discuss all things that fly i'll start,
I'm kind of dubious about the upcoming (2010) retirement of the last of the RAAF's F-111s. Yes, they're old, but they're versatile and proven in combat, which is more than I can say for the JSFs we're buying. I can understand replacing aircraft when something which is definitely better comes along, but for every F-35 we could afford numerous examples of other aircraft which work just as well but may not be quite so stealthy. Defence's purchasing decisions of late haven't made sense to me at the best of times, but the fact they're banking everything on their new planes being just right is a bit worrying - it reminds me of when the US figured they'd replace the A-10, then realised that absolutely nothing would ever take its place and rushed them back into service. I think it might be a better idea to keep the F-111s in service a bit longer, at the very least until we've made sure that the replacements are suitable not just for our air force, but also for our country itself. Curious how the RAAFies feel on this one, actually.
On a fairly unrelated note, I find it immensely amusing reading through comments on videos of the Su-35 on Youtube. It's like the die-hard nationalistic American users think that the US pioneered thrust-vectoring in fighters or something, when in reality the Russians have had it for quite some time and the US is only just bringing fighters into active service which can pull the Cobra - something the Russians have been doing for decades. Ironically the only aspect of aviation I'd say the US has any advantage at all in is stealth, which the Russians don't seem overly concerned with. In most other regards, they're still playing catch-up. Plus Russian jets have fucking awesome lines, they genuinely look aggressive. Like flying sharks or something, I guess.
I mean, fuck, look at this thing:
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