Pilotasso

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.

The F-35 is not a vertical upgrade to the F-16. The F-35 may overlap the F-16 in some mission roles, however they are very fundamentally different aircraft for different missions profiles. Of the 26 countries using the F-16, most will have to look somewhere else for a more direct replacement.

That photo shows wingtip AMRAAM's, That's news to me, the other variants are being tested with pylons only.

F-22 program now consists only in the maintenance of the surviving fleet as the production run was cut short and cancelled. If you look at current and future combat aircraft programs youll see they are all focussed away to other roles.

The USAF trend cycle is back at bombing as it was in the 60's. Less emphasis on high performance dogfighters, light fighters are out of the picture, fortunately there are European alternatives.

The news pretty much all over the new anyhoo. The Rafale finally getting the overdue export orders.

It's a famous photo as it shows up on every F-15 book.

It always make some difference but not enough to avoid the renovation of the fleet by more modern hulls.

PoAF has carried Litening AT's for the Baltics policing during NATO/VVS massed intercepts outbreak for the same reason. It works.

The Su-35 is not exactly cheap either. Only the older more basic models remain competitive in price.

Su-35 is an awesome upgrade form the soviet era Su-27S, but is not anything special compared to some of its counterparts to the left side of the globe. The emergence of the Su-50 makes sense if the AA capability is to be maintained in RuAF for the next few decades.

They will spread the acquisitions longer through the years, no word of hard factual fleet reductions. It seems the only sane reactions to a slowing economy, much like everyone else has done.

Ormuz DCS F-18 VEAO Eurofighter Leatherneck F-14A/B Might plunge to Korea and WWII as well, but at the time undecided.

You mean rubbery sleeve?

I leave again an appeal that missile sensor and flight models (aircraft ones as well) are in urgent need of fixing/tuning. It's been a looooong wait without flying. :(