A-darter for the JF-17’s future version.

wow amazing. you miss a bit and this happens. twin tail conventional not delta canard me continues to think.

why would Turkey want something inferior (or equal level) to what they currently have and ordered? late block F-16s and F-35s?
but I agree, it could be a good chance for Pakistan and Turkey to make something new together.

Plus Turkey is shifting away from the US and the West and becoming Islamized, so they may have to face towards China and Pakistan by default as Israel and the US no longer trusts them.

Yes, there is some thought to that. Advantages of the JF-17 / Gripen over the F-16:

1. Full TOT and ability for TAI to do just as Orko says: take an airframe and integrate.
2. Replace older platforms cost effectively

Between, how about the J-10B for that? That’d be interesting in Turkish colors and would be a real pain for the Greeks; a sure M2000 and F-16 counter.

I definitely would like to see Turkey moving more towards a Turkey-Pakistan-China nexus. I have heard rumors of very close cooperation between Turkey and Pakistan under the table regarding some very sensitive technologies. Maybe a newer generation program may not be a bad idea.

Kopp is not a bad boy, he wishes to see Australia armed with the best weapons and will be willing to even exaggerate certain threats or capabilities to influence decision makers to that direction. He is doing what any patriot would do.

as for not being in a strategic location. I think AD was referring to New zealand?

yeah, I agree. Strategic location, I am not sure of. For instance the Straits of Mallaca are within Super Hornet range. Northern Australia borders China’s second Island chain.

@Aussie Digger, thank you for your unique POV. I guess we all have opinions. Good international citizen that jumps on every bandwagon the US comes up with.. hmm. Countries buy weapons based on threat perception, if Australia knows that China will be fielding a large number of flankers in the next 5-10 years, then any solutions for that period has to reflect some consideration of that perception.

@redgriffin I’d say what Flex used to say, he does a lot more technical analysis than most people in this forum. Between, SOC is also apparently in the panel of Carlo Kopp’s organization. The chart I was pointing to for your analysis of the ASRAAM did not come out of Mr. Kopp’s fantasies. I’d say that Mr. Kopp may have an exaggerated threat perception, but this does not mean he invents his own technical data. There is a tendency among internet fan boys, random readers and arm chair generals to paint people they don’t like by whatever color they choose. We must not fall into the trap of sharing their perceptions but instead look to analyze with an open mind and an investigative spirit. Based on this, we may choose to ignore the more xenophobic elements of Mr. Kopp’s work, and still hold on to the more technically correct points. Anyways, that’s what I think. Sorry if that wasn’t helpful.

Now that would be a wonderfull sight. Many years ago – I recall F-16’s escourting Chinese leaders in Pakistan’s airspace — good to see Jf-17’s take over that task.

You demand we provide:

One wonderful sight coming up at a Keypublishing forum near you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zePBN1MXQYk

Some thoughts on why the A-Darter is ideal for the JF-17. The generally lower Kinetic Energy (KE) of the JF-17 relative to FLANKERs would be compensated with the high KE and low aerodynamic drag of the missile – the A Darter is designed for minimal drag similar to the ASRAAM but superior in a number of ways. The Russian missile in comparison is relatively draggy.

Plus, with these longer-range, near BVR missiles and IRST, you can hunt silently. With a small low RCS airframe, this makes things very interesting.

Between, Australia, with its F-18s decided on a similar strategy when the went for the ASRAAM against a perceived threat from Chinese FLANKERs.

I’d like to stress the value of something like an RQ-170 for air combat

give it some advanced optical sensors and steer it over important area’s of operation, like say an enemy air base or the best attack route to a nuclear reactor, for extended periods of time, at extreme altitude and in complete stealth

it’ll be able to, completely by itself and completely passive, identify any jets, for example as they take off, or when they are moving at high altitude
then they could pass on this information by satellite, without getting detected or jammed, reducing enemy fighters to target coordinates for any ground or air unit with missile range. no friendly fire risks, and potential terminal guidance from the RQ-170 (using the satellite or HALEs outside the area as a medium) so missiles can come in undetected

The Sentinel is not particularly stealthy nor does it fly particularly high (its more of a mid altitude platform). Would get shot out of the sky pretty quick IMHO.