Article

2007-10-29 Down Under

Australia 'will lose air superiority' with new jet fighter

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Posted by Oztralian 2007-10-29 16:35|| || Front Page|| [6 views ] Top

#1 Interestingly enough, the Indian Air Force seems satisfied with the F/A-18 and allowed it into competition for the 126+ plane order the IAF is making.

And the Indian also fly the Su-30 Flanker. And their version is superior to the Chinese or Indonesian ones (with Indian, French, and Israeli avionics).

The IAF really likes the AESA radar and the munitions load the F-18 can bring to bear.

Posted by john frum 2007-10-29 17:34|| 2007-10-29 17:34|| Front Page Top

#2 Our Active Electronically Scanned Array Radar or the Russian AESA Radar john?

Posted by Red Dawg">Red Dawg 2007-10-29 17:42|| 2007-10-29 17:42|| Front Page Top

#3 Does Russia have a real AESA radar yet?

The F/A-18 one.
I think the manufacturer is working on an "export grade" version that could be sold to India.

Posted by john frum 2007-10-29 17:47|| 2007-10-29 17:47|| Front Page Top

#4 The Indians may want to 'MKIize' their F/A-18 if purchased, with Israeli and French and local Indian content (electronic warfare kit, computers etc).

Posted by john frum 2007-10-29 17:50|| 2007-10-29 17:50|| Front Page Top

#5 #3 Does Russia have a real AESA radar yet?

John here's a list from WIKI.
List of AESA radars, scroll down several other interesting arrays [Passive electronically scanned array]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
John: WIKI is one thang.. "secrete Intel" is another....

#3 Does Russia have a real AESA radar yet?
Yes they do john,
it's called the AESA-MEDVEDSKI-RUSLO Radar invented by the People's ÀªÚÎËÒÑÄ Engineers way back when Lenin's Uncle waz teaching the Wright Brothers how to fly.

/yep! ~:)

Posted by Red Dawg">Red Dawg 2007-10-29 19:00|| 2007-10-29 19:00|| Front Page Top

#6 This may be a moot argument. I have a strong feeling that the entire air war paradigm is about to radically change, with the US introducing drone combat aircraft. This may imply the following:

1) First line drone aircraft need stealth far less than large numbers. Stealth would remain, but only for mission critical manned strike aircraft.

2) Most manned aircraft would be in the 2nd echelon, to attack any enemy drone aircraft that made it through the drone 1st echelon. Again, their air to air missiles would be far more important than the aircraft, as far as speed, accuracy, maneuverability, etc. Thus it is far more important that they carry a lot.

3) Drone aircraft would be subdivided into multi use and expendable. Multi use would be high performance, expensive and deadly. Expendable would be as cheap as a car, and mass produced, single mission aircraft. Between the two, no enemy non-stealthy manned aircraft would have a chance.

Posted by Anonymoose 2007-10-29 22:09|| 2007-10-29 22:09|| Front Page Top

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