What are those twin-boom prop planes in front of the PAK-FA in Pesho’s post above?

Okay, I am a little confused here.

This Avon powered mirage is listed as a Mirage IIIA. Yet, it seems from the photo’s above that this is actually a Mirage IIIE, as can be seen from the fact that the rear of the canopy is in line with the air-intakes, and not behind it as all models prior to the Mirage IIIE were.

To clarify, the Mirage III A and C have canopies slightly behind the intakes, whilst the fuselage stretch on the IIIE onwards was 300mm and put the canopy in line with the intakes.

So, is this really an E airframe?

Airflow, EPR and TIT show the greatest impact of technology.

I was about to say that airflow would be probably one of the biggest factors.
The intakes would need to be altered if an increase in airflow was required, as would a large portion of the ducting to the engine face. In a tightly packed machine such as a fighter jet, this is not so easy. Then there is the engine length and weight that would affect the CG. Any larger diameter might not fit, or displace other innards. A higher thrust engine with a similar fuel consumtion would lead to shorter legs.

When South Africa replaced the earlier Atar with the Atar 9K50 in the Cheetah 2-seaters, it required a modification to the air intakes known as Project Recipient. The splitter-plates on these aircraft have a curved-back profile if you look carefully. And there was not that much difference between these two engines in comparison to the examples above.

Having said that, a PW1120, or a RM6C powered Mirage III would have been smart, with similar sorts of airflows but much more thrust over the later Atar 9’s. I’ve always liked the Khatchaturov R-35-300 that powered the late Mig-23’s. Thats 8500kg to 13000kg ( 18850 lbs to 28700 lbs) in a smaller package than the J-79 or the Atar 9K50!

Thanks for the feedback. So the NK32 has a better SFC than the NK25? The two engines have an afterburning thrust of about 25 000kg thrust, with the Nk321 pushing out about 14000kg dry. Does anyone know what the dry thrust of the NK25 is? Is it a a smaller or larger engine physically? Are they pretty much interchangeable seeing as it seems the NK32 is a derivative of the Nk25(?). If this is the case, what is the difference between the two from a design point of view?

Flanker, any idea what the performance of that Nk321 engined Tu22M was in comparison to the vanilla version?

Anybody have any pics of nose radar equipped variants? (apart from the pic of 80572 at takeoff). Wiki seems to infer there was a naval torpedo(!) and anti ship missile armed variants with nose radar. Then I remember from a few years back mention was made of a ground attack variant with nose radar.

So how many incomplete airframes are there still at the factory? Anybody know?

Nice to meet you to, but please message me such greetings and save this board for discussion in future. ty.

Don’t talk rubbish. This below from you….

FACT:The USAF has always had the edge over the russians and always will.
More money, more training and better planes and better systems.

Everyone said the Mig-29 was better than the F-15 and F-16. The result? 150+ US victories to 0 losses. Thats right! No F-15 or F-16 has ever lost to a commie plane. End of story. The Pak Fa will be just the same. Candy on a plate to the F-22 and F-35. Waste of money if you ask me. Russia should just join the F-35 program or buy the F-18E/F. Maybe they would even be better off buying second hand F-15C’s with AESA.

…..along with your username shows that you have absolutely zero interest in discussions. And you post this in a forum regarding a Russian aircraft. I put it to you that your sole interest is trolling. As a brief perusal of the rot you’ve posted elsewhere proves. Moderators?