Nice list, but the Casa Cn-235’s flown by Ireland are not used in the transport role but are tasked with maritime patrol.Both were recently upgraded to Persuader fit by EADS, which includes the option to fit Harpoons or excoets.

well not jealous, but there would be more of a sense of competition between the two.

hardly, the US has no realistic alternative but to see it through and order 1000+ of them

ie it is older and more obsolescent

production of the CVFs have hardly begun, what is the advantage of being operational now?

operational for 30 years? lol, the F-35 will STILL BE IN PRODUCTION in 30 years

they need 2 major upgrades to even approach the sensor capabilities of the base F-35 (no AESA, no DAS, etc)

plus being the mainstay of US forces, you can expect continual upgrades for at least 50 years

um yeah, that is the sacrifice you make for STOVL

you can make the same argument in favor of ANY conventional carrier plane, like say the SuperHornet or even the F-35C

good thing the F-35B carries bombs, missiles and fuel tanks internally

Got a good laugh out loud there, i feel much better now, thanks for that abbreviated suggestion to try to take the seriousness of this thread down.They have no choice but to see it through now, but how much will it cost at the end of the day?well the way things are going the JSF might jsut about start rolling of the production line in 30years.The point of them being operational now is that the Rafale is a proven design.so the JSF is going to carry all these extra fuel tanks internally and take up the room of the ordanance, so what are you going to attack your enemy with???? oh also what about storm shadow, where are you going to mount this??As for STOVL, it is a novelty, like TVC on some other fighters, its nice to have but not at the expense of range and weapons load as is the case here.Dassault have a planned upgrade for the Rafale with AESA and other sensor updates which should be operational if it gets the go ahead well before JSF’s are declared good to go.

The JSF’s future is up in the air(pardon the pun) though the Rafale is operational right now, in present day and will be operational for at least 30years, and who knows if the UK ordered some it could spark interest from other nations, besides the French will more than likely put their machines through 2 major upgrades.The Rafale has a higher weapons payload than the B version of JSF that is to be flown from the carriers, and as for stealth as soon as you bolt on bombs, missiles, fuel tanks, stealth is right out the window anyway.As for the price, i have been looking at a few and the latest credible source i could find were from 2006 and the Rafale was alot cheaper than the JSF by about $50million dollars.This does seem a bit high and has probably changed since.So i am open to correction here.

*edited

Israel is not located in Europe…

Exactly, thats why he said bend the rules like in the eurovision, i.e. let someone in that isnt part of europe.

So the next batch are essentially navalised MiG-35s with tvc, (if true) this is starting to sound like the MMRCA consolation prize for MiG.

Or maybe a sign that MMRCA will go in MiG’s favor and also that IN wants the best navalised fighter that is available to them and it just happens to this new K model!

What squadron did you fly with IRAF_PILOT?

If India went for the Mig 35, it would make all aircraft in the inventory of Russian origin and be putting all it eggs in one basket. That is not desirable as you would be at the mercy of of one country. India would also not get the exposure to manufacturing, assembly and technology from other parts of the world.

I didnt know the Mirage 2000’s and Jaguars were built in Russia!?:D please note big sarcastic grin!