Since India funded a more advanced F125 they should look into that option again. SLEP the F-CK-1 and boost its performance. I always liked the idea of Sky Sword II being AMRAAM-like guidance using Sparrow bodies and warheads. Rectangular intakes, a spline and beefed up tail (F-16 vertical stab), IRST on the centerline fuel tank, and wingtip MICA IR would be a serious upgrade.

I thought they were removing the top louvers on MiG-35 and going for the debris prevention methods used by Flankers.

Now that the ratio of OP to other members is down under 1:3 I guess it’s safe to participate. (bumping your own threads is against forum policy)

The Flanker is not exactly the standard. The F-15 is undefeated in the WVR realm. You cannot replace the king with hearsay from one joint exercise in India. Follow up exercises have not exactly been in the Flankers favor.

The Flapjack would have been the best prop dog fighter except for one issue, prop flap. It introduced steerable props which are akin to TVC. The materials at the time made it impractical to pursue further when it came down to the implementation. The shape of the aircraft was difficult to see visually. It had incredible power and endurance compared to other warbirds using propellers at the time. It didn’t have the smoothness and speed of jets, which meant it was obsolete.

That’s fine and dandy if we’re talking Hungary AF, but that isn’t the CCCP. And you cite a single logbook. The flight hours of the Soviets were probably pretty decent in the 70’s, but come to the end of the Iron Curtain it was much different. They certainly were not 180 nor 70-80 hours per month per S.M.’s statement. The last half decade of the Soviet Union saw an incredible rollback in resources. I’m not talking post-Iron Curtain. The Soviets spent themselves into a hole and the signs were apparent years before the breakup.

Soviet pilots had 60 hours mandatory but in practice it wasn’t uncommon for pilots to fly 20 annual. NATO pilots were four times the Soviet standard and there was a penalty – although similar in the Soviet rules yet not used – for them to not fly the mandatory number of hours. Different certs for different planes and duties, but we’re talking combat training AFAIK. Failure to fly washed them out, and having quals in the USAF is prestigious. Not very many officers reach the top of the line without the quals for flying. So in practice, NATO pilots often trained more in a month than their counterparts did in a calendar year.

JL-9 is much more affordable than Yak-130.

The obfuscated language they chose amounts to hearsay, not fact. Major difference. Your standards for facts is clouded if you believe anything in the aforementioned article(s) was posted as documentation or attributed reference.

Is it me or does anyone else see the irony of putting a defunct empire into a scenario? The USSR for all intent and purposes was collapsed in 1991. The former USSR couldn’t even get spy satellites up at regular intervals in that timeframe. There wasn’t a Soviet Army at the time which is why the US was able to amass in the Middle East.