It is amusing, because of course the more one pumps up the capabilities of TPY-2, the more it becomes clear that the deployment of such a system so close to China represents a repeat of the Cuban Missile Crisis, to be approached in the same manner, i.e. by threatening to erase the southern aspect of the Korean peninsula from the map. China’s mistake here has been in speaking too softly and not wielding a big enough stick.

Except, of course, that the US does not in fact face “severe security threats from around the world”.

Americans (well, westerners in general) are such a precious lot, forever hyperventilating about basically trivial matters like ISIS, North Korea, etc. Of course constant fearmongering works both to keep the masses in line and the wheels of the military-industrial complex turning, which is the general idea.

I could erase most of the US fighter gap overnight: take a pen, start zeroing out squadrons with obsolescent aircraft. Problem solved. Of course Lockheed Martin would prefer solutions that funnel ever more taxpayer dollars into its gaping maw.

Don’t see no reason to host B61’s if you don’t have a believable way of delivering it.

No reason to host B61s in the first place.

You guys realise that colours do not actually exist, right?

It says manufacturing starting no earlier than the year of the contract. So signing a contract in 2017 for planes to be delivered from 2020 would be fine.

Of course there are other options such as Rafale, Typhoon, Super Hornet. The Eurocans seem too expensive for an air force that just a few years ago bought a batch of J-7s(!), while the latter would seem to be a politically laden deviation from existing practice. BAF does operate C-130s, but no American combat aircraft. But if they wanted an American aircraft, why not structure the tender to allow F-16?

If you have a 7,000km range missile, why do you need a plane to carry it?

Bombs are far more cost- and weight/volume-efficient than missiles. You only need enough range on the munitions to keep outside detection radius. The point of a VLO platform is that it allows you to get closer to the target so you can throw more explosives at it, rather than having to stand-off with a mere handful of expensive cruise missiles with small warheads.

This agreement is a political plot to set pressure on the USA to sell the F-35; nothing more.

Do You really think that ..

– Russia/MiG can develop a fifth generation type based on the MiG-29/-35 ??
– UAE can found the development of yet another fifth generation bird (besides TFX, KFX, FC-31, AMCA; … did I miss anyone?); alone and even more without any industrial base by now ?

Some guys are really funny.
Deino

The UAE can be rather delusional. To the extent that the proposal is real it is clearly part of a domestic industrial development drive, as otherwise it would make far more sense simply to buy into PAK FA. It probably still makes more sense to do that. J-31 would be another, more sensible option.