Tbh, SK should reverse the costs involved in the competition to all contenders as they changed the rules on the way…

I read in the Rafale thread that the idea of Rafale acting as a surrogate for smaller nEUROn style UCAVS is still current in French thinking. Is this because it has 2 seats?

Absolutely. Thoughts only atm, but french procurement agency expressed interest.
As Neuron and Taranis projects will certainly be joined, why not? Typhoon B exist afterall, and we would in the end find a convergence point!

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/analysis-seouls-f-x-iii-backdown-raises-thorny-questions-about-competition-390941/

Back to topic…

Im afraid that overall it brings a monopoly… you forgot that helmet isnt working and many pilots are afraid of disorientation it could bring. You forget buffet issues that will bring an aerodynamic fix aka reopening flight domain Other datalinks exisr or can be implemented on existong platforms (see F18…). How will you fix pbs like fragility, senstivity to storms etc without adding weight and further dgrading kinematics? And the most complex part (integration) has just started… not talking about ridiculous engineering issue of arresting hook etc.
Maybe it will be a good (despite ugly) plane… In 15 years?

First i made no claim! I constantly stated i had no clue. And what i said is not, in any manner, related to MMRCA. If i was lobbying for Dassault, i would have talked 1bout previous rigged contract… I only raised some questions. Why did Korea want B versions for ewample? I1 seriously doubt about the stealthiness of F15 SE, d3spite F15 being beloved. 1nd i dont doubt either boeing lobbying capabilities, see KCX for ex… This 15 former (from how long?) heads of Rokaf unanimity is very inter3sting. How did they organize themselves? Just questioning.
Im not bashing e erything in F35 plane, sensor suite etc. should be great, but i am sorry, it seems to me a wrongly born baby.

As you said, suggest, not claim. I have no clue, but why qualify F15SE after tech eval if it is not compliant?
Why eliminate Typhoon on a number of B versions if they wanted F35 with no B version?
What would have been the thunderous result if F35 had lost to a steroid 30 years old design? Imagine the reactions in the congress???
Finally US Government backpacked F35, as Boeing was going there as a private company.
No clue at all, but smelly.

Or purely on politic gains ? Remember US backed F35, not F15…
Everyone thought since the beginning it was a fake competition, (as was FX1 btw…)