In total there are 29 missile systems, and we can safely assume that some of them would be deployed around nuclear installations. So, how would this change any Israeli tactics, if it comes down to an aerial strike?

More F 15Is and more bombs.

Does ‘God’s chosen people’ ring your bell at least a little bit?

I think that the interpretation of this expression is more like God chose the Jews to pass them His words among all the people, and less in the sense the Nazis, for example dismiss other nations/races. OTOH, I don’t eliminate the possibility that hardcore Jews would give the same meaning to these words.

they said most of them not some of them and they are not in front line service.

OK, so must of them and not some of them. But I don’t agree with the “not in front line service” part. The F 15 Cs are in front line service and they do have the F 100. And even the ANG F 16 (traditionally for continental US defense) served in 1999, 2001, 2003 wars.

and why introduce a new engine which is not backward compatible.

that is exactly done with AL-31 FM series. u can upgrade the old one with increase thrust into any flanker.

The Flanker family is younger than the F15 A/C, and in the same time more export-oriented. When the F 15 was modified into F 15E no one bothered to make the new engine compatible with older airframes–maybe because in that era (good ol’ cold war days) a new fighter was introduced each 10-15 years. I’m sure that no one figured in those days that until dec. 2005 the # 1 USAF air superiority fighter would still be F 15C. The Flankers were built later and exported in large numbers starting from 1990s, i. e. in a period when AFs around the world would keep a fighter for 20-30 years. Maybe this is why an “older” Flanker could be modernized with more powerfull engines that still has the same dimensions as the old ones.

The F 35 isn’t slow, and in no way will be slower than th f 18A.

so here another one from GE life extension about half million an engine . why u need life extension after 15 year service at most.
http://www.geae.com/aboutgeae/pressc…_20050523.html
and i dont think there that many F-15/16 more than 20 years old in frontline service without expensive engine overhaul.

It’s true, both the GE an P&W engines have been extesively overhauled, but they accumulated 4000-5000 hours before that. Moreover, many of them served in combat 1991 and 1999. Combat wear and tear is different from burning gas in operations like Deny Flight.

We have a 33 year old Mi-8 and it is still going strong. Talk about short service life.

You forget to mention how many hours/year these helos fly in Romanian AF. Is no great proof af serviceability if an AF has a helo/fighter for 33 years but it flew 10 hours/year…

Just to give a little hint how seriously westerners take longevity…The F-22 Aircraft Structural Integrity Program (ASIP) required a structural test airframe be cycled through the equivalent of 40 years of flight operations.

What about the F 15E with service life of 16,000 hours :diablo: …

that 8000 hr life doesnot seem right. even National guards is replacing the engines from 1988 F-16 batch. hardly 4000 hr life at most. and Western engine cost atleast 3 times.

I think that’s a confusion. This ANG replacement program is a limmited one and concerns only units in Iowa, Ohia and Indiana. These A/Cs are blk. 42 and these have space for a larger engine, albeit there were fitted with smaller P&W 100. Some details about the program are in CodeOne: http://www.codeonemagazine.com/archives/2002/articles/oct_02/tulsa/index.html

OTOH, there are 30-20 years old F 15s and F 16s that still have thier originally engines, even if (in some cases) the engines were kit-upragded.

BTW, it’s naive to believe that an AF 31 is 3 times less costly than an GE 129/P&W 229…