Interesting thread PII, i guess who ever wins the deal would ultimately sway the decission here in Australia for a replacement of our Caribous which are really getting on now (you might remember that this comp has been started and stopped so many times it makes the Brazilian F-X programe look serious).

IIRC there was supposed to be a winner announced in June/July this year for the US military, and should the C-295 gain the order you can bet that the American forces will change the avionics to better suite their service (something which the C-27J doesn’t have to worry about since it is already there).

Personally I like both platforms, but I have to agree with you that the Spartan does offer the better performance. Sure the C-295 has the longer cargo bay, but that doesn’t mean it can carry more (something we found out down here with our C-130J-30’s, they carry the same amount, but it’s spread out more thus giving the crew more leg room).

In any case the winner is going to find that their order books will fill up since there are many countries out there that will follow and order that the US makes simply because Prices drop as more are logged up.

I hear what you are saying about the warbirds mate and totally agree, the people there, though very nice and very dedicated to their work, don’t suffer us enthusiasts very well nor are our topics of general interest looked upon lightly. How is a person supposed to gain knowledge if otherrs put us down for not knowing the difference between a Gyro for a Lancaster and mistake it for a servo for a Me-109?

As for the Cival aviation, check out the private pilot section on this board mate, the guys there are really nice, I have been there a couple of times and they are really down to earth, there are no politicas on that board at all (they don’t even fight over which is better Cessna or Piper).

Ok now some rationality behind the question:

What you have to remember is that the Gariballdi is a “strik’e vessel” as emphasised ‘by the four otto Missiles on it’s aft and support weapons. It has a troop carrying capacity and a small landing ship role.

‘None of this is ‘on the Austurias at all, Austurias was purely designed to provide a capabiklity of having aircraft out at sea for patrol and observation of suspect vessels and if nessecary, to sink them.

It’s like comparing a Nanuchka with survey vessel!

The Gripen would also meet the weight limits, but there’s no naval version. The undercarriage would take carrier landings (designed for Swedish AF short landings, similarly hard), but I heard there’s a problem with fitting arrestor gear. Not designed for it, & nowhere to put the hook.

That’s true, it would need major redesign work like the Hawk did when the USN/USMC bought them. Not impossible, but very costly and would then be out of reach for Brazil and Argentina.

BTW Rafales have taken off from her, but light.

Yes the Raf has flown off the Deck of Sao Paulo when she was in French hands, but if you remember correctly, they had to extend the deck by 4m for clear operations, thus not really a feasable option in MdB service, a service that is really cash straped as it is.

With the strong ties between Brazil and India, Brazil could be a launch and support customer for any Tejas in the area as well as some Naval Tejas aboard the Sao Paulo 9which I see is the only prospect since this is the only fighter that comes close to weight restrictions on the carrier. AdlA could also use these planes as a replacement for their SuE’s

Brazil could also support the Tejas in the region for airforces like Bolivia and Honduras who are cash straped and in desperate need of updating their airforce equipment. IF India can keep the price of the tejas down, it might just have a market in this region as well as the African continent.

Yeah what Sean said!