Hence the phrase, “bringing back the 747 tanker idea” 😀

Short of a third-party proposal involving the conversion of the used 747s to refueling tankers, I don’t see a future for the tanker variant of the 747. For some reason, Boeing doesn’t seem inclined to market a 747 tanker.

So if the concept is unworkable why do the Russians have this missile in service and are now releasing it for export?

Wonder if it can be used against ground based radars too, or if it is just for aircraft mounted radar. Would have been a surprise for Hawkeyes and AWACs planes I’d expect… when they detected R-27s coming in they’d probably expect they were either half SARH and half IR guided… they wouldn’t know some were ARMs…

…sneaky 🙂

The fundimental problem is that an aircraft is a fast moving target. All you have to do to foil a passive radar guided AAM is shut off you radar.

Of course, the passive radar guided R-27’s warhead is too small to be effective against ground targets.

Keep in mind that the American Shrike might have been loosely based on the Sparrow, but the warhead was far larger – and it was still inadequate.

Of course, the passive radar R-27 might just be a cheap conversion of the entirely obsolete semi-active radar guided R-27 – in the same way the Sidearm ARM was derived from the semi-active radar guided AIM-9C Sidewinder.

Names are sometimes misleading, The M-53 is based on the Atar with a bypath module and optimised for high speed. It started to first flight in 1973 and got its military certification in 1979. To avoid any interferences from PW or the USA, when it comes to exports, it has to be ashured officially as French only. Despite their claims, the French had learned a much during their work with PW too. As they later did with GE and before with RR.

The M53 is not an ATAR with front fan and bypass duct. In reality, the M53 is a far different motor, with fewer stages.

284 Phoenix missiles were delivered to Iran.
World Airpower Journal, Volume 7 Autumn/Winter 1991, p. 73

Each and every Phoenix missile was supposedly rendered inoperative by American ground technicians, acting on their own initiative, shortly before they departed.

Does anyone know how many Tomcats are in flyable condition in Iran???

That is a very good question.

It would interesting to see an accounting, by serial number, of each of the 79 airframes that were actually delivered to Iran before the fall of the Shah.

In my humble opinion…

On Venezuela:

a) Venezuela has every right to purchase modern fighter aircraft….

Did Apartheid-era South Africa have “every right to purchase modern fighter aircraft?” Back in the 1980s, the answer was “no.”

Suddenly the US intervenes and “convinces” the current outgoing Defence Minister to destroy the only real defensive asset in the country: their Chinese MANPADS, effectively leaving the country vulnerable to any external aerial attack…

Should a narco-terrorist supporting regime have access to weapons that might be passed on to terrorist groups such as FARC or the Shining Path?

I applaud any individual who can make a stand against the proliferation of MANPADS. There are too many of these missile in the world, and too many have made their way into the wrong hands.

.

export market for the first time.

Despite its age, the R-27P is a radical and effective beyond-visual-range (BVR) air-to-air weapon with no Western parallels. For decades, Soviet (now Russian) missile engineers have produced passive BVR AAMs that allowed their fighters to make undetected stealthy missile attacks.

Actually, the United States tested and rejected the concept of a passive radar AAM back in the 1970s. The missile was called the Pave Brazo.

The concept is unworkable, unless you have an IR or semiactive/active radar seeker included with the primary passive radar unit.

Apparently, either you or I live in a parallel universe.

Chavez’s butt was not saved by the Bush administration condeming the coup, it was saved by the fact that large section of the Venezuelan military ended up opposing the coup and that Chavez supporters (i.e. the majority of Venezuelans).

You are right in saying that the US administration publicly condemned the attempt at a coup. The only problem is that the first such condemnation came in a White house press point (by Ari Fleischer) that took place only after Chavez had resumed power – in other words, only once it was clear that the coup had failed (if you need a precise timeline to prove my point, I’ll provide it).

And I don’t even allude to the support given to those fomenting the coup by such front organization such as the National Endowment for Democracy.

Bush put an end to the 2002 coup during a closed-door meeting with a Venezuelan delegation. Bush demanded that Chavez be immediately returned to power. The Venezuelans were stunned, but willingly complied.

Truth be known, Bush had been completely surprised by the 2002 coup.