Don, tell Herb hello. What program are you in now out there?

F-15C fixed the shortfalls experienced by the F-15A pilots. The original F-15A was a fussy goose in a lot of situations. But by the C revision most of those minor ailments were worked out.

Military power used to mean 70% of throttle or higher without afterburner. People freely mix the notion of “military power” with “full military power”. Aces combat fans seems to have hijacked the term to mean 100% of throttle these days.

I say in my fantasy Air Force the pilots work there way through from Basic Training to more specific adventures, college-level style.

Fighter Basic Training 101 – Nieuport 17
Fighter Basic Training 20X – (200) T-6 Texan II (201) P-51D Mustang
Fighter Basic Training 30X – (300) T-33 Shooting Star (301) T-2 Buckeye (302) F-86 Sabre
Fighter Basic Training 40X – (400) T-45 Goshawk (401) T-38 Talon (402) F-20 Tigershark
Air Defense 10X – (101) F-106A Delta Dart (102) F-16A Falcon (103) F-4 Phantom
Air Defense 20X – (200) F-16C Falcon (201) F/A-18C Hornet (202) F-14A Tomcat (203) F-15A Eagle
Air Defense 30X – (300) F-14D Tomcat (301) F-15C Eagle (302) F-15E Eagle
Air Defense 40X – (400) F-12 Blackbird (401) F-22 Raptor
Close Air Support 10X – (101) AH-6J Little Bird (102) OV-1B
Close Air Support 20X – (200) AH-1 Cobra (201) A-1 Skyraider
Close Air Support 30X – (300) AH-64 Apache (301) AV-8B Harrier
Close Air Support 400 – A-10 Warthog
Attack 101 – A-4 Skyhawk
Attack 200 – A-7 Corsair II
Attack 30X – (300) A-6E (301) F-111G Aardvark
Attack 40X – (400) F/A-18E Super Hornet (401) F-35 Lightning II
Bomber 101 – B-66 Destroyer
Bomber 20X – (200) B-47D Stratojet (201) B-52 Stratofortress (202) B-58 Hustler
Bomber 30X – (300) B-1B Lancer (301) F-117 Nighthawk
Bomber 400 – B-2 Spirit
Auxiliary 10X – (101) C-2 Trader (102) (103) KA-3 Skywarrior
Auxiliary 20X – (200) E-1 Tracer (201) KB-50 Superfortress (202) RC-130 Hercules
Auxiliary 30X – (300) E-2 Hawkeye (301) KC-135 Stratotanker (302) RC-135 Looking Glass
Auxiliary 40X – (400) E-3 Sentry (401) KC-10 Extander (402) E-4B White Whale
Reconn 101 – (101) RF-61 Reporter (102) Q-1 Predator w/o Hellfire
Reconn 20X – (200) RF-84 Thunderflash (201) RB-57A Canberra
Reconn 30X – (300) U-2 Dragon Lady (301) Q-4 Global Hawk
Reconn 40X – (400) E-8 (499) *classified*
Electronic Warfare 101 – EA-1 Skyraider
Electronic Warfare 200 – EA-3 Skywarrior
Electronic Warfare 30X – (300) EF-111 Raven (301) EA-6B Prowler
Electronic Warfare 400 – EA-18 Growler
High Performance 101 – (101) F-100 Super Sabre (102) F-105 Thunderchief
High Performance 20X – (200) F-104 Starfighter (201) A-5 Vigilante
High Performance 30X – (300) YF-112 Flogger (301) YF-113 Foxbat
High Performance 40X – (400) SR-71 Blackbird (401) XB-70 Valkyrie
Transport 10X – (101) UH-1 Huey (102) C-8 Buffalo (103) C-119 Flying Boxcar
Transport 20X – (200) UH-60 Blackhawk (201) C-27J Spartan
Transport 30X – (300) H-47 Chinook (301) C-130J Hercules (302) C-141 Stratolifter
Transport 40X – (400) MH-53 Pave Low (401) C-17 Globemaster III (402) C-5B Galaxy
Extracurricular Activities – AC-119 Spooky, AC-130 Spectre, Q-1 Predator w/ Hellfire

The difference in time for the recovery transition and time involved with regaining useful acceleration post-stall are not necessarily directly related. So what if you right yourself quicker, it doesn’t in any way imply that you have enough energy to bring your nose around any quicker than the opponent. And with the missile technology slaved to the pilot’s head in the future, it almost begs the question if these turning fights will even happen wvr. If you have to fight outside the visual range then its pretty tough to have a turning fight to begin with. More like it will become a series of cat and mouse jousts.

I have an idea – people that want to talk about fighting Flankers and Eagles, start a new thread about it.

This thread is about DROP TANKS!!!!

Tejas will make a terrible MRCA contender. The Indians are better off going with the F-18E or Rafale and spinning the engine from that choice into the Kaveri’s slot.

If anything India should go the route of the Chinese, reverse engineer the Su-30mki and MRCA winners, then build their own heavy jets for the future. The goal as a nation is independence and time after time they seem perfectly happy playing the stooge to some supplier. They’ve got two large regional neighbors to contend with, Russia and China, and buying from either country is not getting them any more well off. They best work towards such a way that they break the chain.

I added some more in last night. Could use some help finding the Soviet & UK Bomber bomb bay tanks and external stores if applicable. Also need some help on the Mystere and Etendard families.

Maybe our Russian-language fans can nail down some info on the Tu-28 and Tu-128; I’ve seen vague references have been made to conformal and bomb bay tanks in these two planes.

If there are any specific differences between Su-30 versions, namely Su-30mkk and Su-30mki, that would also help.

Thanks ahead of time!

Can i ask what the F/A-18E has over the MiG-35?, seeing as the indians are already buying a whole lot of MiG-29K’s for their navy, and they already have the infrastructure set up from flying MiG-21’s and 27’s. Additionally, I can see the US being heavy on the sanctions if India ever steps out of line.

Nuclear technology agreements they covet.