Australia should have which aircraft ? (buying, maintenance, price)

[nzrugby]

Interesting that our politicians argument is that the Russian SU32-35 aircraft is so dangerous that we need to spend an arm and a leg $200 MIL each on the so called joint strike fighter which our politicians believe is invisible to all known radar frequency bands.
If the SU 35S is so dangerous why are we not buying it at $60 MIL a copy ?

New Australia - Defence - Air Force

[manygeese]

Originally Posted by nzrugby

Interesting that our politicians argument is that the Russian SU32-35 aircraft is so dangerous that we need to spend an arm and a leg $200 MIL each on the so called joint strike fighter which our politicians believe is invisible to all known radar frequency bands.
If the SU 35S is so dangerous why are we not buying it at $60 MIL a copy ?

New Australia - Defence - Air Force

The NBN.

No nothing about the issue but presume that a 200 ml strike fighter beats the SU35S in dogfights.

[wanneroo]

The way Sukhoi and MiG build planes doesn't work for a lot of air forces. The Russians build those planes to be disposable and as a result they usually only last 2000-3000 service hours whereas a plane like the JSF, with a mid life update, will probably last 15000 hours.

Some MiGs and Sukhois only last 1600 hours before having to be junk. In addition a lot of the parts on their planes don't last long either.

[nzrugby]

Originally Posted by wanneroo

The way Sukhoi and MiG build planes doesn't work for a lot of air forces. The Russians build those planes to be disposable and as a result they usually only last 2000-3000 service hours whereas a plane like the JSF, with a mid life update, will probably last 15000 hours.

Some MiGs and Sukhois only last 1600 hours before having to be junk. In addition a lot of the parts on their planes don't last long either.

The Indian air force would buy junk ? sure a lot of so called air forces idea of Maintenance is a joke.
But I do like the argument that a single engined aircraft is better for Australia because there is less to go wrong over water.
The way the price of the JSF is going up and up it could well be cheaper to buy a cheaper aircraft with a shorter service life.
The JSF is better in a visual dog fight than the SU 35S ?
Shorter range is better ? remember the JSF cannot carry drop tanks/external ordnance and be stealthy while doing so.