Quote:
Originally Posted by kuku
Would you say middile east with the oil money (Iran UAE etc. etc.) will not fall for it, many AFs today could do with WW-2 prop planes with cannons and iron bombs, however if a need for a stronger AF arises it will not be easy to do so in the requried time.
If these planes become the next big thing in showing off, nations will buy them, and as nations buy them others will follow, when such a capability that presents new set of challenges is operational at a large scale, justification for the investmentthat have to be made will be available.
Look at the F-35 program, i am sure i will provide enough reasons for other nations to go for similar capability.
As for the defence situation, the more it changes, the more it seems to remain the same, there will always be a need, we are humans with all our imperfections.
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I just think the price will be too high for anyone to bother. You cant just buy 2 or 3 planes, you need at least 10 for a viable purchase...less than that and its not worth it for the company to even build them, and you dont have any spares or trainers, or even enough for any kind of maintenance cycle.
Look at the SA-20...how many of
those have been exported? And that's an arguably more important system than a couple of fighters that will probably be broken when they're needed most.