Wonder if the fan is not doing too much stress over the doors while running.

Probably this is the reason why they are open.

The Generations thing is self-evidently marketing spiel

I don’t share this opinion.

There are generational changes, definitively.

Is just that this new generation is not something revolutionary, from the F4/mig-23 to F-16/Mig-29 there were revolutionary changes on aerodynamics, structural design, etc.. (i would not count electronics as something ‘generational’, although the FBW concept can be considered as part of a generational step)

But then there are doctrinal changes, for example the supersonic endurance of the F-4/104 was/is greater than the F-15’s/16/18 one.

So, sometimes, change of generation does not mean a clearly superior aircraft, we should consider the failures of a bad managed program as well, the F-15 for example has better sustained turning than the F-22 at height..and this was not planned.

he rightly pointed out how the enemy had state of the art weaponry during those past two wars.

You must be kidding, right?

In every war the ‘red’ forces were outclassed and most important, outnumbered

Downing a 29 without radar, with 10 F-16s hunting it up, an AWACS, ECM support, oh yes, glorious victory.

Moreover, Russia continues to test its own similar machines, said Deputy Prime Minister.

I don’t see where the article says that both the russian plane and the indian one will be different.

Both will be different programs, since russians don’t want to mix them up, because money industry etc…it was obvious, the russian plane will get russian parts, composites, electronics, etc, while the indian one will get indian /israeli/wathever they want/ components.

Both are separated programs, a deal in which indians will sell to ‘desperate’ russians composites and electronics will never happen.

U.S. may eventually export the F-22, it won’t be for at least a few years. Should we suddenly shift our stance and sell the F-22, I’m sure we’re going to anger a lot of JSF partners particularly the UK and it would hurt our own sales of the F-35 driving up the production cost

The official F-22’s price IMO is subsided, for the offer to Japan , LM was requesting 300 mill per plane, as far i recall well, nobody really cares now, since the program is dead, even for 2030 is meant to be replaced by a new FX program, while even the F-15E will be still alive.

The program was and is a failure, was a technical failure, not a political/logistic/economic one.

No matter how do you want to put it into service again, it won’t work, engines are not upgraded, electronics neither, a lot of key performances and hardware missed (cheek arrays/IRST, for example)

At least will have the glory from some PC games, and maybe bulling up some mig-21s in future conflicts…

I don’t see the desire in turning F-22’s into Strike Fighters

With that pathetic internal fuel capability i don’t see it either….

high alpha passes a demonstrated during airshows

They are important, they are still important, nose pointing is quite important, even the bloddy cobra, altought, not the Cobra itself, but the capability of high AoA handling from a decent speed

The deal with the Cobra , for example is not the AoA achieved, but from which speed you achieve it, this is quite a big advantage

Looks nice wows the crowd, but is entirely useless in combat, particularly in todays WVR environment.

You must check the F-16’s velocities in the 29s-16s training, 150knts, 200knts on most of the F-16s scores, very low speed handling is quite important, is still QUITE important, pilots lose lots LOTS of firing oportunities, hardware and software are no way reliable as you think, and that on a free ECM fighting.

High AoA characteristics are still quite important and relevant for modern air combat

If you want to bully a lone 29 with 10 F-16s + AWACS, your fantasies will become true…of course