Pilotasso

...for strike fighters. Maybe because people thought A2A was a thing of the past and asymmetrical warfare with troops on the ground needing air support from planes that could not always be based on the backdoor due to political reasons was the way of the future. While that is a nice to have more and more people think the global geopolitical situation will be different, along with new counters. This is why I think air superiority and new fighters will be a thing again.

ATD-X high speed taxi tests. Cant be too long now. :) EJMNzCE6MpI

The USAF is using 200+ F-15C's, so 300 machines would have been sufficient IMHO. 700+ an exaggeration, in all honesty the economy of scale in the plane was not THAT great. :)

Its explained in the article. Costly in maintenance, not to mention weight savings. You might argue if that's worth it. I don't know for sure, but they have to start somewhere to bring that 200mil price tag down. A speed bump is also implied so its not like a downgrade. We will see.

With those features it sounds more like a F-22E super-raptor.

Interesting article: http://www.combataircraft.net/view_article.asp?id=9498 So now the F-22 production cancelation over 7 years ago was recognized as a mistake. The USAF is scrambling to catch some ground lost, and manufacturers are proposing using a current fighter design as a starting point to cut down the development of a 6th gen design by using proven tech. The likely candidate to go back to the drawing board is the F-22. Kinda saw that one coming.

To be fair the current prototypes are not using the final engines with the radar blockers yet. It's too early and the Russians are facing other bigger issues and challenges to get it to production.

I disagree with the above excerpt from your post. The Eurofighter and superhornet both have advanced radars, the EF in particular will have an AESA unit, likely before the F-35 shows up in significant numbers. EF approaches the AA problem from a different angle, instead of stealth it will shoot at a distance beyond the reach of its opposition using meteors with the corresponding variance in tactics that implies (and SH). The SH in particular has likely the 3rd lowest RCS value of any fighter under the F-22 right now. There is a large amount of imagination put forth in your post by saying SH and EF are crap. They are world class fighters and are in service today. If any capability can be doubted in any of the 3 planes, it is the interceptor role for the F-35. I have said this before many times. The fleets that will adopt the F-35 as their single fleet type will always be tempted to let their partner nations take over that role with other types (likely SH and EF) rather than doing it themselves. Its just enjoying some of the generational gap advantages for now, and that wont last for long (compared to its projected service life).

there is no endgame for weapon VS countermeasure.

Like it has been said before, today we also have better countermeasures. It's not by accident the US navy has been lobying for a larger IR stick and all airfroces have retained the gun.

Missed the the war over lebanon in 1982 with 80+ AA aircraft shot down. But Im really nitpicking here though. If we were to equip the sirforces just for the frequency these things happen, then we would be left with CAS aircraft only. ;)

The current mindset may lead most to repeat post Vietnam lessons. never forget. :)

I saw probably the first of the Romanian F-16's with their final paint scheme today. Its like this lancer: Except it also had a dark stripe on top of the tail.

cant believe no one mentioned this yet. First taxi tests of the ATD-X shin-shin? kYUfgepOPys

Madeira island: been there myself before the runway was extended. Loads of fun for me (mainly because I was too young to have a real notion of danger) while grownups prayed for their lives. See why. :) ArGS5yp4ED4

I'm just curious to see what comes out of the 6th gen fighter design and how they will gimp it in order NOT TO supersede the F-35 by accident. :)

1) Eurofighter 2) Tomcat 3) Hornet

Looks like early production examples of the RVV-SD on board of those flankers. 7Zt-MN5nUnw

Blue origin is at it again! GNrqEGKnrao

Does that mean turn rate or very high AOA without turning much? ;)

There must be a reminder that the F-35 is NOT the F-16's direct lineage descendant. It does things very differently without turning hard or climbing like a rocket. It makes me a sad panda that it does not, but things have changed since the cold war.

yeah, like everything Studio Ghibli is awesome and gorgeous, but may not please for the action diehards these days.

old gem. 6BDgQwlfHII

you prolly don't know but they will be making a galactic heroes re-make for 2017. Soon we will have macross delta. Not sure about the quality of this one (see below) but we will see. :) GMKiLsbWiHY

There are rumours there will be another giant UCS falcon. I don't know what Im gonna do if it comes out! :D