BTW,

Is the planned mine hunting suite going to be standard issue for the MH-60 or a specific version?

Till now reports about Chinese activity on Myanmar’s Coco Islands have generally been rubbished. But the latest has some photograpic evidence attached.

http://livefist.blogspot.com/2011/11/chinas-airbase-expands-on-coco-island.html

If that satellite pic really shows the Coco Islands the infrastructure down there really proves something is up.

As others have said, in short the Europeans CAN but they can’t afford to.

In many aspects the Typhoon and Rafale can already be considered ‘Generation 4.9’ fighters. All they lack is stealth.

OK, so the IRBIS array is a little smaller and less weight vs BARS array. And the IRBIS back end(all connected prossessing boxes) are newer, smaller and lighter.

So the IRBIS array are made up of gallium arsenide then?

No idea. Maybe it uses some GaAs/GaN elements, but the antenna design is essentially the same as the Bars PESA radar(Iribis is a derivative of Bars). I assume it just uses ferrite/LED phase shifters, no GaAs.

How about the N035 Irbis radar, the Gallium nitride are not constricted to any AESA arrays, it should get equally pros on a new PESA array.

“The Irbis multifunctional radar employs a 90cm passive phased array antenna mounted on a hydraulic actuator”

Even with those Hydraluic actuators, the N035 is reported less weight vs the BARS radar..
How can this be:confused:
Are Tikhomirov NIIP using any GaAs modules??

I read that was due to lighter onboard processing equipment compared to the Bars.

I’ve been reading reports and rumours about Russia researching Gallium Nitride technology and manufacturing GaN chips in participation with an Indian firm. Are these meant for the PAK-FA’s radar or is it just general R&D to develop GaN-based hardware?

Do I see a rotary UAV of some sort in the smaller ‘side’ hangar?

And there are definitely more than 8 VLS cells in that video. Assuming CAMM will be quad-packed it could carry upto 64 of them.

Together with the 8 SSM launchers and torpedo tubes I don’t see what people are complaining about. Tomahawks are already carried by the Astutes; how many navies put long-range LACMs on their surface ships anyway?

AFAIK Americans won’t even allow its companies to reply to RFI if the product is not on offer. As mentioned in the recent Dubai Air Show reports, no F 35 models were shown because the plane was NOT on offer.

Denying Arrow, ELTA-2052 etc. is because Americans are offering similar systems themselves. they obviously don’t want the Israelis to get a contract for things developed with U.S money and tech. And India is always being offered higher tech than what is on offer for Pakistan.

AEGIS was on offer for example.

Hmm… still.. The RFI is the earliest stage of procurement: there isn’t even a stated intent to buy that particular product. And thus far the US has only offered India things which already have contemporaries elsewhere. Like offering AEGIS for which Russian(Rif-M) and European(Aster-30) options were also available. Previously it had offered India the Patriot-2 when India asked for the PAC-3, and the PAC-3 when India previously expressed interest in a long range SAM/ABM system. Not something like THAAD…

And keep in mind that there are many voices in the US that could derail any such sale by pointing out MTCR regulations(like for Arrow-2) or geopolitical considerations(Indian ABM capability causing a missile arms race with Pakistan and China).