That would have been tragic. EAP Typhoon would have been acquired at no more than Rafale levels. May have still had Saudi orders, but solely because the Saudis were strictly buying into UK immigration influence. Germans, Italians, and the Spanish were without a doubt better suited to stick with the F-16 or Hornet orders. Honestly, without shared production, they have absolutely no reason to acquire Typhoon. And hindsight showed that participating in Eurofighter was a costly mistake. Any one of them could have easily assembled their own American kit.
Manufacturer & Model ASCC Codename
================================================
Bell P-39 Airacobra ‘Fred’
Chengdu J-7 ‘Fishbed’
Chengdu J-10 ‘Firebird’
Chengdu J-20 ‘Firefang’ or ‘Black Eagle’
Chengdu FC-1/JF-17 ‘Super-7’
Lavochkin La-7 ‘Fin’
Lavochkin La-9 ‘Fritz’
Lavochkin La-11 ‘Fang’
Lavochkin La-15 ‘Fantail’
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-9 ‘Fargo’
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 ‘Fagot’ (originally ‘Falcon’)
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 ‘Fresco’
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19 ‘Farmer’
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 ‘Fishbed’
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21-2000 ‘LanceR’
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21bis/21 UPG ‘Bison’
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23/27 ‘Flogger’
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23PD ‘Faithless’
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 ‘Foxbat’
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-27 ‘Flogger-D’
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29/30/35 ‘Fulcrum’
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-31 ‘Foxhound’
Mikoyan-Gurevich Ye-2A ‘Faceplate’
Mikoyan-Gurevich Ye-150/15 ‘Flipper’
Mikoyan-Gurevich 1-42 ‘Foxglove’
Mikoyan-Gurevich 1-44 ‘Flatpack’
Nanchang Q-5/A-5 ‘Fantan’ (China)
Shenyang J-5 ‘Fresco’ (China)
Shenyang J-6 ‘Farmer’ (China)
Shenyang J-8 ‘Finback’ (China)
Shenyang J-11 ‘Flanker-B+’
Shenyang J-15 ‘Flanker-D’
Shenyang J-16 ‘Flanker-E’
Sukhoi Su-7/17/20/22 ‘Fitter’
Sukhoi Su-9/11 ‘Fishpot’
Sukhoi Su-15 ‘Flagon’
Sukhoi Su-24 ‘Fencer’
Sukhoi Su-25/28 ‘Frogfoot’
Sukhoi Su-27/30/35 ‘Flanker’
Sukhoi Su-30MKI/35 ‘Super Flanker’
Sukhoi Su-33 ‘Flanker-D’
Sukhoi Su-32/34 ‘Fullback’
Sukhoi Su-37 ‘Terminator’
Sukhoi Su-47 ‘Firkin’
Sukhoi Su-50 ‘PAK-FA’ (many Russian fans believe it to be ‘Firefox’)
Tupolev Tu-10 ‘Frosty’
Tupolev Tu-128 ‘Fiddler’
Yakovlev Yak-9 ‘Frank’
Yakovlev Yak-15/17 ‘Feather’
Yakovlev Yak-23 ‘Flora’
Yakovlev Yak-25/27 ‘Flashlight’
Yakovlev Yak-28P ‘Firebar’
Yakovlev Yak-36 ‘Freehand’
Yakovlev Yak-38 ‘Forger’
Yakovlev Yak-41/141 ‘Freestyle’ (originally ‘Fulmar’)
Xi’an JH-7 / JH-7A ‘Flounder’ (China)
FULCRUM-A MiG-29UB/UBT
FULCRUM-B MiG-29C
FULCRUM-C MiG-29S/SD/SE, MiG-29SM/SMT
FULCRUM-D MiG-29K/MiG-29KUB
FULCRUM-E MiG-29M/ME/MT, MiG-29N, MiG-29MRCA/M/M2
FULCRUM-F MiG-29OVT, MiG-35
FLANKER-A T-10 prototype
FLANKER-B Su-27/Su-27SK (J-11)
FLANKER-C Su-27UB/UBK
FLANKER-D Su-27K/Su-33 (incl. J-15 now?)
FLANKER-E Su-27M (Su-35, Su-37, J-16 now?)
FLANKER-F Su-27PU (Su-30), Su-30K/KN, Su-30M
FLANKER-G Su-30MKK, Su-30MK2, Su-30M2
FLANKER-H Su-30MKI, Su-30MKM, Su-30MKA, Su-30SM2
FULLBACK Su-27IB (Su-32, Su-34)
Far Fetch? Doesn’t work phonetically.
I’d of wanted FooBoo, FatBoy, etc. – something much easier to recognize.

TFK-90 prelude to Eurofighter

I don’t think it’s as simple as 60° camera angles. Pretty sure it’s closer to twice that with three-dimensional coverage in all directions.
Mystere IVN
Boeing 908 mock-up was similar to F-16![]()
It’s amazing that F-106A is fifteen feet longer than F-16A

djcross, where did you get that nonsense? ASRAAM and AMRAAM have almost no radar footprint. Not only that, but they both are extremely hardened against emissions that give away their positions.
IMHO the F-86D/K/L Sabre is a smart looking aircraft.
It makes me think of the Fiat G91
But G91 was a very light fighter compared with the F-86D Sabre Dog
Republic’s competitor wasn’t ugly either
Technically they are below the noses.
Here’s one that would have been cool…
Another Chinese contender
Before the Fishpot the Sukhoi designers had T-3.
Before the Flagon the Sukhoi designers had T-49
So build
1. Tejas as your near term 4th gen stopgap.
2. Plan Super Tejas model using low observability traits and a 50% larger engine, preferably the most reliable source (I.e.117S, Al-31F, PW-229 or GE-132?)
3. Build the new single-hole fighter with 3-5 year lead-up to full rate of production
4. Convert to Super Tejas as your follow-on to #1, and shut down original LCA production
5. Plan all 4th gen units to supplement future heavy 5th gen which should already be in service with some Indian sourced communications standard
So LCA mk1 would be about what is already planned. LCA mk2 would help figure growing pains for Super Tejas. You might be looking at 100 Tejas.
If Interim is F-16IN your Super Tejas foundation is improved if you get technology transfer. Let’s say PAKFA engines get production line in India, it probably pays to use it to supplement FGFA program. Otherwise you still would be looking hard at indigenous built Al-31F from the MKI program. At bare minimum I think you cozy up to an American engine or scale to two F404IN. It’s all about building efficiency.
If Gripen is chosen then I could see an advantage to going Gripen as your low observable choice and convert LCA into an Al-31F or 117S-based product. And there really becomes zero reason to continue LCA as is once Gripen NG production begins.
F8U would have made a good looking Corsair II if they had adopted it, much better than original. The A-7 was really a *******ized Crusader. Too bad the streamlined attachment points couldn’t have adapted to A2G. That F8U intake just screams “Barracuda!” It would have been much more intimidating than that blunt force trauma on the A-7. Maybe it wasn’t that bad. But honestly, it looked like a happy emoji.
Its a shame X-32 looked so out of proportion. If it had a pretty nose it had a better chance. The simple layout looked more affordable.
Why is this never mentioned in the thread? It’s good looking more so than most candidates.

And what about the Soviet options? Sukhoi, MiG, and Yakovlev weren’t exactly ignorant of chin intakes.




And the western European allies knew chin intakes.

