Not wishing to derail this thread, but I guess the above statement means the French (or whoever else) has your blessing to supply arms and/or use direct military force to support any people or group that wish independence from the USA?

Since I think the people of any region have a right to secede from their country, that would be a “yes”.

I’m sure the Indian Nation would be delighted.

Today? I doubt it.

Since this is a civil war, what right does any outside party have in interfering to tip the balance in favor of one side or the other?

How would Americans have felt if some outside force, ironically, like the British and French, came in during the dying stages of the American civil war and took ‘all necessary action’ to protect civilian life to help tip the balance of power for the confederates?

I am one American who is very happy that the French came in at the late stages of a civil war inside British territory, and defeated the British Army and Navy at Yorktown in 1781. [sarcasm]God forbid we do the same favor for another country… [/sarcasm]

This is a Libyan civil war, and they need to work this out themselves. If enough of Libyans are in support on one side, that side will win. Else if outside forces come in and help one side win over the other, what guarantees does anyone have that the will of the people has been served?

I kinda think that the better armed and trained side will win, regardless of the numbers.

“its main fault being a non-moving horizontal tail surfaces that made it very difficult to control

I was guessing that the non-moving tailplane of the F-104 was the main factor in its lack of low speed handling…

Again I will admit I could be wrong here, there are plenty of jets with fixed tailsurfaces that have excellent high AoA handling.

I don’t recall any jet since early models of the F-86 (or MiG-17 ?) that didn’t have all moving tailplanes.

I would think the Sub Par Hornet would make a poor adversary. The avionics are too good, and the airframe too awful. The F-15 and F-16 would be more like a Su-27 and MiG-29. An F-18C would be better than an F-18E.

Looking at your list, I can’t help thinking of the early supersonic jets you mention (& there were more . . . ) & feeling that you’ve missed a generation.

I wrote so. There is at least a generation missing between the F-86 and F-4. Of course some say the F-86 is first generation, and the F-100 is second generation. The mistake was made when the F-4 was defined as third generation. There were more than two generations before it.

And what about the MiG-25? Or F-8? Where do they go?

The MiG-25 is third generation, and the F-8 is in the missing 2.5 generation, or whatever you want to call that, with the F-100.

No, I just can’t be doing with it. It’s a continuum, not a set of step changes, & hopelessly complicated by the application of new technology to old types. The whole “generations” concept is a result of people with mild OCD trying to establish tidy structures for their own mental comfort, & then force aircraft into those structures. It does not reflect an objective reality. It put’s me in mind of the artificial step changes put into continuously variable transmissions to make drivers more comfortable, to give them a noise of varying revs & sensation of gear changes. Not necessary – even mildly counter-productive in terms of engine efficiency & maintainability – but people like them.

I kind of agree with you. But it has been the case that pane x replaces plane y, which replaced z, so there is something of a succession. But then you get a situation like the F-18E. Its a fourth generation jet with fancy avionics replacing a fourth generation jet. Or the Tornado. It replaced the F-4, but its no F-15. The Typhoon is in the F-15 league, but came sooo much later. So are the generations about chronology, or about design features and capability? But yeah, this is for people with OCD.

Fighters that I agree are ugly:
X-32A
EE Lightning, especially the two seat trainer.
Yak-38MU

But not the Phantom, A-10A or Tornado.
The A-10A isn’t pretty, but it looks functional.

Like this:

Thanks for the pic. I knew the F-14D could carry this missile combo, but I have never seen a photo of it.