy the Rafale F2 for the Brazilian Air Force in 2010.
maurobaggioDocuments obtained by an important Brazilian newspaper has been revealed that the Government of Brazil in 2003 spied the representatives from Russian company Rosoboronexport that also promoted Sukhoi Su 35M for Brazil Air Force.
Coincidentally the same then newly elected government in 2003 had suspended the competition that participated Su 35M as well as: Mirage 2000D5, F 16C/D and the Gripen C/D.
When the same government years later opened a new competition, in this case the Su 35M2 or Su 35S were disqualified due to the fact that the Russian has not committed to transfer the technology of those figthers. This same government selected in 2010: Rafale F2, F/A 18E/F Hornet and Gripen NG.
However this same government before they were analyzed all offers undertook stating that it would buy the Rafale F2 in 2010.
Before the revelations in 2013 that the NSA spied the current President of Brazil, this same government had already shown interest that would selected the F/A 18E/F Hornet. After the revelation of the NSA the whole process of buying the F/A 18 Hornet has been suspended as well as other competitors may be to 2015.
The current President is of the same party as the previous as well as current President this was the ‘right arm’ of his predecessor, and the decision to select the Rafale F2 in 2010 had certainly passed the approval of this.
The revelations of the Brazilian Journal’s that Brazil had spied the U.S. Embassy in Brazil in 2003, what would happen during other government that which suspended the competition for the Air Force of Brazil in 2003.
Interestingly, in 2002 the government was considered pro U.S. while the new government in 2003 could be described as more opposite to the U.S., but this time had just spied the Russians and Iranians as well the U.S. Embassy.
However there is no reference until now about espionage from Government of Brazil against French or Swedes during this period or thereafter.
While many argue about the qualities of each competitor, the competition would probably be directed to any candidate that ‘political interest’ outweighs any technological aspect or the best interests of Brazil Air Force.
As Brazil’s armed forces are meant to combat insurgents, any candidate it would be appropriate in this case, so the supposed purchase will only happen if the winner is the preferred one by the ‘political interest’.
Those supposed ‘political interests’ probably could eliminate any candidates from U.S. or Russia.
However China might surprise many in 2014 …
maurobaggioBrazil’s old tankers are to be replaced: KC-767s (civilian 767s converted by IAI & a local firm) to replace the KC-137s, & KC-390s to replace the KC-130s. It shouldn’t be horribly expensive, because the tankers will mostly perform other roles (as do the aircraft they will replace), & neither Gripen nor Rafale would need tanker support routinely. Most of their flights won’t use tankers. A Su-35, though, burns a lot more fuel than a Rafale, let alone a Gripen, every time it takes off.
Any of the contenders will meet the military requirement. Brazil has the best national air & ground surveillance system in South America. I’d back a flight of Gripen E, Rafale or F-18E, supported by Brazil’s ground environment & an E-99, against the same number of any fighter any of its neighbours can put in the air.
Some reasons that should be considered about Brazil:
Still the most important should be that none neighboring countries has been threatens to Brazil . Though the size of Brazil and own its natural resources if Brazil could be threatened should be by at least by any countries with high military power , or even a superpower .
At this moment there is only one superpower and that has been a great friend to Brazil , but in the near future could be others, and because this should be hard to anticipate that all would be friends of the Brazil or even remain friends too.
However as the Brazilian strategists has already anticipated a long time ago that Brazil should be no military needs to confront with external adversaries , then its armed forces could be guided to counter a local insurgency, that could be inside Brazil or in another countries from that region.
Someone already said :
“Appoint enemies is the same as creating enemies .”
In this case according to the Brazilian strategists all fighters could meet the requirements of the Brazil, since everyone would be useful in the war against a local insurgency, although that fighters are not required for that mission.
Again someone already said:
“If you want to keep the Peace you should be prepared to War.”
As Brazil has bee prepared to only a war against insurgency, and because of this that three Presidents of Brazil along 18 years has been postponing the purchase of those fighters.
maurobaggioIt’s pretty impressive that the Russians managed to participate in a contest with a product that did not exist at the time and was not proven for the next 6-7 years and even as of today, there is not a single operational squadron of Su-35s in VVS.
Makes you wonder, had the Brazilians selected the Su-35, when would they receive their first examples and what problems and shortcomings would come with them.
Much more impressive in my opinion should be that during 18 years of competition , in which three different Presidents had the obligation to appoint a winner, and they all shifted responsibility for the successor and still continue to do so , the main item in choosing the winner remains as technology transfer .
If you put the focus on technology transfer , the cost of acquisition or operation becomes secondary among others factors , even if they are not important are key . Thus it is inevitable that any new technology requires some level of adjustment, so this would not be an impediment in that case.
The U.S. at the time that Brazil was interested in Su 35M Flanker offered for Brazil the fighter F 16C from second hand to replace the Mirage IIIE without any acquisition cost , and had invited Brazil to participate in the program JSF F 35 Lightning II through Embraer company , and when the F 35 Lightning II enter into operation that would replace the F 16C .
In this case if the technology was so important to Brazil , three different Presidents decided not to get the same , and just put more demands to choose a winner .
