I always thought that Typhoon with its greater A2A orientation had a slight edge on Rafale in terms of fit with the existing orbat. Not enough, obv.

That would give them Typhoon, Rafale, Su-30MKI, Tejas and maybe still the M2K in the near future.

Forgetting MiG-29 and Jaguar.

In real life, an EF (w or w/o Pirate) wouldn’t survive against an F 22.

Surely you see the irony in this statement…

http://bmpd.livejournal.com/453792.html

PiBu on the Yak-130.

-Currently, the one production line @ Irkut can make 30 planes per year.
-In December the RuMOD ordered 55 planes with 10 options (12 were ordered from Sokol previously) for delivery by 2015
-MOD looking at potentially over 200 Yak-130
-A targeting pod is under devlopment

Specifically for Yak-130 or for other aircraft also? I don’t remember the last time I saw a targeting pod on Russian aircraft. =/

But on the other hand, looking at the US budget problems, who knows what will happen in 5 years? One thing is sure the US military cant supply unlimited funds to the industrial military complex any longer.

Yep; the current fiscal environment is here to stay for the forseeable future, and the US military needs to get on board with that and think about what that means in the context of the challenges it will face in the coming decades, and where their priorities should be.

As it is it’s like they’re hanging on just waiting for the return of Reagan or GWB to make all their dreams come true, and it’s just nonsense. If there is another surge of funding like that in the next two decades it is either because (1) a madman has been elected to the presidency intent on crippling the United States or (2) because there is an imminent threat of great power conflict, neither of which should actually be causes for celebration in the halls of the Pentagon.

The funny thing in the story is how little the US actually get from their 700 billion budget, compared to other nations. Nr 2 China spends 1/6 of that amount.

I lived in Oklahoma for a while and visited 2 airbases there, its just amazing the amount of money they waste on things no other nation would dream of doing. The ANG still have quite a few obsolete aircraft just eating on the Budget.

Yeah, it’s depressing to see them have so much and yet waste so much. But it’s almost inevitable that that would be the case: the US military has never had to exercise fiscal restraint, never had to make hard calls about what to fund and what not to fund — the answer till now has always been ‘everything’. Largess breeds laziness whereas hardship breeds focus and realism.

The real problem for America are its structural issues that will hamper it in adjusting to new realities. Like, for instance, the complete corruption of Congress, i.e. penetration by the military-industrial complex, that make the kinds of reforms I suggested in the previous post almost impossible to implement. Further, the almost sacred awe with which the military is regarded in American society, such that there is only one acceptable direction for military spending — up. Conservatives often talk about the evils inherent in public institutions — bloated bureaucracy, mission creep, etc. What they always seem to miss, however, is that the Pentagon is the largest such institution around, and not only is it no exception to the rule, it actually illustrates those runaway tendencies better than any other partly because its mission is so open-ended and partly because of the societal reverence I outlined earlier: the military is almost entirely shielded from the kinds of criticism and oversight that other institutions are subjected to on a regular basis.

It’s funny, I’m often described and dismissed as rabidly anti-American and as a self-hating cultural relativist, etc. But when you get right to the heart of things, that’s simply not true at all. I do indeed oppose American imperialism in both its many overt and more subtle forms. The list of crimes committed under the American flag is a long one. I do indeed rage against the way in which the flaws and excesses in American society are inflicted upon the rest of us on account of its wealth and power. And I do indeed believe that Australia’s best interests lie in standing apart from the great power game of the 21st century. But I also recognise that the current world order, operating under the hegemonic influence of the United States, is preferable to many possible worlds. I don’t want to live under Chinese hegemony any more than anyone else does, because for all of the west’s flaws we are still the leading lights of human society — and our unprecedented level of self-criticism is an expression of that. I also recognise that being the more ‘civilised’ society is no guarantee of victory: there is a long history of more cultured civilisations being overthrown, surpassed, or made subject to relative barbarians, from the Greeks by the Romans to the Romans by the Germanic warrior tribes, to Europe by the United States and Soviet Union. Like outgoing US Defence Secretary Panetta, I don’t want to see the United States as the next ‘failed empire on the dustheap of history’, but unlike almost everyone else who shares that sentiment I recognise that to avoid this fate requires acknowledging and adapting to a changing world (and yes, sometimes even living up to our high-handed rhetoric, both at home and abroad) rather than seeking to stonewall it with blind nationalism and denials of reality.

Wait, what thread am I in? Oh yeah, F-35 suxxxx. :p

A funny thing will happen when Lo Drones can fill the attack role better in the future. The f-35 will be obsolete. It will be interesting to see what happens when some nations are stuck with this aircraft for the next 35 years.

I’d be interested to see a ‘drone coordinator’ F-35 variant, dropping the fighter pretensions. Extend forward fuselage to accommodate second seat, enlarge wing for additional fuel, support for NGJ, etc.

Yes … a midget larger than any fighter France has ever fielded. :rolleyes:

No, really, this is a ridiculous criticism, if for no other reason than that AMCA, KF-X and J-31 are fifth-generation designs in the same weight/thrust category as F-35.

HAL has to deliver a total of 222 of which they have delivered ~ 110 and have to deliver ~ 98 complete build Su-30Mki in the next 6 years and 14 coming from Irkut as SKD kits (total ~ 112)

I’m wondering what happens when FGFA is inevitably delayed. I assume that’s what the MMRCA extension option is designed to cover, but I wonder if it might not also result in further extension of Su-30 production to cover the gap.

First, I have serious doubts about orders from Russia. As it’s long on promises and short on fact.

Personally, I too have my doubts that Russia’s production lines can meet the orders stipulated in the given timeframes. But certainly RuAF’s Flanker orders are far more credible than USAFs two million F-35s produced at $5 a pop, lol.