So, the MiG-29 was more expensive, you’re saying? I find that EXTREMELY hard to believe, honestly..

Not that hard. Remember they were comparing lifetime cost, and MiG-29 of the era was rated for 3000 hours (iirc) while its competitors were 6000 hours. So it would have required major MLU refurbishment, or replacement. Also, those early MiGs did not fulfill FAF requirements regarding displays, HUD, radios, navigation system…it would have required a significant upgrade right away. Only advantage in this regard were HMS and off-boresight missile, which had to be retrofitted to Hornet, but at the time it was not a requirement.

Not that it mattered, as political reasons ruled out Russian a/c anyway. USSR had just collapsed, nobody in Russia seemed to knew with whom to negotiate about possible trade, and so on. Russia btw. offered MiG-31 too, but it was rejected.

Single-engined was an early requirement which was dropped later when it was figured it wouldn’t bring as big a cost increase as feared.

got the finland eval info?

Not much has been published, but Hornet was a clear winner performance-wise, and second-cheapest after F-16.

Which one? Can’t translate the whole text 🙁

I don’t think they’re actually planning to move an entire assembly line to Finland and it likely isn’t even necessary. Patria (formerly Valmet) has assembled Hornets and NH90’s so end-assembly of Eurofighters should work out easily.

Report: Pentagon should scrap $40 billion aircraft carrier program

This link’s messed up…

Indeed. The media suggestion was that the Walrus picked up the trail just south of the English Channel. Sounds like the Dutch have been playing games a little.

Seems unlikely that a conventional sub could have trailed a battlegroup for thousands of km’s.

Whole “used Jaguars” scheme would make sense only for countries like say Sri Lanka, or some Latin American countries, countries which are basically broke but could use a strike aircraft even if it’s not too fancy. Upgrading Jaguars to match modern requirements is sensible only if you already have a large fleet & infrastructure for the type, like India does.

It’s too bad Nigeria no longer has Jaguars. They sure would be more useful against Boko Haram than F-7’s.

The 2kd is a terrain hugging aircraft with a TFR, a huge delta wing not suited for this type of OP and no… Canons. The latest Jag upgrade have radar, modern defensive and sensing suite plus… Canons. They have even a low alt optimized wing if it is ever needed.

But even if the Indians did lease or sell out Jaguars, they wouldn’t be the upgraded airframes but the oldest and least valuable ones. As for UK, I don’t think they have stored airworthy Jaguars left – just bunch of examples used in maintenance training, I believe.

Jaguar is an old style ‘bomb truck’, relatively simple and cost-efficient one-trick pony aircraft. But this kind of plane doesn’t fit to modern requirements where you have to hit precisely and avoid losses. To be useful it needs to be upgraded heavily and then it is no longer cheap. If one for some reason would want to acquire used attack aircraft, there are better options – retired Mirages or F-16’s, or recently retired French SEMs which were already upgraded to the max.

What is the powerplant on the PLANAF Liaoning ??? – sister ship to Kuznetsov (ex-Varyag, ex-Riga).

Her propulsion system was removed before her transfer to China – I presume she now has an all-Chinese powerplant? – and seems to generate less smoke than Kuznetsov.

Still oil-fired – but more modern ??

Ken

No Liaoning has the original power plant. The story that turbines were removed was false, made up to make the deal easier to accept politically.

Kuznetsov smoked in the Channel probably because they were working out to top speed or close. If you look earlier photos from the trip, it doesn’t seem to generate excess smoke. link