Hi guys,
Am I correct in thinking that Australia is being beaten to death in the Fighter arms race?
What I mean is, most of our Asian neighbours either have or are about to acquire one form or another of the Su-27/30 Flanker, these include: China, Indonesian, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.
The RAAF won’t be getting the JSF for at least another 9 years and our F/A-18’s and F-111’s will surely be operationally ‘worn out’ by then. In the mean time the Flanker could have been significantly upgraded by Russian/Chinese/French/Israeli technology to keep it effective against the F-22.
So are we going to see a time when the RAAF is way behind our Asian neighbours in terms of an effective Fighter?
Also, even if/when we get the JSF, is it effective enough to be able to fill the roles of the F/A-18 and F-111, plus be able to take on any future variants and versions of the Flanker in terms of weapons carriage capability and range?
Cheers
Richard.
Am I correct in thinking that Australia is being beaten to death in the Fighter arms race?
What I mean is, most of our Asian neighbours either have or are about to acquire one form or another of the Su-27/30 Flanker, these include: China, Indonesian, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.
The RAAF won’t be getting the JSF for at least another 9 years and our F/A-18’s and F-111’s will surely be operationally ‘worn out’ by then. In the mean time the Flanker could have been significantly upgraded by Russian/Chinese/French/Israeli technology to keep it effective against the F-22.
So are we going to see a time when the RAAF is way behind our Asian neighbours in terms of an effective Fighter?
Also, even if/when we get the JSF, is it effective enough to be able to fill the roles of the F/A-18 and F-111, plus be able to take on any future variants and versions of the Flanker in terms of weapons carriage capability and range?
Cheers
Richard.