Wow. Talk about whiny little bitches… They get billions per year in military aid, and they think they can dictate to whom we can sell what?. Time to shake the Israeli rat from the American tail. Let them ante up and pay their own bills. Do that and watch how fast they start building their own stuff, or improving French/Russian designs.
UAE has also been using their AT-802s to provide training to allied/friendly flight crews and ground forces. Those friendly/allied countries (like Yemen) cannot afford to operate something like an F-16 or spend a lot of time and money training pilots for fighter aircraft.
Best regards,
Yemen has MiG-29’s, Su-22’s. Granted they’re not as advanced as the F-16E/F, but they can certainly bomb insurgents. I’m pretty sure Yemen also operates Hind gunships. Those are pretty effective or else Russia wouldn’t still be making them.
But why? The UAEAF has the most advanced F-16s going, Mirage 2000-9’s, and a very sweet budget. They could buy whatever they want (except the F-22 and the F-35). Why an armed crop duster?
I think it is a great idea for existing Falcon flyers and for those looking for an entry-level type with great capability. I wish the USAF would procure some of these in lieu of F-35As. It would save a pile of $$$ and offer the USAF upgraded capability over what it has now.
Ask Boeing’s KC-46 team how hard it is to nuclear harden the wiring of a commercial airliner. It is not trivial.
Trivial or not, an ancient airframe is still an ancient airframe. Because it is tough, no one is even going to harden another aircraft’s wiring? They could have went in on the KC-46 program, which I’m sure is hardened.
I don’t know if this is “horrible” per se, but the recent RC-135 deal the RAF struck with the U.S. is questionable to me. The airframe the RC-135 is based is ancient. Despite an excellent maintenance policy, which may be in place, the airframes are still old. How much more would it have taken to place the RC-135 electronics package in a younger airframe?
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