Can i ask what the F/A-18E has over the MiG-35?, seeing as the indians are already buying a whole lot of MiG-29K’s for their navy, and they already have the infrastructure set up from flying MiG-21’s and 27’s. Additionally, I can see the US being heavy on the sanctions if India ever steps out of line.

It’s not Russian. That’s not a slam on Russian hardware, just a simple observation that India hopefully won’t put all its eggs in one basket when it comes to procurement.

Personally, I think they’ll go for Rafale unless there are a lot of other goodies that come with the SuperHornet that make it an offer they can’t refuse. I think the era of cheap Russian hardware is going to either come to an end soon or at least see the costs climb somewhat due to the reversal in oil prices and the impact it’s having on the Russian economy.

Couple that with the ex-Gorshkov debacle and I don’t think I’d be willing to tie myself closer to the Russians at this time.

While, I have no doubt that we will see Carriers from countries like Japan and maybe South Korea. I doubt they would build anything on the scale of the CVF’s at least not initially. Its more likely they would construct something on the order of the Italian Cavour. Equipped with F-35B’s of course……..:D

Why should they limit themselves to STOVL? A Cavour doesn’t get you an E-2 and any nation that wants to field a carrier force and doesn’t have an E-2 class support aircraft is going to be ceding some of the advantage a carrier offers.

Kurt

And where did I say that?

It may not have been said, but you’ve sure implied it with your “The Chinese have been studying everything for decades…” comments.

I didn’t bring up the manpower argument, and your a long way off the mark with that response.

China has a vast shipbuilding industry. If it wanted, it can bring in as many highly skilled men as they could reasonably want to work on their carriers.

When everyone is at a similar skill level, having two guys on the job is certainly a lot faster then only one man.

]So China pulls all these workers off other projects so they can build two carriers in six years and leaves the rest of the yards understaffed. That’s going to bode well for the economic health of the yard.[/QUOTE]

Thats only if they are build sequentially, if work starts on both at the same time, then there is no reason why they can’t build two in that timeframe.

And if a flaw is discovered? Oh…that’s right…China has been studying what everyone else has done. Don’t you think that France did the same thing when they were developing CdG? Yet you see the issues that cropped up there and France has a much more robust track record with building, operating, and knowing what’s really needed for a CV.

Thats very nice but it dosn’t make up for your origonal comment being slightly un-accurate when you wrote “All damage inflicted was/is temporary only” which was clearly not the case as the Iraqi Air force and its infustructure never did recover under the Baath party leadership, only now are they starting to rebuild a working airforce.

That is an issue of politics and sanctions, not the ability to put people at the site and fix the problem. It was built once, it can be demolished and rebuilt once again. All that’s missing is willpower, money, and resources.

haha, thats being a little pedantic isnt it? Increasing numbers of people are blissfully unaware that chinaman is an old slur as it’s not in common usage anymore and by namesake it appears to hold no racist connotations.

Of all the boards and mailing lists I’ve been on over the years, none of them come close to this in the accusations of racism that are thrown around on an almost daily basis, most often when two parties are disagreeing over something. The first couple times I tried to see what it was that elicited the claim of racism, now, I pretty much discount it as so much more noise.

So now that the Modern Dark Age is over (this period of time reflecting the fact that George W. Bush, Tony Blair, John Howard and Helen Clarke were all in power and the world seems to fall into a dictatorship), would any care to guess at what the world is going to be like in a years time?

Much worse than it is today. Dear Leader, er, the Messiah will either roll over when faced with a threat or over react…each are equally as bad.

Agreed……………..Yet, I don’t see a major redesign with Wings. Inlet, Canopy, or Nose. As you mite as well build more F-22’s. That said, the larger wing of the F-35C is available and it has enough speed so why change the inlets? Also, the canopy is not needed because of the excellent Sensor Fusion and Situational Awareness already afforded to the design. So, maybe you may want to consider TVC???

My uncle and I were discussing this at breakfast today. He spent 20+ years flying A-4s in the Marines (CO VMA-211 in Vietnam) and has some definite ideas on what works and what doesn’t. His views are that it is always more beneficial to be able to physically see around you than having some symbology flashed on a HMD because unless you’re blinded, your eyes will always work. You might not need it, but it’s an extra backup that doesn’t cost a watt of electricity to operate.

He also had some ideas about the USMC adopting Rafale…but that’s for another thread.