Having a “stick” for the WSO might be O.K. to land at some airbase but, a night landing on a carrier from the rear seat is not something that would be desirable.

Any naval pilot worth his salt can land instruments only. It is part of his training. He’s only going to rely on his eyes under a few emergency conditions.

Good question, RCS maybe? Maybe they found it better to have the moving segments retract and lock into fixed segments?

Leverage.

Would it be so bad if the Australians bought long range fighters from the Russians to replace the F-111’s? I’d think it a blight on the American Aerospace establishment’s psyche. And since the Australians had the highest stamp of approval for F-22 it makes one wonder why they are excluded from the program.

I can see penalizing the Nipponese for their treachery in the recent past when it comes to high tech acquisition. But our closest allies like Australia need to stick to American made. Hell, even the English and Germans should be getting F-22’s rather than Europhighters. It just seems silly for them to purchase second rate in these times of shrinking budgets.

The NK-32 is supposedly fire prone. I heard it requires a special fuel blend because if its design woes. Can anyone confirm?

If they find the deal was tainted with bribes or other illegal activities then it can be terminated without penalty by international law. I wouldn’t be holding my breath if I was Boeing.

I wonder if they could of fitted some sort of guided missile in the old mouse packs using todays manpads technology. Would of put an almost insane amount of destructive firepower inside of one plane.

It looks like just a scaled up Tu-95.

The F-15E family makes a poor replacement for the F-111 family. You simply don’t have a comparable platform. If the F-111 evolved to a fixed wing and the maintenance was simplified to today’s standards then hands down it would be better than the F-15E. The F-111 family merely is being replaced because it has been neglected too long to keep flying in suitable numbers.

Let’s not forget that diplomacy is the reason they build these weapons. The Tu-22M is probably not more capable as a regional asset than the Su-34, but that doesn’t negate its true value. The Tu-22M offers political leverage due to its raw size and power. The Russians would be wise to keep their Tu-22M fleet around as long as possible.