I would not say that, first everything depends in radar and IRST capabilties and the target detectability, and computer power, the rest is engines, give that to a Eurofighter or Su-35 and i bet they will beat one day a so called 5 Gen fighter

you’re assuming the ef and su will upgrade, yet the f-35 will stay the same, not a good bet

some tend to resort to abuse when they have nothing left to say
for me it has been an interesting thread and i come away with

the f-18,22,35 has a 25-40 deg higher aoa but a lower roll rate per sec

directional rwr/spectra rwr is used on several planes, including our 25 yr old hornets
the osf, spectra rwr target range for land based radar is about 40k, the rwr alone may be greater for ranging a fixed transmission from different bearings
the example of BAE a2a ranging
http://www.megasociety.net/noesis/167/10_files/frame.htm#slide0004.htm
turned out to be BAE/USGov new tech for the f-35 that was patented in 2005
http://www.freshpatents.com/-dt20091217ptan20090310664.php?type=description

the passive a2a target range of the mica ir isnt anywhere near 60k and seems to be limited to a flat trajectory chase range on a rwr or ir bearing
dassault or thales arent claiming a2a ranging data for long range missile launch

TMor mentioned some of the weakness he saw in the rafale
http://forum.keypublishing.com/showpost.php?p=1550922&postcount=391
which i replied were in the pipeline to fix or not really needed, eg engine
http://forum.keypublishing.com/showpost.php?p=1550922&postcount=391
edit, to date the planed hms and towed array havent eventuated yet

the rafale had some rcs reduction in the original plan and later added a saw pattern to various parts
the various equipment protrusions from the skin would raise the rcs needing to try to be managed

in conclusion i see rafale as a good plane for its designed parameters but i havent seen any of the magical qualities some profess

Er, that $4b would have had to be spent no matter what choice RAAF made. Operating F-111’s doesn’t come for free and that cost was hardly unforseen. If Super Hornet hadn’t been chosen, then either F-111 or the legacy Hornets would have required further airframe – .

jason he knows this,
its possible that cooky is our token whinging-pom here

I must have forgotten that ….?!

Details of the most thrilling time of you claimed service time?! .

i guess ‘tongue in cheek’ escapes you, some would say you are becoming quite pathetic
http://www.sponauer.com/ANDYBUSH/index.html

gee i wish you would stop embarrassing yourself to other members, i guess the penny still hasnt dropped for you

for a bit more balance
For the F/A-22, development costs are estimated at $28.7 billion which is a 127% increase over the 1986 estimates;
planned development time has risen from 9 years to 19 years
the initial operational capability date has slipped over 9 years from March 1996 to December 2005.
Average unit procurement costs have also increased to $153 million, representing
almost a 122% increase from 1988

Interesting figures, (BTW Toan the Typhoon price flyaway is £42m).

Australia has had to purchase bridging fighters to avoid a fighter gap. so add another $4 billion to our total.

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=defense&id=news/awst/2010/03/22/AW_03_22_2010_p59-210640.xml
And I love the bit in here where the f-111 is described as useless… and the f-35 is following its path.
http://opinion.globaltimes.cn/commentary/2010-03/515744_2.html

now now, cooky, lets be fair and not spin it, as per toan’s link the current rafale cost is 40 mil euro and i guess is flyaway and you really need to look at say german cost as the pound has collapsed and doing a euro conversion wouldnt be accurate
what is the typhoon total program unit cost with r&d added like toan did

this quote is interesting
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aZ1wUY5wyG8A&refer=europe-redirectoldpage
Eurofighter, conceived 20 years ago for air defense against Soviet MiGs, is at least six years late and the cost has tripled to more than $100 billion.
The total average cost of a Eurofighter is as much as $130 million in 2004 dollars

a bit more googling and we have 180 mil pound including r&d
http://www.realitymod.com/forum/f22-military-technology/40669-typhoon-eurofighter-costs-over-138-million-each.html