I know there’s been a few debates about whether the ASQ-239 does active EW, so here is the answer:

http://www.baesystems.com/en/product/an-asq-239-f-35-ew-countermeasure-system

Always active, AN/ASQ-239 provides all-aspect, broadband protection, allowing the F-35 to reach well-defended targets and suppress enemy radars. The system stands alone in its ability to operate in signal-dense environments, providing the aircraft with radio-frequency and infrared countermeasures, and rapid response capabilities.

Yikes. Hopefully they bailed in time.

Quite frightening effects of thermobaric rockets fired from TOS-1A Buratino 220mm heavy launcher/flame thrower

Apparently it’s a Smerch:
http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=2526615&postcount=13872

And many of the munition used are dumb bombs, which have huge legacy stockpiles. The planes would be flying anyway, so the only real cost is the munitions and logistics. It’s not like an Afghanistan/Iraq NATO deployment and rebuilding exercise.

First off all, JDAM can recive new targets inflight from the carrier aircraft. The italians and the isralies have IR homing noses that can be pluged into Mk series bombs, I belive the US is looking into this to add it to JDAM to give it moving target capability.

The main reason for the inefenctiveness of LGBs during Allied Force was the weather not the LGBs. Cloud cover was havy thruout Yugo and they will break up the lase, making designation dificult at best.

It was also damn difficult for special forces to lase ground targets from cover though dense woodland.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ducted_fan

A ducted fan is a propulsion arrangement whereby a mechanical fan, which is a type of propeller, is mounted within a cylindrical shroud or duct. The duct reduces losses in thrust from the tips of the props, and varying the cross-section of the duct allows the designer to advantageously affect the velocity and pressure of the airflow according to Bernoulli’s Principle. Ducted fan propulsion is used in aircraft, airships, airboats, hovercraft and fan packs.[1]

Ducted fans normally have more and shorter blades than propellers and thus can operate at higher rotational speeds.

Scenario:

Lets say an air force, rather than buying specific type of aircraft for dedicated roles, wants to consolidate on one type to be used for multiple roles i.e. air policing, strike, maritime strike, etc (the way things are going). It prefers to use Flankers for whatever reason (think malaysia, Indonesia, Algeria, etc), which would you consolidate with?

Su-34
Su-35
Su-30SM/30MKI
Mig-29M (why the hell not, its becoming a flanker now)

I would cheat and say Su-50.