I only saw one comparative. Where was the second?

The AL-55I engine is created for the Indian light training one- engine plane HJT-36 Intermediate Jet Trainer (owned by the HAL corporation) and the heavier two-engine HJT-39 Twin Engine Combat Attack Trainer.

Are there any pictures available of an HJT-39 prototype yet? I found lots of the lighter HJT-36, none of the twin.

Somebody please save this thread by posting new pictures. Funny how the ‘B’ model has just started flight testing and people are already crowning it a success.

The hilarity of journalism is 90% of “journalists” vote exclusively for leftist candidates, surround themselves with leftist friends, participate in leftist causes, have no contact with non-leftists, then they claim to be “impartial” when reporting their leftist world view.

Myth. Journalists are by their very nature an extension of the right wing. Without stable control of the media in one form or another, no state would survive due to the constant attacks upon its foundations from liberals. A society is made up of pro-establisment members or it was never a society to begin with.

Anyone that confuses liberalism with the politics of the left really shouldn’t speak so bluntly on the topic. Kids these days get their facts instantly from the wiki and then confuse left with liberal, whereas left is communist. The wiki isn’t always an accurate source of information.

What powerplant is going to go into an indigenous F-22 equivalent for Japan? I don’t remember them having any homegrown options.

I would guess if they do opt to build an F-22 equivalent then they will heavily lobby for access to the F119 and settle for the F135 if necessary. The stealth modeling is probably the single largest hangup for them to accomplish. How would they know if the effort they put forth isn’t a waste of time and money? It only took the U.S. about $350 billion to get stealth to where it is today.

They’re probably better off to go for a modified F-35C optimized for air superiority and try to gain access to the F119 for its superior high altitude performance. With that combination they would be able to gain the high ground against any regional threats.

Product liability laws in the states have made cheap aircraft untenable. They have to be nearly bulletproof or courts seem to throw huge judgments at them. During wartime the manufacturers are largely exempt from the same tort laws. If you would absolve manufacturers of some basic consequential usages of a war machine during peacetime it would substantially reduce the need for some of the complexity.

btw – One $100K shot that gets the target is equally affordable to 100 shots of $1G ordnance to hit one target. Some complexities are very cost effective. Others are being wasted by the commanders out in the field. Look at the random firing of high cost ordnance in all the liveleak and youtube videos on the web. Much of the ordnance in Afghanistan seems to be wasted on boogieman targets.

That is troubling. Your underwing capacity is going to drop off greatly before the arrival of the f-35b. 😛

I guess the more obvious question about the EJ200 is what does that engine bring to the table? In peacetime it may end up costing considerably more. In wartime it may be an advantage due to its ability to move more air. The tradeoffs must be leaning towards the rm12 camp or they would have made the jump by the C/D model.