[ATTACH=CONFIG]230530[/ATTACH]
(C) Sebastien Toulouse
ILA Berlin Air Show 2014

I also think by the time guided bombs came about the idea of a tank horde busting through proved flawed in concept. Every LGB is an anti-tank weapon. There was a production run of ATGW’s in the tens of thousands per variant. I don’t think the tank horde was the threat. The nuclear-tipped IRBM and SRBM was always the threat. Attack helicopters were not solving that issue.

Attack helicopters are considered offensive, too. It would be against the nature of their post-WW2 treatise.

Well, the KF-16 class is basically the same as the F-CK-1 class. F-35 is the weight of the F/A-18 with the power of the F-15K. Maybe it will be powered by 2x F125X engines with a pair roughly equal to one F100.

I doubt the Russian or Ukraine professionals pulled this off.

They don’t call the rebels terrorists for nothing. It’s an unfortunate atrocity. In hindsight many people could have prevented the whole thing from all parties military and civilian alike. The victims probably had no idea of the danger of this flight’s route and it was likely never revealed to them prior to leaving.

Su-35 uses 117S, right? Same technology jump as the engine for PAKFA. So basically India has bought into a forty year old engine. At least with 117S or Al-31FM2 it’s a step forward. Welcome to 1970.

They probably could have saved money and had better engine choices by pitting GE and P&W against the 117S, Al-31FM1, and Al-31FM2 for new batch MKIs and Super 30 upgrades. Sure they wouldn’t be building their own, but building second rate engines isn’t a huge step forward. At least with an engine competition they kept ahead of the Chinese.

The Chinese are ahead with self sufficiency when it comes to radars. They are probably somewhat even in missiles. The avionics are both pretty even. They both have pretty similar aircraft, but in the future China’s Flankers should have an edge overall. If it wasn’t for Rafale the future would look bleak for the IAF.