Was that the little jet from one of the James Bond movies?

Phantom II-

The first two series of MiG-23 was not really an improvement over the Fishbed of its era save for short field performance. The first serious upgrade was a straight line interceptor and was not able to play multiple roles. And it was designed with disposal in mind once the airframe crossed a couple thousand hours. Its basically a total rebuild to convert an older airframe to the 98 version.

About the only engine you could fit in its place would be the M88. The EJ200 was supposed to eventually fit in a Tornado, but I don’t believe they stuck to that limitation when the EF-2000 program matured. It’s a shame the Tornado was built to basically be disposed of after 4500 hours. Just about everything on the jet apparently craps out around the 4000 hour mark.

UCAV will most certainly use enlisted controllers subordinate to the local commander, an officer. The officer sitting next to the group of controllers will probably play some role in transferring formal command of his crew when the situation arises. No robot warriors in the near future.

The rebels lost their initiative. Now all they can do is play a stall game.

I believe that quite a few countries would be happy to operate 4th+ generation Mirage III/MiG-21/Draken/F-104 equivalents. After all the F-35 is simply too big and power hungry for most countries. They crammed the F-15’s energy potential into a package not much larger than an F-16!

I just don’t see too many twin-engine trainers being an option. The Gripen has too many strings attached for quite a few candidates. Same with the F-50. The JF-17 is not an option for most western candidate countries. (The right categorical size and cost, just the wrong origin.) You need something that can fire missiles BVR, yet within reason because of the relatively small radar size. The motor will be the pivotal design point and you want the highest TWR available.

You want simple, affordable, and it has to just plain work. An M-88 engine would be a fine foundation to build around. You would in most situations probably be happy with an F125. Figure something in the F-5F size category, capable of using wet thrust, four AAM’s (two IR-AAM and two BVR-AAM), AESA radar if possible (lower maintenance), IRST supplementing an EOTS, and preferably an internal gun.

I apologize for the OT post. I just want to thank everyone that has been fact finding AND posting this excellent stuff about this current operation. I’ve run short of time these last few weeks and find it nice to be able to stay otherwise informed by reading this thread.