However the three different Presidents had been pointed as cause to postpone or cancel the competition at the Economic Crisis during those 18 years.
Likewise those same three Presidents had been concluded that Brazil needs to technological advances to develop its country.
At all, those three Presidents has demonstrated through fighter competition for the Brazilian Air Force that technological advancements are not a priority during the economic crisis.
Therefore a possible conclusion would be that those three Presidents : Brazil must get rich first, and then invest in technology in order to develop.
However if the countries are rich does not need to develop its own technology to develop itself, just buy them in the market , and this can be more economical and faster than invest to get the same .
In that competition about a new fighter for the Brazilian Air Force I could see a such dilemma, once along 18 years the country has been remained in economic crisis , and because this not invested in technology , however continues to insist that could became rich in the future.
When Brazil get rich maybe he will decide which new advanced fighter could buy for its Air Force.
Until this could be materialize will continue investing in counterinsurgency aircraft’s, such as the AT 29 Super Tucano, since they there was no lack for resources in the budget during all those 18 years of Economic Crisis.
maurobaggioI am aware of various preferences among Brazilian politicians but I only wanted to highlight the true preference of FAB themselves – which was Gripen-E.
I have not heard about Su-35 having once been the FAB’s favorite, though.
In January 2002 the President of Brazil Mr. Fernando Henrique Cardoso in official visit to Russia, the Brazilian Company Avibras were part of this oficial delegation had signed a cooperation agreement between the Russian company Sukhoi and Avibras company making this last one to represent the Su 35 Flanker in the competition for a new fighter to Brazilian Air Force, in general the purpose would be the assembly of the Su 35 in Brazil.
Due to elections in 2002 the competition was postponed to the year 2003 by the President Fernando Henrique Cardoso , where the new president would take the decision on which fighter would be chosen , in this time the participants were : F 16C , Mirage 2000-5 , Gripen C/D and Su 35 .
Among the various aspects supposedly had been analyzed by the Brazilian Air Force , the most important were about the technology transfer , and the best candidate apparently nominated by the Brazilian Air Force Force was the Su 35 Flanker .
But the new President of Brazil Mr. Luis Inacio de Souza ( Lula ) had been suspended indefinitely in 2003 the competition since it was not a priority the purchase of a new fighter for the Brazilian Air Force , due to the economic crisis in Brazil .
In fact the competition was canceled a few years later and started a new competition that in this last one has become finalists in 2010 the : F/A 18 Hornet , Rafale F2 and Gripen NG .
This new competition the Su 35M2 Flanker that would be renamed as Su 35S was disqualified in 2010 because of the divergence with the Russians in regard to technology transfers.
In 2002, the economic situation of Russia was not as favorable as in 2010, and in this case Russia could have been much more generous than in 2010.Although the Su 35S actually should designated as a new fighter, while the Su 35M were a modernization from Su 27M, but in that time therefore the Su 35M was the most advanced project fighter from Russia.
The same can not be said about the India that same time got from Russia the license to produce the Su-30MKI which has become the most advanced generation fighter from Su 27/30 family that has entered in operation.
Today India has been joining with the program PAK FA while Brazil it is about to pull out their last fighter Mirage 2000C/D capable of Mach 2.0 that has been borrowed from France to replace the Mirage IIIE, while the ghost of the economic crisis continue to be a problem even for Brazil in 2013, and due to this the constant cancellations about the choice of new fighter.
Three different Presidents in Brazil but always the same problem over 18 years: Economic Crisis.
maurobaggioThe global export market has approached $27bil in revenues back in 2012, with USA having the share of $8.7bil.
That means 7 out of 10 weapon buyers obviously don’t believe the US equipment is the best quality for the price.FAB has picked Super Hornet? When? In fact, FAB has strongly preferred Gripen E.
Among Brazilian politicians is a very common saying , which I guess was created by former U.S. President Nixon, which should be something like this :
“Speak well or speak bad about me , but always talk about me .”
Among the favorites fighters from Brazilian Air Force such list would already be quite long , since the supposed best candidate were already Su 35M Flanker in the first competition , but with the cancellation of this and the opening of a new competition the preferred had became the Gripen NG by Brazilian Air Force . With the detail that own Su 35M was left out of the new competition because of divergence about technology transfer with Russians .
However for the former President of Brazil the best would be the Rafale F2 , while for the current Commander-in-Chief from Brazilian Air Force the best candidate would be the F/A 18E/F Hornet .
The competition from Brazilian Air Force has been taking more than 10 years, an in this time the Brazil has been cited numerous times in the world press , and much discussion were provoked by those statements of Brazilian authorities .
The central point is that an acquisition of 36 aircraft would not significantly change the position of Brazil’s military power , but still with this supposed acquisition would remain as modest even by the standards of South America.
However as there is no budget to accomplish such acquisition, Brazilian politicians use the free exhibition to show the image of a country that does not exist in reality .
Since the acquisition of 36 fighters in world standards is not a big deal. However this supposed competition brings free advertising in general that brings benefit for the own Brazilian politicians.
