tflash

Very compact! Compare this to COD or Stallion stowage and you see some opportunities for V-22!

Nice!

I'm also a fan of Boeing's 787 but as many other planes its introduction is a little bit marred by problems: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-boeing-dreamliner-review-20130112,0,5802912.story

+1

Both the A-10A AFM and Su-25 6DOF sound as music in my ears!

With 7 crashes and 36 fatalities in a 12-year span, I certainly do not want to claim the introduction of the MV-22 has been a smooth one. It is one of the last aircraft designs that introduce genuine new mechanical complexity; most current designs avoid this and focus on electronics instead. I still find an open MV-22 nacelle a little worrying sight: http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=1641628&postcount=10899 But I think in 2012 we came to a point where it has become a standard part of transport equipment. This hasn't come easy and is for the moment without any competition. It would take > 10 years for others to rival this design.

XM607 Vulcan XM607 - Falklands' Most Daring Raid:

So strange my favourite plane is now for "free" so to say! But I did enjoy buying FC3 to rediscover the incredible vanilla Su-25 ! What a joy to fly, these birds! A job well done, ED!

Is it planned to fly from Kuznetsov also? That would indeed be transformational, since SU-33 has only limited A/G weaponry.

Done. Sorry for that.

Agree it's not a good criterion. But what is your pick then, for 2012?

Adding to the listmania, what would be your pick for military aircraft of 2012? I do not mean an aircraft launched in 2012, but an aircraft that definitely made its mark this year. For me, MV-22 Osprey tops the list: the Marines pulled this challenge of and I think they finally got it going. It brings something radically new to the table, and if there is one aircraft I would like to take a ride in, it would be this one. [edited] But maybe the most important were the transport aircraft like C-130J and C-17: absolutely world-class performers. Nominees for 'failure of the year' must be include NH-90 and Airbus A-400M, examples of how to botch things up in every conceivable way. Since Belgium has both on order, I wonder when we will ever see them in service. Remember in 2011 this prize went of course to the MRA4 Nimrod, leaving the competition behind by a large margin.

Accident in Vnukovo footage edit: oops ... was already posted!:

Hé, it resembles the ultra-secret instant stealth button of the Belgian Air Force.

It is certainly true that the Super Hornet was meant as a reduced-risk intermediary fighter pending development of F-35. It turns out that it will become much more than "intermediary" due to the substantial delays in F-35 development and programme restructuring, which means several hundred planned F-35's wil come many years later, if they ever come. See: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/11/28/business/The-Price-of-Delay-for-the-Militarys-Biggest-Program.html I guess the US Navy is more than happy to have the Super Hornet, since in the mean time some 3 wars went by. You can call it an upgraded F/A-18C if you want, that isn't a bad plane either. I would agree though that Mig 1.44 has the looks!

Continued from : http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p=1638103#post1638103 Marcos, Mig 1.44 is just another failed, unfunded has-been project, Mig-35 fails to attract customers. The somewhat underestimated Super Hornet has flown > 166.000 *combat hours*, there have been > 500 delivered on-time and on-budget in the small timeframe since 2000. This way the US Navy has an on average much younger fleet than USAF, let alone the RuAF. The real revolution has been the sortie rate the Super Hornet is capable of, effectively rendering the sorties generated by all other navies combined to sheer irrelevance.

Lets continue discussion in SH thread: http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=1638127&postcount=51

Awesome: X-47B on Truman http://blogs.defensenews.com/intercepts/2012/12/first-pics-x-47b-unmanned-aircraft-aboard-carrier-truman/

Wow, I just went for a burger and missed this 11-page thread? I also got the newsletter; super!

F-35A High AOA testing

To what I have read, Tranche 3 hasn't been defined yet, but EJ230 is not on the table. Beyond P1E, it will be Meteor and AESA, depending on the buying nation some specific A/G ordnance like possibly Storm Shadow and advanced GBU's. EJ230 isn't considered yet since EJ200 is one of the very best parts of the Typhoon, with excellent performance, maintainability and fuel burn. And Typhoon is already very manoevrable so there is no need for TVC at the moment.

Oman buys Typhoons: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/6cef8ad8-4b52-11e2-88b5-00144feab49a.html#axzz2FcomvzGu

ADAM does away with rockets: http://www.businessinsider.com/lockheed-martin-adam-area-defense-anti-munitions-laser-defense-2012-12

I guess range is important in the South China sea. I'm not sure current assets on both sides allow for more tha some symbolic posture. There seems not to be a game-changing technology that would redistribute the cards. OK, with the J-15 and the carrier China has longer legs then before, but much of these advances are marginalized by the evolutions in long-range detection. in WWII, you could hide an entire carrier group at sea, I'm not sure that is still the case now. More than fast jets I guess aircraft like BAMS are assuring there is balance.

I find it strange that you all mention to great effectiveness of Patriot in game. I was going to post whether it actually works, since in all missions I make the AI aircraft have no issue at all disabling a Patriot or S-300 system. I made AI-only missions involving SU-25T where they disable consistently the Patriot radar with the first missile. When I fly it myself, I can safely engage the Patriot without ever being bothered. I guess something is wrong? The most deadly are the SHORAD systems. I would say, on the basis of the missions included, that Kh-58 and Kh-25MP are incredibly effective. Who needs stealth? FT kill S-300 Su-25T.miz FT kill Patriot Su-25T.miz