Pilotasso

AFAIK you can still do this, now actually achieving the kills, well that's another story altogether.

I agree, radar and engine wise the F-16MLu are pretty average these days. Their better side is flexibility in implementing new capabilities regarding combat modes and weapons integration and employment, data link functionalities and other stuff not visible in airshows. ;)

sorry I missed it, I don't speak chicken ;)

one of my first also. the memories!

Morocco Just lost one of their spanking brand new F-16 Block 52's. No news about the pilot. p8xt06yG91Q

oh this is terrible news :(

"coming out of the assembly line"? didn't they shut it down years ago?

^^^^^massively overdue, that it's not even funny. :)

maybe you should quote me and copy the BB code below: Nj9D1Ls-_JM

Funny, the same kind of mishap happened here with M60A3's and that triggered their replacement. Now we have a fleet of Leapoard2-A6's stored in warehouses due to lack of maintenance.

Did Russia maintain the policy of the soviet union to supply gimped engines for export costumers post 1990?

and heres the corresponding F-16 chart.

Pretty good, though it traded some T/W ratio for speed and altitude compared to the F-16, the latter also had better sustained G and turn rates. The difference is not very big but the advantage is there.

In 2002 I saw one making circles at high AOA around the tower in the pic below located in Lisbon. It was advertising the Airforces 50th anniversary celebrations (it was the armies aviation before that). I was shocked in disbelief.

There was an interceptor/QRA variant indeed, that is already retired for years and now replaced by Eurofighter (there were much fewer of them in numbers). It used the long legs for good measure but was still a poor dogfighter. Pilots nicknamed it "Tomato" during AA exercises.

The tornado is a dedicated strike fighter (emphasis now on smart weapons though it started with dumb weaponry delivery at low altitudes early on), not really good at dogfighter but on the other hand has long legs for a fighter size plane which makes the plane highly appreciated in deployments overseas.

They also intend to have a fully robotic version. Current early production models have the crew (2) in a separate cabin from the turret, and has autloaders.

Most significant achievement in this update: A-G radar. :)

from underdog to success in such little time. Amazing.

It was easy to get fighter kills in an A-10 even back in FC2 before missiles sucked. All you have to do is to fly in valeys and lure them close in for a turning fight (good pilots extended away to get room for an IR shot). The A-10 does have a much tighter turn radius (both ingame and in real life) than dedicated supersonic dogfighters like the F-16 or the Mig-29 and can easily force an overshoot. I have had plenty "ZOMG cheatorz" kinda comments from people who didn't know this simple fact.

Does "ready for combat" imply AG stores? I'm a bit sceptical. If your already at war then that's great, if your just placing aircraft on QRA or for just plain national air sovereignty duties in peace time, which is 99% of what a single fighter fleet will be doing, well that sucks, since they will indeed have nothing but wingtip missiles. The scenario is even more evident for users who now have nothing but block 52+ and block 61's with conformal fuel tanks and F129 or F229 (even F132) when considering best performance and economy.

Myth busting the F-35 Some debunking of F-35 shortcomings. ZtZNBkKdO5U The Video is interesting, however when they address the manoeuvrability being similar to that of F-16 or F-18 they talk about speed with loadouts and angles of attack but decline to give any hints about what's the turn radius like or how it would handle in close quarters. I' also interested in climb and interception capabilities.

I will Sue Disney for stealing ideas: ;)

the fans reaction are better than the trailer itself :D

hah, Ironically that might actually sell more than the F-35, a USN fighter. The articles assumption about the PAK-FA, in particular the J-20 maybe wrong (too much speculation performance wise) but the emphasis on AA pretty much closes the circle begun 40 years ago with the TOMCAT, the first agile of the teen series in an era dominated by interceptors and bombers.