That's awesome. EAF really needs to exponentially increase the number of its modern fighters. It's great that they were able to secure those additional 30 Rafales to make a total of 54, eventually. But remember when they made the claim that they really liked the aircraft and were hoping at some point (relatively sooner than later) to increase the number of the French jet to 75, possibly even 100? Well, I don't think they expected their own success with the original purchase to cause an explosion in the demand of that fighter jet all across the board, especially the UAE's 80 aircraft order. Damn that was ridiculous because now that has really jammed up production line availability.
All the countries that were black-listed as interested F-35 customers have all suddenly turned to the next, best available option in the Rafale, thanks to Egypt. Really. And it's an incredible alternative to anyone who could be so lucky as to be able to purchase it in any numbers. So in a way, we kinda kicked our own selves in our own heads lmao.
Now the problem is how to increase the EAF's modern fighters count with this Rafale dilemma?
- Grind right into the Eurofighter Typhoon regardless of MBDA approving the meteor? 24 EFTs are not really much when you think about it but adding them to the 54 Rafies and now you're looking at almost 80 Eurocanards, is much better but the EAF really needs at least 130, maybe even 150 of these great aircraft.
- Certainly increase the number of MiGs with at least another 60 MiG-35s and no more settling for the M/M2/X/XYZ whatever. With the very affordable price of these aircraft and their incredible performance, it's no wonder these jets haven't made a much bigger impact on the global market, but I think we know the main reason being the US' ability to put the Kiebach on anyone looking to buy Russian fighters. Either way, the EAF is gonna HAVE to find a way around this stupid US strongarming like India has.
Anyone know how India was able to get exemptions on CAATSA from the US? They possibly might have agreed to purchase F/A-18 Super Hornets instead of Rafale Ms in return for the exemption on the purchase of the S-400. There goes the US sticking it to France again, but maybe this is the EAF's ticket to slide in and take advantage of that?
What about Algeria? Their entire military is practically Russian-made equipment with the exception of a few cargo planes and helicopters and such. It still deals with the US on a certain level how has it coped with the Russian sanctions?
- The Su-35s. These would be absolutely incredible should the EAF be able to field even just 50 of these beasts. But only under the deal that they aggressively pursue the Su-57 as soon as it becomes available for export. But when is the obvious US stranglehold on this order going to end? Or has it already and we're all kidding ourselves?
Not an easy dilemma to figure out.
BTW, do you remember that certain Russian pod you posted about as a possible piece of equipment that the EAF could acquire with the MIG-29M/M2s that supposedly fools incoming missiles by duplicating the jet fighter's radar signal return by doubling or tripling the MiG's silhouette to confuse the incoming missile and guide it away? If you remember, could you link it for me and the other fellas who might not have seen it? That thing was crazy and I just wanted to look into it a bit more. Only if it's not too much of a hassle for you, bro!
EAF MIG-29 squadrons patches.
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