SayethWhaaaa

Yeah, especially how LM and the US government are using their lobbyist army (3rd largest on the planet behind the PLA and the Salvation Army) to convince various governments around the world that they don't need to bother with trivial little things like tenders, feasibility studies or specifications based on geo-political/tactical needs. Now with the F-35, you don't need any pesky feasibility studies when you can just rewrite your needs (or defence white papers) to allign themselves with the F-35, or have LM lobbyis-- assistants, do it for you (see South Korea, Japan, Australia, more sucke-- customers (nailed it! ) to follow). A true game changer, the F-35, is no longer a product that needs to be marketed or 'sold' to another nation to best fit their needs. Now crack LM PR teams convince the more simple minded, uncritical political power holders of it's advantages using in-depth analysis focusing on overusing simple meaningless PR slogans like 'stealth', 'supercruise', 'sensor fusion', 'stealth', 'partnerships', 'stealth', '5th generation', 'super cruise' and 'stealth' to over-simplify how the F-35 is SO AWESOME that you just have to have it!! And it you don't, then what's wrong with you? Other nations have it. You think you're better than these other nations. Are you some kind of punk like North Korea?? No nation is going to want to bang you if you don't fly the F-35!! Even so, the F-35 will be a massive success, even if it is a complete bovine of a plane ("a cow is a racehorse designed by committee"), because the program is too big to fail, but don't forget, success has been readjusted by LM to mean something that sells in their projected quantity, or a quantity at all. It has nothing to do with it's capability as a combat platform, but that doesn't matter so much, because stealth! Also, it comes in a varity of stunning colours, including dark grey, gunmetal grey, stealth grey, slate, and duct tape grau covering all your pre-approved tastes. LM, the Goldman-Sachs of the defence industry, truly has changed the way the game is played today. They've done away with Punkbuster... That said, the 360 degree vision is a pretty awesome concept, even if the pilot wearing the bulky helmet can't comfortably turn more than 270 degrees at best, at least they'll be able to see exactly who is out maneuvering them and shooting them down! (in all seriousness, you guys might have noticed a smidgen of sarcasm in that rant, but the 360 vision sensor array and hud-helmet are both pretty cool concepts. That alone, if adapted to contemporary aircraft, is a game changer. If it can be applied)

Would that really be a big deal to rectify, considering all variants are already capable of landing unassisted within 300 feet?

If the Knesset was serious about defusing the tension between themselves and the Palestinians, they'd stop giving carte blanche to the Settlers, which is a big deal for the Palestinians.

It's not bad, considering we were promised 16 by 2012 @ less than $100 mil/plane when we signed, hence the RAAF (really, the MoD and the Howard Govt.) retiring the F-111 by 2010. Except now they'll be (approx) $225/plane, we start getting them in numbers by 2020 and there won't be any on Australian soil until then or thereafter, but definitely not before. This is what happens when your government to far too chummy with old mates who work as lobbyists for huge defence contractors and convince your intellectually challenged Air Chief Marshal (Angus Houston) and know-nothing government that a tender isn't needed. Because stealth.

Good luck buddy! The waiting sucks!

Ooh... I've been waiting for this! And it's not just for the J-8IIs...

Closest there is to the Super Tucano that's available (that I'm aware of) is the EMB-312 Tucano over at the A-Team site, and I think it's for SF1. Though I expect it wouldn't be difficult to transition it to SF2. It won't have high-res skins though.

RIP Uncle Phil. And final salute for Johnny:

Damn straight.

I do particularly like the official reason being 'slipped and fell'. lol!

They're not getting the same aircraft, they're getting the NG variant-- a completely different aircraft. I thought the typical sour grapes from Dassault was amusing: The fact is, the FAB are cash-strapped and simply can't afford an aircraft that is roughly (USD) $40-$50 million dollars more per unit, not to mention the higher through-life costs, support, training, etc. Not to mention that dealing with French defense contractors can be a nightmare much of the time. Just ask India. Then again, we've been here before. In 2007, we were told the frontrunner was the Superbug, then in 2009 the Brasilian President Lula announced that the Rafale had won after Sarkozy had twisted his arm. Then Joe Biden visited President Dilma Rouseff earlier this year and then shortly afterwards the Superbug was back at the top of this list again (possibly, Rouseff might have said anything to shut Biden up, because once he starts, he doesn't stop! ), before the US sabotaged themselves with the whole NSA debacle. Even though the FAB has been sold on the Gripen since roughly 2010 (I think), the political element to the program has been incredibly fluid since 2009. As much as I'd like to see FAB Gripens NGs, I don't think I'll believe anything until I see aircraft actually being delivered.

