Quote:
Originally Posted by bengalraider
if there is one nation on earth that can build a stealth fighter compared to the raptor it is russia, anyhow there are quite a few 5th gen stealth fighter programs in the world a few of them are the indian mca( though the mca is built more in the jsf class), the chinese shenyang j-12 and chengdu j-13, the russian sukhoi PAK-FA ( joint project with india and brazil also possibly the first aircraft to have plasma stealth),the japanese atd-x shinshin, the russian also have the mig MFI 1.44 design that can be reactivated remember one thing on papre the raptor may outclass everything but there are two variables numbers and skill the average cost of a PAK-FA or an j-13 will be 30-60% of a raptor with growing economies the spare money in all the nations associated with these aircraft shall incerase as the wealth of the united states declines so i'm thinking four or five PAK-FA'S for each raptor no matter how stealthy the raptor goes down.
by the way ther are probably going to be three versions of PAK-FA
1- a russian version with russian weapon systems
2- an indian version that shall be much like the MKI having western electronics on a russian platform running indian software, maybe even western missiles india is planning a joint venture with MBDA
3- i don't know what kind the brazilians would want
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the only aircraft out of the ones you name that isn't a photoshop exercise is the Mig MFI .144. It flew a total of 50 hours and was acknowledged by the russians as unsurvivable in modern contemp battlespace. (ditto the CTD known as the Berkut.
So the reality is that US UAV LO Tech is already on 3rd generation, international LO tech is basically at it's 6th or 7th (and the last 4 are US platform concepts) and that the US is at it's 4th manned platform generation using disparate technologies.
The others (and with the greatest respect) have kids extolling their respective favourite non US nations virtues, but have NO empirical evidence to show that they've even got basic CTD's flying (let alone the US which has already benched it's first manned combat generation) and has in excess of 100 5th generation manned combat aircraft in service.
So after 49 years of demonstrating that they can produce manned LO aircraft, no other country has even demonstrated a manned mule - let alone a service level platform.
the reality is all so stark compared to the enthusiastic but undemonstrated wunderlust that gets thrown about, it alternates between the enthusiasts dearly wanting to slam LO/Stealth as redundant concepts, but unable to go full tilt as their favourite country (non-USA) is in development.
There have been 3 different unmanned LO platforms tested in australia - funnily enough, they're all NATO countries or "visible" US allies.
Again, the reality is different from the "woulda, coulda, shoulda, will be" brigade.
btw the last LO/Stealth Conf in the UK only showed more photoshop entries from the non NATO/Partner cohort. Every year we see the same slideshows, the same wish lists, and the same extraordinary capability which has yet to displayed as a mule - let alone a fully committed squadron where doctrine has been developed and where its part of a coherent system.