Why Australia should scratch the F-35 and fly Sukhois

Russia Behind the Headlines ^ | April 8, 2013 | Rakesh Krishnan Simha

[PotatoHeadMick]

The F-35 Lighting was the first choice of the Australian air force. But several thunderbolts have struck the stealth aircraft, including the arrival of new generation Sukhois that are skewing the odds against the Australians.

Sometime by the middle of this year, Australia will have to make a stark choice. Its defences vulnerable and budget in tatters, the country will announce whether it will buy another squadron of 24 F-18 Super Hornets, or that Australia will stick with the original plan to buy 100 units of the F-35 Lightning – America’s joint strike fighter.

Trouble is neither option adds to the country’s security.

[hattend]

Bump to read later...yeah, just found it.

[joegoeny]

The sukhoi is open source you can buy parts for it from Russia India Israel and China not to mention you can substitute domestic or American engines avionics radars and weapon systems. Australia could even begin building the airframes themselves insuring a steady supply of long range air superiority fighters and bombers. The 2 seat sukhoi could even substitute for the f-111s they scrapped for the f35s.

[joegoeny]

The f15 stealth eagle is indeed the American equivalent of the Russian sukhoi if you could mount vector thrust supercruise engines on it. It shares equipment with f15s from Japan South Korea Saudi Arabia Israel and the USA. The stealth eagle is a twin engine long range fighter-bomber just what Australia needs. The question is it going to be open sourced like the flanker or proprietary like the f22 or f35.