Vietnam had a problem with the RoE. AIM-7 makes little sense if you are required to visually indentify the enemy before launch. On the few occasions in which F-4s were allowed to launch AIM-7s at BVR it gave them a clear edge in air combat, forcing the MiGs into a defensive posture and allowing the F-4 to dictate the merge. MiG-23 would have doe the same vs. F-16As for example.

Nothing could beat the mighty MiG-29 if there would be a one on one dogfight, which is very unlikely.

A was nice to the USAF. Recent studies show that the Soviets were far ahead in air combat training at the time. The 500s were ground breaking training regimes at the time and one must say that the pilots must have been the best of the best, that went through those. The USN was second, the USAF far behind, the allies a laughing stock.

Should have war broken out, I am now confident that the Soviets would have slaughtered NATO pilots.

Agree with others regarding seahawk’s comments. This says nothing about the safety record of Western aircraft or the C-130J in particular. It’s a remarkable aircraft with much in the way of safety features. The fact of the matter is that low-level flying is very dangerous…the safest airplanes in the world are still vulnerable to the dangers it presents.

May those who perished rest in peace, and I can only hope the investigation is concluded soon with accurate facts so that the families may then spend their time in mourning with some (however small) sense of closure.

I said nothing about the aircraft, I just pointed put that it might turn out that using Western aircraft does not reduce your accident rate alone. And yes I think the Indian Air Force often made it too easy for themselves by blaming the aircraft.

By that time they will buy Chinese.

So, you know how far Typhoon got then?…

…Because I have a very solid idea.

Depends. The negotiations between Eurofighter and the government were quite advanced, the official paperwork not so much.

UAE is going for Block 61 F-16s

Who says the UAE would have purchased the Typhoon as it is now? If they wanted a “developed” aeroplane then they wouldn’t have looked at it in the first place.

And you pay extra for the development. Buy a F-16/F-18/F-35 or to a lesser effect Rafale and you can hang on all the goodies the US/France and partner nations have already integrated. As a buyer you are interested in bang for buck not theoretical airplane capabilities. Considering the small enthusiasm of the original partner nations of EF, the great basic capabilities of the plane are worth nothing.