Between this and the Tu-204s and An-148s….yeah it is kind of absurd.

It’s difficult for me to see it as anything other than a criminal waste of resources and a symptom of the corruption that runs through the Russian state.

…. the wonder plane that wasn’t. For all the hype and conjecture about its capabilities, the reality is that it was a fatally flawed design that ultimately achieved little at great cost.

F-35 thread is —>

Supposedly they are interested in the Su-34 however.

I guess these are being considered as replacement for VPAF’s Su-22s, yet it still seems rather strange. With their limited resources I would’ve thought they would be more interested in a platform offering greater flexibility e.g. Su-30SM.

I’m curious what VPAF is going to do to replace its 100+ MiG-21s. Tejas Mk. 2 would seem an ideal replacement from a strategic, operational and financial perspective, but can Vietnam afford to wait almost another decade to receive them?

Even Australia that is presumably buying 100 F-35 only upgrading two airbases at this point at huge cost with recent budgets cuts to decrease domestic scientists.

Australia is truly a master of ‘paper’ capabilities with less depth than a toddler’s swimming pool. Makes for good recruitment ads during the footy though.

The same budget would allow for a larger number of Gripens which, assuming even vaguely intelligent planning, would translate to greater resilience of the air combat capability as a whole. Add to this that Gripen was built around the Swedish requirements for dispersed & austere operations, and it’s by far the superior choice for anyone really concerned about potentially having to fend off a superior aggressor; that’s what it was built for. In contrast, F-35 was built to superpower specifications to beat up on Iran and other second-tier nations. For smaller nations — i.e. smaller than Poland or Australia — F-35 is a political wager, not a serious military capability. Norway, for example, needs America to protect its interests and claims in the Arctic against Russia; that’s what drove its F-35 acquisition and why it is unconcerned with the 2/3rds reduction in planned numbers: any actual combat utility the F-35 acquisition provides is simply a bonus.

Indian Air Force plans to upgrade ageing Jaguars hits roadblock

This is becoming more and more of a joke. You can’t deliver an UPGRADE program — designed to extend the useful service life of existing airframes — nearly a decade late and hope to gain more than a fraction of the benefits that were first anticipated. This program will not be complete until mid-2020s, by which time the Jaguars will have, what, five years of service life remaining? It would be better to cancel this debacle outright and put the funds into increased Tejas production/development.

I think we could be looking at a Typhoon refresh by 2030 to go alongside the mooted Rafale NG work.

With the UK & Italy committed to F-35, I find this unlikely.