is there any news about the A-50 yet?

Interesting, I’ll look in to that, just for my own conformation.

Hmmm interesting scenario you have there mate, Personally I’d dump the Su-30’s and have the Gripens as my main fighter with Hawks as the back up just like South Africa.

Also if their main concern is Japan then wouldn’t a pack with say Russia help off set the threat? Any new country that faces a superior adversary would be insane not to propose defence agreements with a superior force to counter that threat.

Ummm what link mate?

Well I think there could be a small market for a navalised version of the Gripen, Argentina are wanting to buy a new carrier, maybe two. Brazils AF-1’s are only on a 10 year life span. And Other countries are considering small carriers (Italy for one).

Those figures near the top are of and unmodified Gripen. you’d have to add at least another two thousand lbs which would include strengthening of the undercarriage and bigger nose wheel, not to mention the uprated engine.

The Tejas (Naval) would be it’s main competitor, but since India aren’t likely to have them out for a few years (If- and that’s being honest, you have to take into account change of governments and such).

The NH-90 is the Favopurite for our Air 9000 project down here and I’ve seen one flying in formation with a Seahawk, now that was a site.

My personal feeling is that the NH-90 has a very bright future as it will replace alot of Seakings and Pumas around the world.

the IN also has it’s Kamove aricraft to fall back on, now having started to receive the Ka-29’s

Well down here in Oz, it’s legal to own any plane that is of a warbird nature as long as any military equipment (meaning weapons) are deactivated and all release clamps for external stores are converted over to permanant clamps (thus becoming a fixed feature of the plane in question).

Also the logs must be completely current with every last detail entered in and a certificate of Government deactivation accompaning the log. It may be a legal sale but if you don’t have the right bills to prove it then you can’t bring it in to the country.

Also with former Military jets, the person owning it must have at least 50 hours flight time and 100 hours maintainence time on the plane in question (this ensures that the owner knows the inns and outs of the plane and understands fully all the worst case thing that can happen and how to avoid them.

Then there is the licence. You must be a current holder of a specific type of licence to be able to have the plane in Ausatralia. A warbirds collectors licence which covers various things such as Tail wheel ratings, Jet ratings, Aerobatics and other such things as may be required by CASA (Commonwealth Air Safety Association).

Lastly there are only certain areas that you can fly the plane. In the case of the Mig-21PM down here that is limited to Military Airspace with a minimum two months notice before flight, this allows the Airforce to say yes or no and also tells them where it is going to be at what times and for how long. As for the other jets in Oz (A-37’s, Vampires, Strikemasters, you get the idea) They are confined to certain areas as well (areobatic ranges for civilian a/c) and they too must send out a NOTAM (Notice To Airmen) two weeks prior to flight, though there are certain areas that they can fly unrestricted (Temora is one). When flying to any airshow, a flight plan must be logged two months before the date of travel and Jets are assigned to Civilian airspace tucked in behind a nice fat airliner (how tempting it would be to forge some papers and clock up a few kills- oops sorry what was I thinking 🙁 )

In other words, Australia has the best air safety record because it’s so bl00dy hard to get through the red tape, but it is possible. Oh I forgot to mention, if you own a jet fighter down here, before you get your licence, you have to pass a military physical and psychological exam, really tough to do that!!!