CTOL CVF means you can add taranis once it goes online to do the very hairy missions that the F35 is supposedly so good at.

Hence a purchase of the SH wouldn’t be that bad if it is complemented by a stealth UCAV in the medium term.

Nic

P.S.: A generic news portal yesterday, referred that the French now ask about 35-40 mln for the upgrade of the Mirage2000, much more than the price of the upgrade of the previous batch, because “we ‘ve closed the production line since then”. The portal isn’t famous for its reliability, but it would agree with prices asked to India and would support the rumour reported by Defencenet about HAF thinking of getting UAE’s Mirage. Because honestly, at 40 mln, you get F16 brand new. Greece can’t give this kind of money for upgrade of a 20 year old aircraft.

They could be paving the way for the sale of the UAE 2000-9. Such a purchase would make more sense if the price of the upgrade increases…

Nic

Or use the F35, and have Woopie Goldberg play the “babe”.

Nic

Nice, so it means Reco-NG is operational. I can’t wait to see some retex about it.

Any one knows if the Rafales are going to be doing armed recon? Can the crew exploit data from the reco-ng?

Nic

I still think that a heavy strike fighter role could be filled superbly by a modified F/A-23. Keep the F-22 optimised only for AtoA (with 360° AESA and such), without a pound for air to ground.

Now bring in the F/A 23 Whisperer. It’s stealth, it’s FAST, it must have the range too, plus a big weapons bay. Put in EO/DAS and a an enlarged AN-APG 81.

Cancel the F-35 and buy 400-500 of those babies plus 150 more F22s and voilà. Make up numbers with dirt cheap block 60/70 F-16XLs.

Nic

What about developing a missile that drops a torpedo in the water just before arriving in the CIWS range?

Nic

too ugly