They can afford quite a lot when the currency valuations fluctuate. I fear the Sino-Nipponese rift is leading to an arms race.

What Iraqi aircraft except Mirage fielded RWR systems? As far as I am aware, F1EQ-1 thru F1EQ-4 used older Thomson BF system with pen-style fairings, while F1EQ-5 and F1EQ-6 had Sherloc with rectangular fairings on the fin. What about Iraqi aircraft of Russian design, did they have any SPO-15 or similar device in operation?

I cannot find the sources yet, but IIRC the Su-20 and MiG-23ML had some form of hardwired rwr. The Iraqis also operated listening posts, which were critical for triangulation. The Iraqis were far more regimental in their methods whereas the Iranians were long on hardware but the leadership had a brain drain from internal purges.

The Mirage F1EQ had ECCM to counter the AWG-9. It took Israeli help to overcome that hurdle and that was a good 16-18 months after F1EQ was operational. The pendellum didn’t swing to the Iraqi side, it just turned into a high attrition game for the Iranians, a game they couldn’t afford.

I can see the future requiring 300-400 fixed sensors with varying ability to see a multitude of wavelengths to get near perfect reaction speed. The current design is good enough for a second generation of the idea. I also think the idea of fighters is going away and utility airframes will truck around dozens of long-range munitions. The aircraft will also integrate into a global network of sensors both orbiting and flown to provide situational awareness where it would be suicide to fly a fighter anywhere in the same two hundred miles or better, because the same platform will carry standoff drones that double as reconn assets and a2a missiles that put meteor’s range to shame.

Until then the whole idea has to evolve. MAWS was a first step and it’s pretty useful. EODAS is the next generation and pretty much everyone else is racing to integrate similar systems. I think the imaging infrared logic is going to be awfully hard to duplicate any time soon. The next generation will increase the number of sensors and further automate it.

Was it not the Iraqi MiG-29 that was the only Fulcrum wired for mid-wing R-27? I doubt four offered much more capability than two as the missile was meant for bomber destroying, not dogfighting. The long fins cause much drag and are very unconventional. It’s reliability in real world conditions proved to be less than admirable, more like the French R.530 than AIM-7E. I’m pretty positive it had problems with high-G maneuvers under wing, too. The R-27 was more hype that threat and it wouldn’t have been significant to double their load.

UAVs will replace the Wild Weasel and ECR missions. ALARM can migrate to them if it’s even necessary at all in another decade. You can send one-way suicide drones cheaper than sustaining the manned platform.

EODAS type features are in the T-50, MiG-35D, and Su-35S. I know there are diagrams of the locations somewhere. I want to say they were in a thread on f-16.net, but google should find them. The F-35 has complete 360° view whereas the Russians settled for less all around aspect.