Why would cutting 8% of the planned production number lead to a death spiral? It is also the one that has progressed the least — the other two have progressed much further and are closer to finalization. Also there are no international partners.

8℅ reduction means there extra space for F18. Boeing need production rate of less than 50 while F35 need production rate of 150 and that 150 extensively depend on foreign orders. Trump will also found out that EU will not stand with him against China or Middleast . He has little incentive to make US weopons cheaper for EU or use EU based parts in them.

I don’t think the threat has gone away entirely. Russia still maintains a sizable force of bombers including those same cruise missile armed Tu-22Ms which were such a threat back in the day. The F-14D at least was clearly better suited for interception over the F/A-18E or F/A-18F. Yet that final variant was only built in small numbers.

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Actually you don’t need tu22m for saturated attack. Su-34 can theoretically carry 3000L fuel tank on center line and 8 antiship missiles. This make carrier completely ineffective. The only advantage of tu22m upgrades is if missiles are internally carried and launched at Mach 2 dash from aircraft.

There is a zero percent chance this will happen.

Trump again mentioned F18 and F35 in same sentence. There will be a lot of pressure on F35 programme to cut down costs or make it more expensive for exports. That is assuming Trump does not discover F35 compromised by Chinese or F35 programme funding his opponenets in congress or just plain recession like F22. there is a lot of headwinds for F35.

Irak need large AWACS that look deep inside other countries and has full real time ground survellence capabilities. AWACS will save money in protecting ground radars from insurgents. And also advanced long range MLRS system with saturated bomblets.

Yes, Russia has put a lot of resources into its military. Of that there is no question.

That Russia’s economy is based on the export of oil and gas is an objective fact.

…and yes, I get that it is a source of great pride for Russians that they still launch people into space. (should I make a list of the technologies in which Russia is not self sufficient? :rolleyes: )

what are those technologies? . there is not a single important thing in this world where Russian money/resource/technology not involved.
basically 50% of world automobile transport emission control depend on Russia.

http://www.mining.com/norilsk-nickel-buys-soviet-era-copper-concentrate-1-1-billion/
Norilsk is a top 10 mining company with its ADRs trading in New York affording the company a $25 billion market value. The company produces roughly a fifth of the world’s nickel, mainly used in steelmaking, and half the world’s palladium used in autocatalysts to reduce emissions.

All Boeing commercial planes of past 25 years have Russian design input and 45% of advanced titanium used in Boeing products is from Russia.

http://boeing.mediaroom.com/2013-05-31-Boeing-Commercial-Airplanes-Engineering-Realigns-for-Future-Growth-and-Competitiveness
The company, which marks its 100-year anniversary in 2016, will establish engineering design centers in Washington state, South Carolina and Southern California. The centers will operate independently but cooperatively with one another and with the existing Commercial Airplanes engineering design center in Moscow, Russia.

Russia is the real advanced economy that doesnot involve itself in sales/marketing/after sales support with direct consumers but only supply intermediary industrials. because a lot of non engineering services can make a lot of money than engineers and create dysfunctional over expensive cost of living for engineers.

Hopsalot, countries are not stores, simply as that:
they have this thing called internal market that made the difference.
So you would find that USA are one of the greatest producer of both oil and gas than manufactured goods, just their internal comsumption of such products is so high that they have to resort into importation of both.

USA consumes Oil/Gas because it hasn’t been investing Nuclear/hydro on scale needed. Plus it need all this transport as there is little concept of trains with population density on coasts. Plus all the dollar printing based wealth end up in Middleast and China. where Russia has to develop new methods to squeeze money out of these people.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/markets/2016/03/19/largest-us-refinery-now-belongs-saudi-arabia/81974062/
Largest U.S. refinery now belongs to Saudi Arabia

that’s why I give hint. That Russia is the only superpower that can discipline Middleast with military force.

On the other side nations like Norway having a comparative lesser oil production is still a great exporter of it because its own internal market doesn’t need more than a little fraction of it.

Norway is not example of advanced nation. infact Norway is always in saving mode. always live in fear of running out of oil/gas reserves. small fleet of F-16 fighters. trying to go into electric car. putting its money in foreign markets with a lot of them in low yield safe bonds.
Russia invests in big fighters, big bombers, big transport, big AWACS, big airfuellers, big UAVs, multiple space ports, with training spans across thousands of kms and bases well spread around all the way to Arctic. because it has confidence on its labor force and foreign Oil/Gas investors will likely to be in Russia than anyplace else in the world. as only Russia give that reserves, technologies and building pipeline system to the markets.
On top of that Russia invests huge in intelligence on all levels. that give it insights to new business in West and highly accurate decisions.

https://techcrunch.com/2009/05/26/facebook-takes-that-200-million-investment-from-the-russians-at-a-10-billion-valuation/
Facebook Takes That $200 Million Investment From The Russians At A $10 Billion Valuation

Why look up some data if you two can bicker, instead?

Russia produce third largest number of software developers behind China and India and highest in skill set. your statistics is not capturing the labor productivity .
Plus the capital budgets of Gazprom and few other energy companies easily exceed $150b a year. construction alone will be worth $1Triliion per year. when world cup standard 11 cities are added for hotels and transports. . I don’t think even China can manage pollution in 11 cities at same time for conducting world cup.

This is sign of highly efficient low unemployment country

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/russian-theme-park-battle-intensifies-as-dreamworks-signs-local-partner-955621
Three seperate film-themed parks — from DreamWorks, NBC Universal and Viacom/Sony — are set to open in Russia by 2018

http://www.worldpropertyjournal.com/real-estate-news/russia/moscow-real-estate-news/european-shopping-centre-development-report-2015-cushman-wakefield-russia-retail-market-report-maxim-karbasnikoff-justin-taylor-moscow-retail-market-data-2015-9024.php
Russia Overtakes France as Europe’s Largest Shopping Mall Market

biggest reason for Erdogan apology was Turkish constructin firms ban. Turkey never had chance to get annual contracts on this scale from any other country.

https://www.emis.com/blog/russia-will-not-sign-new-deals-turkish-builders-%E2%80%93-putin
Some 300 Turkish construction companies are working in Russia under $50bn deals and these contracts will not be affected by the Russian sanctions on Turkey, Bloomberg reported

latin America is not an effective place to use resources. yy own estimation is that within 2 years Russia will get diversified transport access infrastructure independent of EU and add that procurement of new systems. than EU will start thinking about disarming itself.

countering space systems.

http://rbth.com/defence/2016/12/28/russian-armed-forces-14-stronger-in-2016-defense-minister-shoigu_670263
According to First Deputy Commander of the Russian Aerospace Forces Lieutenant General Pavel Kurachenko, by 2018 the aerospace forces intend “to create a closed radar field for the ground Missile Attack Warning System and begin deploying elements of the system for countering space systems, which is equipped with weapons based on new physical principles.”