What is that thing on IN306’s forehead? looks too flat faced for radar, perhaps a staring iir array? If it were aesa radar, wouldnt it be practical and economical to put some radar-transparent aerodynamic fairing over it to lessen the air resistance of the contraption?

Besides, the thing on its chin obviously is a radome. Either way, that thing is interesting as all heck!

i did a bit of a web search on the il-38SD. Globalsecurity.org claims the thing is an ESM array. I dont understand why such a thing couldnt be more aerodynamical.

Probably a problem with some interferences with the structure above the cockpit or the encasing material of a fairing. Then given the distance btw the surface and the antenna, an enclosing fairing might have been too much pain for a marginal gain.

Luneberg reflector ?

German military struggles with hardware problems

24 out of 43 C-160 transport planes are currently available

42 of the Luftwaffe’s 109 Eurofighter jets and 38 of its 89 Tornadoes are ready to fly.

The navy acknowledged this week that it couldn’t send any of its Sea Lynx helicopters to an international anti-piracy operation because of cracks in the tails

Germany, which wants to become a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, will send further weapons shipments to Iraq by chartering massive Antonov transport planes from Ruslan Salis, a Russian-Ukrainian company.

The plan has been criticized by some lawmakers because Western governments including Germany have imposed sanctions against Russia over its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Source:

http://news.yahoo.com/

Airstrikes alone will not work. ISIS will simply blend into the Sunni population who is giving them support. You cannot discern the difference between ISIS and civilians from 20,000+ feet.

Israel learned this lesson in Gaza. Air power alone was ineffective and the Israelis were forced to use tanks and troops.

Rectification:
The materials used by the Israelis (locally made) proved to be ineffective and detrimental to the success of their strategy.

It’ was the first war that IDF has ever lost. And not really the good time for that.

EDIT:
map of the last strikes :

[ATTACH=CONFIG]231997[/ATTACH]

Source:
http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2014/09/world/isis-airstrikes-syria/?hpt=hp_t1

that’s a really twisted argumentation.

Export customer does not have that kind of assets until now because they couldn’t afford them. it does not means that the need was not there.

The 35 bring those eq. cap. This have to be factored in.

If LM build tommorrow a stretched version of teh 35 that can carry so much fuel that it won’t need a single refueling to strike anything anywhere in the world, what would you says to nation buying i not to have to sustain a tanker fleet ?

This is exactly the same.

Au wants Growler mainly because they could have to face the tip of the technology in Counter-Stealth techniques and because they alrdy have a siszable force of SH that they intend to operate. Also it give them an edge in EW, what their geo localisation is a prudent move to do (counter state sponsored-hacking nuisance etc…*).

Do we see any other export nation buying Growler in par with F35? No.

*Imagine Au fallen victim to a large cyber attack. Will the UN or the US come to their help without any proof or who is behind teh attack ? By deploying their own jammer force, they can oblitarate (hieratic asynchronous retaliation) any will of doing so . IMOHO every major nation in asia should have their own Jammer force. Ideally carried on a fast jet to be more survivable

Yes and it does not include the gosht fleet of supporting asset that won’t be needed.

Clearly something they have missed since it’s was the very point of the program…

http://breakingdefense.com/2014/09/gao-draft-slams-f-35-on-unaffordable-costs-8-8b-over-legacy-fighters/

No comment on this, read the whole article. There are many large numbers floating around on the sustainment costs of the F-35, GAO has been consistently wrong since the reset, however. The full report will be interesting for sure.

Boring…

I wonder if the GAO were deprived on any PC and Word software and given back feather and ink, how they would compare the drop in their cost efficiency.

… That’s much cheaper ! Let’s invest in duck and goose for the sake of our nation!

…. ok but to do what ?

What type of targeting is that?

It’s hard to see any bombs or shell falling down. If that a missile, it has a pretty good accuracy… Strange…

In the last seconds of the video, the camera seems to wait for a late arrivant to close the distance then climb to stay clear of the blast…. Suicide bomber ?