Nice pic of Vik with MiG-29K and Helo hovering above
http://www.balancer.ru/forum/punbb/attachment.php?item=358223&download=1

Beautiful picture…. Thanks for sharing!

if possible, three of the 4 would likely try to dump all their tranche one models.

now back to Canada.. this probably would’ve been very appropriate for them had politics been different

How so?

Could the Mig have dropped bombs in Bosnia and Libya?

I don’t know why everyone keeps insisting that all Canada needs is an interceptor. We do participate a lot within Nato and the UN. We want an aircraft that yes, can intercept Russian bombers over the artic, but also an aircraft that can support our ground troops if called upon.

Many air forces have ordered F-16 Block 50/52 in recent years, some are taking deliveries as we speak. Obviously these airframes will stay in service for at least the next 25-30 years. An aircraft sold today can’t be called junk.

Yes but do they come with the same restrictions and armament as what sheytanelkebir has stated that the Iraqi planes will come with?

As stated Mirage III/V, Mirage F1, Mirage 2000, J-35 and JAS-37 all offered good capabilities either on par of in some exception exceeding American products (F-5A/B) yet they did not sell well (or at all) to Europe or NATO.

American sells by default and both past history and current events show this to be true.

There is a reason why the F-5A/B was called the Freedom fighter. The Americans wanted their allies to have a more sophisticated aircraft than the hand me downs they were getting previously. It was made to be a cheap aircraft from the start. Regardless of how much better the European jets were… You can’t beat cheap.

And we all know why the F-104 was sold to so many countries… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_bribery_scandals

Apart from dysfunctional politics, she’d be a very good fit for Canadian needs.

True enough LOL… Although I don’t think we have the helicopters to fly from her!

i see..
eagle and hornet are too last gen
possibly eurofighter and rafale too

but F-35 is current gen but might not have the legs to cover Canada’s huge vastness..

perhaps the only thing Canada can do to stop hordes of submarine launched Pak-Fas is this

might as well.. Vancouver is already Chinese. The only obstacle left preventing Chinese domination of Canada is Toronto where they are at battle with the Indians.LOL!!!

It’s not that the Eagle and Hornet are last gen… Just that one is coming up to 40 years old and the other I think is a dead end.

Well, its your money to spend as you wish, but F-35 was never and will never be a current interceptor when cost efficiency is accounted for,
the only fighter that does it worse is F-18E.

I agree. Sorry if I sounded harsh in the last statement directed towards you. I think this is a problem we face. We went in with the notion that the F-35 was suppose to be a cheap fifth gen aircraft. Which is not going to be the case. I think that because we have already invested into the aircraft that politicians want to save face and stick with it. I think the super hornet and eagle are dead end aircraft. They may last for the next 10-20 years but that is all. We need something that can stay current longer.

Eurofighter and Rafale have the possibility of bridging that gap. They are in service with a few major air forces.. So I can see them being current up to when we next decide to purchase another aircraft. We have bought a number of foreign hardware for our military before. But I’m just not sure of the chances to get one of those inducted into our force structure.

The canadians hardly wish to keep F-35’s in the air 24×7 to monitor airspace for potential russian intruders. As such probably 90% of the ISR would be ground based or maritime, where the GH has proven ability. Getting a secondary modest A2A capability is not going to be very hard, and i am sure Japan would look to jump in. The canadians need to constantly look at having a capable early warning radar network in the west. The US already has a capable network in place, and there is already talk about canadians making a contribution to that. As a pure ISR platform, the GH beats the F-35 or any other tactical fighter hands down!

We don’t have our legacy hornets flying 24/7 to monitor our airspace. We have the North Warning System which is basically the DEW line. Why would you think that we need to keep fighters up patrolling the north 24/7/365?

And @ obligatory: Get over the F-106 wet dream…. It’s not going to happen! Why would we want that? If we wanted just an interceptor and one from the fifties, we would reinvent the Avro Arrow! You brought it up in another thread about Canada.