Given the volatility of today Bundestag, is it worth adding lines around what says the MoD when the hike in budget will favor decision from operational? There was a clear industrial strategy draw in the sand: army stuff got the priority and the aerospace sector got R&D. Whatever Airbus would say won’t worth much against the reality if the requirement stand for less than a decade and must field realistic pricing.

With German adaptation an F-35 will see more leverage effect than a Typhoon that is already more expensive.

As a side note, I don’t see how the US would have politically fielded an API on their bestseller aircraft that can be readily adapted to carry nuke… Surrealistic.

they could simulate blended red LO components among a more classical opposing force. That would make the case for the PLAAF for example and their J20s. Having IRST on each airframe should allow them to get cohesion in a dynamic 20/30km cube of space and the mix of red 117 and IRST fitted F-16 would be a good simulation for this.

Otherwise, their 117 are unmanned and the 16 are used as chase (I don’t understand otherwise why you would need a chase aircraft with two pilots).

Israel strikes Gaza Hamas sites after rocket attacks

Israel’s air force followed a number of raids on Hamas sites on Friday with more air strikes in the early hours of Saturday, targeting weapons manufacturing sites, a weapons warehouse and a military compound, the Israel Defense Forces said
Gaza’s Shifa hospital said that two bodies of Palestinians were found under the rubble of a Hamas military site bombed by Israeli planes overnight, bringing the death toll in the past 24 hours to four, with 160 injuries. The two other fatalities came when Israeli troops fired on crowds in Gaza during clashes on Friday
Of the three rockets fired at Israel, Israel’s military said it had intercepted one with its Iron Dome defence system, one was found on wasteland and another landed in Sderot late on Friday. No casualties were reported

Source:
The BBC

Wrong link!

. Les appareils seront modifiés par rapport aux Rafale français. Ils n’auront pas de module nucléaire, ni ne bénéficieront des liaisons de communication Otan. En revanche, ils seront équipés du pod Sniper de l’américain Lockheed Martin, un capteur optique et laser qui permet de mettre en œuvre les bombes à guidage laser.

————–

The airframe will be modified compared to the French Rafale. They will not have any nuclear module, nor will they benefit from NATO communication datalinks. On the other hand, they will be equipped with the Sniper pod of the American Lockheed Martin, an optical and laser sensor that makes it possible to use laser guided bombs.

No nuclear tech/no NATO Datalink / LM Sniper pod

Source (as above):
Le Monde.fr

Bulgaria’s ‘pilot president’ Radev flies Rafale fighter during visit to France

[ATTACH=CONFIG]257505[/ATTACH]

A skilled fighter pilot, Radev was commander of the Bulgarian Air Force before resigning to stand in the 2016 presidential elections. He took office as head of state and, as such, commander-in-chief of the armed forces in January 2017.

He was accompanied on the December 6 flight by Captain Jean-Guillaume Martinez, the Bulgarian President’s office said.

Source:
Sofia Globe.com

Voilà, SH’est fini. […]*: Canada to kill Boeing Super Hornet deal

Canada’s Liberal government will announce next week plans to proceed with an interim buy of used F/A-18 Hornets from Australia, dashing Boeing’s hopes of a Super Hornet sale, three sources familiar with the situation told Reuters, according to a Dec. 5 report.

Canada intended to buy new Super Hornet aircraft to bridge the gap between its aging CF-18 Hornet fleet and a new fighter jet. However, after Boeing lodged a legal complaint accusing Canadian aerospace firm Bombardier of dumping commercial planes on the U.S. market, Canadian government officials — including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — put a hold on the purchase and began looking at other options.

Source:
DefenseNews.com

*from a song of J.L Aubert “C’est fini” (this is the end)
From the Doors also:
This is the end, beautiful friend
[…], the end
Of our elaborate plans, the end

On the contrary –

1. According to the Swiss gent the Eurofighter’s manpower costs were higher but it was likely to have cheaper spares. Which would make the EF more competitive in a country like India where labour costs were much much lower than the West.

There is a slight problem here: downtime. Manpower hours are not something completely de-correlated with the planed activity. If you have more maintenance hours (man hour can not be solved all the time by adding ppl around the airplane – some of the work to be done is iterative and might need full completion of another task to be itself completed).
So by being more labour incentive, the Typhoon might log more downtime, which in turn led to added airframe to complete the same job. Hence the added cost.

But then it would be very difficult to make a rational comparison in the absence of info regarding the number for the Rafale .