When F-4F was bought, the Luftwaffe was intended to fight a horde from the east. F-4Fs would be facing lots of Warsaw Pact fighters & fighter-bombers, with ROEs being something like “if it’s flying west outside specified corridors, kill it; inside those corridors, take a look before killing it”. BVR over Germany was a niche role. BVR missiles were all SARH, so needed illuminating all the way to the target, & that was not expected to be something there would be much opportunity for. The USAF & RAF could handle it.

NATO divided up responsibilities then. Air forces in W. Europe mostly didn’t try to be equipped or trained for everything. They specialised. What X AF didn’t do, Y AF would. The German navy had a lot of maritime strike fast jets, for example. Same for navies: division of responsibilities.

I hear you, but my post also stated that in that time the Germans didn’t need BVR-capable fighters. I was doubting the claim that the Germans were denied the purchase of Sparrow missiles at the time.

Yeah, but Korotkov is right, there is no need to introduce a new designation just because the thing has a different radar.. I think it’s quite logical to have the old types named MiG-29-whatever and the new types (sharp LERX edge, no overwing louvres) MiG-35-whatever.. That would keep the designation of the MiG-29SMT as it is, unify the MiG-29M/M2 and MiG-35 and rename the MiG-29K/KUB to MiG-35K/KUB.

The new LERX (with the new larger wings) and the removal of the auxiliary intakes were introduced with the original MiG-29M/K projects from late 80’s. The M1/M2/K/35 do have a new unified canopy (both for single seat and dual seat variants), though.

The AAM was built for an individual aircraft. The MiG-29 and Su-27 were the first aircraft built by the competing design bureaus to share radar and weapon suites. MiG-29 used a smaller version of Su-27 weapon suite in some versions. Just was a new trend with Soviets when they launched fourth generation designs.

It’s interesting to note that the Su-27 was supposed to have had a different radar system (a much more promising antenna design and processors) which apparently would not have fit in the MiG-29’s nose, but the development of it stalled so they reused the MiG-29 N019 antenna design and processors. The radar developed for the Su-27M (initial N011 Bars) was then based on the experience gained on this failed design and some others.

They would not have to change any external radome for the switch to Irbis-E. And with that they should also a nice weight reduction 🙂 There should be plenty of space.

Sorry, I thought it was obvious I was referring to the Zaslon-M array since it was designed for the MiG-31M.

I,m not sure, but isn’t Incirlik the nearest Airbase to both East Syria and North Iraq theater?
And Judging from the pics above, US/Nato has a medium size tanker fleet in Incirlik. How is this for too small?

Yes, they do, but they seem to have limited apron space available for the operation (perhaps there are some limits imposed by the Turkish government on the number of strike planes that can be deployed?). There’s a lot of conflicting info regarding these deployments and limitations, though, but the numbers deployed are always rather small. E.g. there seem to be a dozen A-10’s there and a number of Prowlers; the F-15C’s and E’s were shortly deployed and there were 6 of each, there were six F-16’s deployed, etc.

http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/pentagon/2015/12/15/us-footprint-expands-turkeys-incirlik-air-base/77362216/

isn’t that what the Ka-27 is for? also fits in most Russians ships

The larger Mi-14 is more suitable for coastal operations as it can land and take off from water and I’d expect its size gives it a more useful range, payload options and growth potential. But, I guess this discussion should be in the Russian Navy thread 🙂

I’m not aware of UAV being operate from Incrilic, Turkish/Syrian border. At least not heavy UAV’S.

http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/air-space/2016/02/03/us-drone-crashes-turkey/79783670/

System is not AMPS-M. It is Aselsan HEWS. In short, its a combined defense suite for RWR, MAWS, Laser Warning, and RF Jammer:

Casing is slightly different, but screw positions and small extruded component in the side/bottom part is exact match: MILDS AN/AAR-60:

Turkish militiary acknowledged the missile is shot down by a missile of unknown type. Also, they -indirectly- confirmed protective suite was on board; it was standard procedure to set system on auto before take-off, (can be set auto, semi-auto, manual, off or bypass) and investigation is ongoing as to why system failed to react to the missile (whether pilot forgot to turn it on, maintenence problem, defect, malfunction etc)

As for recent ex-USMC Cobras mentioned, they had no MAWS when they were transferred; They are refitted with HEWS as well, however:

That’s a very comprehensive reply. I searched, but I couldn’t find any article on MAWS used on the Turkish Super Cobras, so thanks for clearing that out.