According to a 2002 press release, Boeing signed a multi year agreement for $8.9 billion for 222 super hornets which works out to a little over $40 million per aircraft.

Boeing Press Release

Helmet Strapped on? Check!
Popcorn popped? Check!

Nothing to do now but sit back and watch the fireworks.

The short answer would be copy the Israeli airforce, but that’s too reliant on a hugely generous uncle giving you all the toys you wanted.

As for the terrain of the country- I’m picturing in my head the Kamchatka penninsula in a warmer climate.

My take- again focusing only on air defense:

1st- Like others said, several top-notch SAM systems- S-300 sounds great. Station them high on the central mountain range. 1-2 high power-long range surveilance radars stationed high up in those mountains would possibly negate the need for airborne radar assets, too. I would gamble that this would provide adequate immediate protection from airborne attacks until I could get a cadre of pilots up to speed, thus eliminating the need for immediate defensive aircraft. As for however long it took to get those S-300 systems purchased, built, deployed, and operational, then the likely best bet would be a mutual defense pact with another strong ally.

2nd- Outsource basic flight training to another nation therefore saving on owning my own single use, basic trainers. Granted, the basic flight training is the least expensive aspect of pilot development equipment-wise, the time and manpower resources to set up your own flight school would be better served by being available for combat.

3rd- Purchase numbers large numbers of LIFT/point defense fighters, specifically the A/T-50 (possibly the BAE Hawk provided it can be configured for dual use- training/combat). I’d buy 1 combat coded squadron for every 1000 sq miles, and 1 LIFT squadron. These would be armed with the latest in A-A weaponry- AIM-120C/D or Meteor, whichever would make the sweeter deal and AIM-9X or IRIS-T, again, whichever would make the better deal to me. For air to ground, I’d invest heavily in Brimstone/Hellfire since it’s a prescision weapon and packs a good punch against anything short of a capital ship and a small fighter can carry a lot of them.

4th- For domestic needs, 2-3 C-130 or C-27s (again, depending on the actual size of the country) and 10 medium helos for emergency needs.

It makes sense. If it can be done with CIWS, why not in an aircraft?

I was not aware there was a president of Europe. :confused: :rolleyes:

I do understand that if you buy a house for USD $100000 dollars, and you pay first USD $40000 dollars of Initial deposit (R&D in the case of the F-22 Raptor) and later you pay 180 monthly payments of USD $ 333.33 dollars ( one hundred eighty F-22 Raptors with a price of USD $190 million dollars) at the end the House costed to you USD $100000 dollars

A single house is a bad example, as the price of the house you’re buying above is just the contruction costs.

Think of it this way: You take some 18 year old kid out of high school, pay for him to go to college to become an architect, pay for him to start up his business, and pay him to design a house for you and only build 1 house. In that case then yes, the total cost (including the already sunk cost of schooling, equipment and services) would go directly into the cost of that one house. Now, if you took the same plans for that house and built 300 more, you don’t have to pay the cost for schooling, equipment and design each time do you? That first house may have cost you several millions of dollars, but each of the next 300 houses built exactly the same would only cost 100K.

That article sounds like a setup to reveal some program already in existance that could either do the job itself or contribute serious technology to a new design. I personally like the B-1R proposal, but I’m biased towards my favorite aircraft.

Anyway, my question still stands: What exactly would you need another 200 Raptors for?

For the same reason a chef orders 380 steaks. He thinks he needs those steaks to do his job of feeding his customers whose tastes are such that they demand steak. HIS boss says he can only have 186 steaks. How will our chef accomplish his goal of feeding his customers at the level required by both the customers and chef? At the moment he supplements his steaks with chicken and pheasant. The customer’s demands dictate steak, not poultry, yet the chef manages. But when those chicken and pheasant are gone and his massive salmon order is still being filled, the bottom line is he won’t have enough steaks to do the job.

The people tasked with defending our country and accomplishing our foreign policy goals say they needs 380 Raptors to do the job at the level required to ensure their own pilot’s survival and the enemy’s destruction. Congress says they can only have 186. Those 186 are supplemented with legacy chicken and pheasant, I mean Eagles and Falcons, but eventually those aircraft are going to run out of useful hours and the Joint Salmon Fighter isn’t ready yet.

That’s why.

They can make a J-35 any time using Photoshop. :diablo:

Cheers,
Sunho

Forget photoshop…. they’ve slowly been turning the FC-1 into the JSF with each new prototype. 😀