If there were no F-35C we might actually see what could be done with the SH platform. :apologetic:

But no thrust-vectoring! SH is a workhorse, no sense trying to turn it into a Ferrari.

“Just because its new, doesn’t mean its good.”

I have seen this “new visual aesthetic” before… and it is ALWAYS HARDER to read, and harder to find the various functions.

Well it would be easier if they also adopted the stripped-down functionality that generally goes with the aesthetic. :p

I think web forums such as this one are a dying breed like newsgroups before them. They’re too ‘Web 1.0’ and out of step with the kinds of online experiences that folks expect and seek out these days. If nothing else this update suggests they’re at least aware of the problem.

Tejas Mk1 is an advance on MiG-21. Rather than risking getting into a situation where Rafale/Tejas Mk2 is late and needing to extend the life of MiG-21 aircraft, why not double Tejas Mk1 production? It’s a cheap insurance policy.

I imagine that they are planning to transition the production line from one model to another. If Mk. 2 is delayed they can simply continue producing Mk. 1. No need to make additional order until there is indication that it is needed. Given that it is a domestic program extending production would be relatively straightforward.

Just about every major defense program suffers delays. So, the F-35 is hardly breaking new ground. Plus, the F-35 is not just one aircraft but three. Nonetheless, it is late and that does impact the F-15 length of service.

I don’t blame LM for problems with the F-35 program, I blame the broken institutions — military and political — that produced such a program.

The lack of realism continues today. It is obvious that F-16s and other aircraft are not going to be replaced 1:1 by F-35, so the smart move in this era of austerity would be to start retiring aircraft and associated personnel now rather than spending even more money on upgrades and life extension programs.

F-15C/Ds are being upgraded because F-35 is late and F-22 production was stopped in anticipation of F-35. If it weren’t for the failings and broken promises of the F-35 program there’d be no need for the C/Ds to soldier on till 2030.

In Stephen Baxter’s novel Flood, in which the entire planet is drowned beneath rising waters over the course of several decades, there is at one point in the late 2030s described a flyover by an ‘ancient’ F-15 Eagle of vast refugee populations migrating across Texas. The continued service of the F-15 in this era, it is implied, is part of the general apocalyptic scenario of a civilisation that is slowly breaking down.

And yet back in reality, 2013, it now seems entirely plausible that F-15s could indeed still be around in the late 2030s. No apocalyptic scenarios needed, only the F-35 program. :diablo:

Yak-130@ LII
http://russianplanes.net/images/to105000/104146.jpg

Why do Yak 130s always seem to be armed, and with AAMs in this case! I thought Russia had turned away from notion of using Yak 130 as anything but trainer aircraft?