Perhaps now should be the PAK FA the flavor of the season …
maurobaggioThe F/A 22 Raptor had been designed with the mission to intercept even the MiG 31 Foxhound in order to open the air defense of the former Soviet Union or even the Russian by : B 52H , B 1B and B 2A .
As the MiG 31 Foxhound has been surpassing the performance of the MiG 25RBS in all parameters , the MiG 25RBS despite had been tough targets for fighters from 4th Generation as examples ( F 14 , F 15 ), those fighters were in the past fully capable of shoot down the MiG 25RBS in several occasions .
The program F/A 22 Raptor remains as ‘black box project’ where only the information has been provided by the U.S. are available . As the U.S. has banned the export of the F/A 22 and maintained this decision even after the production line has been closed in 2008 , in fact this could lead at least two different conclusions :
Maybe the critical points to intercept the MiG 25RBS would be reach the right place at the right time, so in this aspect the F/A 22 with the ability to get a speed of the Mach 1.5 without even using the afterburners has been demonstrates that it would be potential to achieve higher speeds and altitudes over 4th Generation fighters, and get it with a greater range than those latters.
maurobaggioWe know six MiG-31B could box in an SR-71, but how many F-22 would it take to box in the Russian MiG-25RBS counterpart? The F-14A and F-15A could both deny free access to the MiG-25R direct overflights, but the RBS has much improved slant range of it’s sensor suite. The RBS is much more comparable to the SR-71, mapping wide swaths of land with each pass.
Probably just one F/A 22 Raptor would be enough to shoot down the MiG 25RBS.
A major advantage against the MiG 25RBS of the F/A 22 over the F 15 and F 14 would be the ability to keep the super-cruise speed of Mach 1.5, which will allow the F/A 22 reach a position to launch the AIM 120 missile against the MiG 25RBS in much less time than other aircraft from 4th Generation ( F 14 and F 15) .
Beyond that the SR 71 were a long-range strategic reconnaissance aircraft, and its performance over the MiG 25RBS were much further in all parameters such as: speed, altitude and range.
The challenge had been faced by MiG 31 to intercept a SR 71 were the combination of those parameters (speed, altitude and range) with the sensor range of SR 71 that were intended to monitor high economic and strategic targets from former Soviet Union, and therefore the SR 71 could arise in any quadrant of the former Soviet Union.
Whereas the missions of the MiG 25RBS could be more predictable than SR 71, since the MiG 25RBS has been flying without air-air refueling capability, which reduces the range as possible bearings that could use this to accomplish its mission.
maurobaggiohow could it be from before 1979 when they talk about events in the 1980s?
In fact a war between Iran and Iraq were foresee already in 1978 , and this was published in a book in this same year .
However the authors analysis of this book , in 1984 there were a large uprising in Arab countries , including : Iraq , Kuwait and Saudi Arabia .
These revolts against the monarchical governments from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia would be encouraged by Soviet Union with intent to remove of the power those rulers. In this scenario such Iraq , Kuwait and Saudi Arabia had been formed a coalition that would go into war with Iran in 1984 . However in this scenario Iran would still be ruled by the Shah , despite this had been suffering an assassination attempt in conjunction with a coup .
In the authors’ analysis of those hypothetical events had been sponsored by the Soviet Union with a view to causing a collapse in oil production. However the book is not about the war between Iran and other countries , but on a hypothetical World War III that could occur in 1985 .
As World War III has not been happen until today the analysis authors could be considered as erroneous as well as the fact that there were revolutions in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait , but indeed the Iran monarchical government of the Shah was removed for a popular revolution . However those who read the book could also reach a very different opinion about the same because others forecasts.
But the Iraq/Iran war started in 1980 , and the fact that Iraq had received such huge financial aid from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia during the war , besides other aids that could have been interpreted as actually a military alliance, certainly its not an accurate forecast of the authors, but it would be closer to reality in 1984 about the Iran/Iraq War.
Another important fact that the authors did not foresee was the invasion of the Afghanistan by the Soviet Union on December 24, 1979 .
HACKETT, General Sir John, BARRACLOUGH, Brigadier Sir John, BURROW, Sir Bernard, HUNT, Brigadier Kenneth, McGEOCH, Vice-Admiral Sir Ian, MACRAE, Norman, STRAWSON, Major-General John. THE THIRD WORD WAR – AUGUST 1985. New York – USA: Macmillan Publishing, 1978.
maurobaggioMaurobaggio,
You do realize that the F-14 image that you used is a 1/32 scale model? Fred Shammas’s model images are forever being passed off on the internet as images of real aircraft.
http://www.largescaleplanes.com/Photostory/FredShammas/F-14/F-14.php
You’re talking to an old man who can barely see that was F 14A Tomcat in the picture.
However young man, this was the only thing that you saw, or some mysterious reason you came to read at least the first paragraph?
Let me guess your answer for this:
After seeing that it was the image of an assembly from scale model you do not lost your time in reading the text, after all should be another foolish.
A long time ago it was said:
“Do not judge a book by its cover.”
As I am old, I do not judge another book by its cover, however when I was young I always did this.
Sign In
