Evildeadmeat

Can't wait to fly Fouga Magister and A-37.

In France, where I live, World Cup 2010 officially never happened. For us, it's a fake like Roswell's alien was. It can't be true. ;)

Mig-29 and Bone

Hollywood style

The only way I know to make your wingman shoot at adjacent structures is to target vehicles (or any targetable enemy) close to structures. Some of them are sometimes parked close enough to kill everyone in a big boom explosion. You need your wingman to carry large bombs to enhance effectiveness.

Ok, I think I get it. What about sidewinders on the wingtips? With loadout carried in stealth pod, is the SH able to keep Sidewinders on wingtips station or does he need to leave them in order to save low RCS profile?

LOL !!! I didn't noticed we had Fernandel as a government member. In france, our former prime minister had a role in Indiana Jones. Better than Reagan ;)

Boeing is developing a new SH variant (international roadmap). It'll bring new features like IRST (not sure about that), CFTs, new cockpit (F-35 style), and a stealth pod to carry weapons. Is this really useful? SH, even if new variant will have lower RCS (not sure about that, too) is definitely not a stealth aircraft. So, why would you load a stealth external weapon bay to hide loadout if the aircraft you fly isn't that stealth? Is the Navy going to buy this new variant? With the F-35 entering service in USN, new SH variant may be pointless.

I just can't understand why Canada, Norway and Australia want to get F-35. I maybe be wrong but I think JAS-39 would be a better choice. An small all-around aircraft which is not perfect of course but would do anything Norway needs to do (mainly air policing in fact). IMO, F-35 doesn't fit with the RNoAF missions. Netherlands and Denmark are in the same case. Australia and Canada are both large countries, far larger than Norway (and Netherlands of course). For those air forces, the need for a long-legged aircraft seems obvious but F-35 doesn't seem to be the better choice. Do Canada really need an stealth aircraft? Really? And Australia? Basically, a stealth aircraft is needed at the very start of a conflict when you need to reach air superiority but you also have to deal with high SAM threat. In such a conflict, Canada and Australia wouldn't be sent to perform some kind of modern alpha strike. In fact, there are very few countries still able to perform such strikes. That's why I'm not really sure F-35 is a suitable aircraft for what Australia and Canada need to do.

It reminds me the end of the 90'. At that time, air war was supposed to be "one stealth beast carrying one deadly smart weapon to kill one high value target". Then, 9/11 came, followed by Afghan war. Since the Afghan war, the targets have changed. Aircraft are not ordered to kill high value asset or armored tanks. Their targets are trucks, cars, sometimes carrying a single machine gun, sometimes not. They have to shoot at people with assault rifle or RPGs. Aircraft are to be thought as a way to support ground squad tactics. That's why A-10 has so much success. It is the opposite of the F-22/35. It is tough, slow, simple, cheap, he carries whatever you need to carry without weapon bay. I mean, F-35 may be too ambitious for now, same for F-22. Both are amazing fighters, with amazing abilities but actually, they are not designed to face modern air war and a bunch of others (Rafale, JAS-39, Su-35, Typhoon, Qaher 313 ) are in the same problem. F-22s were supposed to replace F-15 but the Golden Eagle will go on flying until 2030, not because F-22 is a bad fighter, but because Eagle is not technologically obsolete. In a way, Super Hornet and F-35 are in the same circumstances (although I think, F-35 has to face much more problem than F-22). Why would you pay for a brand new machine which will cost one of your eye (or both) if you have something in store that does the job well?

Take two big engines. Tie them up. Put an ejection seat in front of them. Congratulations !!! You've just build a MiG-25.

A Mirage IV !!! One of the most beautiful aircraft france ever operated !!!