To buy a Typhoon is not still a good idea, but have a joint Rafale M force with RN would be a great idea.

It would, and it would somewhat make sense for the brits, but that’s because they have no domestic alternative. If a naval Typhoon existed, they sure wouldn’t consider a Rafale purchase. It would be as silly as France buying Typhoon for air defense.

Nic

Maybe Brazil doesn’t want just a plane to keep watch over its own skies, but maybe they plan to get more involved in international missions like Afghanistan and stuff like that in order to get one step further in efficiency (by providing deployment and maybe even combat experience to its pilots), so they definately would need top of the line fighters in order to achieve that.

You can’t guess what plane would best suit their needs unless you know what their needs actually are, which we don’t.

Nic

Clever idea. Instead of buying an existing plane with imported engines, pay loads of money to modify it to fit a different imported engine. Great joke!

And for our next trick, when is the USN going to start fitting the M88 or EJ200 to the F-18E? :p

They haven’t done it yet because they can’t figure out whether to put the EJ200 on the port side and the M88 on starboard or the other way around.

Seriously though, the E2C would be sorely lacking from a UK carrier, but if you fit catapults on the carrier, then you can go with the carrier version of the JSF instead of the VSTOL version, so here the Rafale is out of the equation again. Unless you save money by buying Rafales in order to be able to afford the E2C, which would make sense as I don’t see politicians making extra budget for a few E2Cs.

Anyway I still think the UK definately won’t buy Rafale. That would put too much prejudice on the Typhoon’s image in my opinion… and I’m not even talking about the anti french sentiment.

Nic

I’m sure the A300 was mistaken for a patrol boat… riiiiiiiiiiiiiighto. :rolleyes:

It seems that in the twisted world of TinWing, the value of an american soldier is worth so much more than any other human being that it’s allright to kill whoever you please in case you fear your safety might be at stake.

Secondly, Manpads are very relevant even in the modern battlefield, especially when you fight a force that has air superiority and hordes of helicopters.

Nic

Well said Grey Area. BUT QUESTION, our situation in Iraq and quite possibly upcoming in Syria and Iran as well as currently in Afghanistan says that we really need our allies. Some experts say that another 100,000 troops are needed. Why won’t they help us now. Everyone knows that they don’t agree with us being there. But sticking to that line of thought then, “just b/c they disagree with us”, does that mean we should disagree with them in the Balkans (especially Britain who likes to flaunt herself in that area) and not help. I know that’s petty, but I don’t think anyone can say that countries; just like people, don’t do petty things. What do you think?

What makes you think you would be able to handle the situation in Iraq if your allies didn’t ALREADY step up in many other areas of the world to free up ressources for the US military? All nato countries are involved pretty much all over the world for this (Kosovo, Afghanistan and many other less known places), so I find it insulting to pretend the US are on their own. Even when some countries aren’t involved in Iraq, it doesn’t mean they don’t help otherwise (ie take the US place in other areas).

Nic

Eeeeeeeeeek I didn’t see the dates of the posts. I was finding it strange to read some replies.

Nic

What’s the difference between a human pushing a button (or turning a key I guess) that launches an ICBM or a human pushing a button that launches an uber-UCAV?

Did I say I liked the ICBM thingie?

Swords is how things should be settled.

Nic

I think the U2 wins due to the possibility to be fitted with a HMS, as there is a head to put the helmet on. I guess it also depends on what missiles you put on them though.

Nic