Affordable stealth won’t have ever existed without a tri-services program. You can say everything you want abt the 35 but it brings high quality stealth aircraft in small country like Netherlands (sry guys have to make a choice for an example).

Think it this way: How many years would hve the NthAF waited to get a plane from EADS with the stealth cap the 35 brings to them?

My idea tonight range around half a century… Billions of extra $ and a load of pilot/infantery men killed in OP.

What’s your take?

when sold to South Africa we recievied a large amount of red whine. This is part of the offsetes,

Now I know why Fr shld buy Gripens. We will get quicker a positive exchange balance! How many Chateau Lafite for a Gripen? How many Gripen can you trade for a Chapon ?

Stupid we are. We should have known that well before! Burn down Dassault-aviation plants and raise castrated roaster on the place! Oh… wait…
😉

[JokeMode=Off]

[…]As it is, the Il-476 is the wrong airframe with the right engines whereas the Y-20 is the right airframe with the wrong engines.

Do we know that much about the Y-20 that you can compare it to a proven airframe that have a rational potential of improvement measurable better than a simple touch of a finger on a printed picture?

Really, I don’t know much about the Cn bird. But I am stunned reading you here, you that is used of posting argumented comments.

Rafale is a ‘Joint’ program is it not?

yes. And a rather successful one (technically).

However, I am not sure that this emphasis will be followed with advanced versions (chop off the perf margin for easier access to the market).

But once again, overall, the RAND shows here a rather blinded view of events. I wonder what they are running after. Does a RAND type of think-tank have to be sensational nowadays? Damn, we have alrdy the Guardians and alikes 😉

Ouch, not the time to practice that barell-roll for the demo :rolleyes:

great analysis.

But keep in mind that Ru is an oil country. They does not hve to care as much as others for efficiency. If it’s cheap to build, straightforward to use and infrastructure free to operate, there you can go.

That’s a bad analogy to make regarding the development of avionics and microelectronics among the various different countries. I read somewere that the latest Flankers to enter Russian AF service Su-30SM are fitted with Indian designed (and produced?) mission computers. I believe the ‘back end’ of the SM’s radar is essentially Indian?

That’s why I wrote that India did a “Breakthrough” with the Teja. But since it took years to achieves since the program is late, this is what I feel right to call a “painful breakthrough”.

I think we are on the same line here Levsha (unless my English).

FMS is a powerful tool. As I have said before, if Fr don’t score more sells it’s not because of their products, but because of their middle men organized view of the market. You don’t build an empire that way… You burn Rome.