Never had a single problem with anything I've bought on Steam. Not a single patch, not a single download, not a buy, nothing. But then again, I've heard quite a few stories of folks who have had serious issues, so I'm guessing experiences may vary. Personally, console gaming, I think, is probably the worst form of gaming I've experienced, except for free-to-play MMOs maybe. I've never played against someone on a console who wasn't a complete douchebag or some loudmouthed prick barely on the cusp of puberty, the UI and web services are so clumsy compared to something like Steam, Origin or Battlenet (and I hate Battlenet!), it's so dumbed down, clunky and flashy... I feel like I've walked into a digital kindergarden every time I use Xbox Live or something similar. Personally, the real clincher for PC gaming - the mods. I mod the Christ out of just about everything I play and community support for PC games is fantastic! I mean, the EECvH2 community practically made the game playable after it was released in a pretty awful state and the 125+ mods I use on Skyrim have only made for a much richer experience! PC gaming is definitely the way to go. I rebuilt my rig in march with some cheap, incrementally upgraded parts that cost me less than $400 in total and after playing PS4, I couldn't understand why I'd want fork out something like $600 for what was essentially a downgrade. But hey, different strokes for different folks.

Some pure Russian muscle right there. Comparing this to most contemporary fighters today is like comparing some 1970s V-8 muscle to a wimpy hatchback.

Two extra wing hardpoints definitely wouldn't go astray, though this would require a new wing and/or an augmentation of the landing gear. There's only so much one can load with 4 wing hardpoints, especially when two of those stations are carrying tanks. But given that these are for the West Germans, they may not need the long legs that the USAF needed in Vietnam, considering the vast majority of Red Forces would be only a relatively short distance away. Replacing the bomb bay with a large internal tank may alone be sufficient.

Yeah Viper, adding escorts to your flight is a single mission only ability. Alternatively, you can add those weapons and tanks from the Tomcats to the Hawk's data.ini, that way those weapons systems will be available automatically for any aircraft who can use them if you choose to add an escorts. Though the FTs are usually platform specific, so adding Tomcat FTs to the Hawkeye and then selecting F-4s will mean they have weapons available to use, but no tanks. I do this with with certain nation specific aircraft so I can use them among multiple combat aircraft, mix up my OCA/DCA/Strike packages and keeping weapons and tanks options open (ie, Indonesian F-5Es using F-16 CTank/Wtanks, because it's a long damned flight between Jakarta and Darwin!).

Very much!

I'd be as happy as a pig in poo at that place. Pretty sure my wife would find it interesting for all of an hour though...

But are they though? It's confusing me a bit because I read an article in AFM near the start of the year (prolly first quarter) saying that, despite only being approved the month before, the new grey scheme being adopted for the Su-35BM, Su-34 and T-50 was being dropped and aircraft with it will either receive new schemes, or revert back to older ones (like the splinter or the light blue for the Platy), but apparently, this is now not happening either...? I'm confused...

Someone needs to develop sarcastic font, because I get boned for that shit all the time on FB.

Yeah, it's low observability was purely accidental, never intentional. It's more a conspiracy theory thing being bandied around by the faux-History Channel over the last few years. They tend to take a bit of artistic license with actual history now, at the History Channel, rather than present factual doccos like they used to.

Looks like an O-1 Bird Dog. If that's a snap from Temora Aviation, (Which I'm pretty sure it is), it'll be the Thai AF O-1G there.

No one was playing Stalin's organ...

Burying the hatchet in his head, is still burying the hatchet. No one ever stated where you had to bury it. Good on you, you can't put a price on the effect someone else's bullshit, coupled with your organisation's inaction will have on you and your family. Sounds like you didn't need the gig, so getting out sounds like a strategically wise move. Good luck with your next job nevertheless!