They are a lot more of a threat than you think. 1000 marines waiting offshore is 1000 dead marines if they fire a swarm of AShMs. Additionally, ANY large ship is in serious danger if it is sitting in tame of numerous AShMs.In addition to swarms of small boats, they also posses diesel electric submarines and an Air…

From my understanding, they are struggling with engines to a large degree still

From my understanding, they have not. According to Russian media, their purchase of the Su-35 is mostly for their engines.

Commercial aircraft are a pain for a lot of reasons and are far from simple, in many ways they are more complex to design than a military craft. For example, a civilian airliner cannot have holes in its design that means the pilots randomly get hypoxia, have to have its fuel trucks painted white, or develop airframe…

Actually, it more or less has been don! The main issue is that initially, ICBMs are detected by their heat signature. Now, you can reduce your likelihood of detection by shortening the boost phase and thus lowering the time available to spot the ICBM, but you need a more powerful engine for that.

Russia should be able to build quite a few of these, as they have secured exporting the FGFA now, it looks like at least 8 Su-50 by 2017 and 8 Su-55s. Part of the reason Russia slowed their initial order had just as much to do with the nature was of the system and not wanting to buy large quantities of something if it…

Agreed. The PAK FA has what they call a digital copilot, which I gather is striving for the same thing. In that respect, I guess the F-35 and the PAK FA are quite similar, both are ditching 360 degree stealth for electronic capabilities. And really and truly, modern radars are getting better and better at detecting…

Not to mention that combat radius on internal fuel of just shy of 800 miles is nothing to sneeze at. In that respect, it is better in some roles than the F-22 or F-16 or F/A-18.

I thought of this immediately!

That’s why I said, if you have a big target, you won’t miss. They do not have wings or anything else to creat lift, and will not encounter any drastic changes in drag, you have adecent size CEP, but you know the bomb is NOT going to veer off (as it has no control surfaces to interact with the air or give it unexpected…

Fighter Bomber, the cancelled FB-22 would have filled the hole left by the F-111.

Dumb bombs may not be the most accurate weapons, but they do fall down in a parabolic trajectory very predictable and will not veer off course. If you have a big target area, you aren't likely to miss

COTD

Well, someone that does have the production capability is Sukhoi, who is eager to sell more Flankers. While some countries won’t buy Russian hardware regardless, many have switched, whether it be Flankers, APCs, or whatever.

The F-15SE is the only aircraft that would really fill the gap to any great extent from the cut short F-22 production. It is pretty much the only fighter in production that can match both the avionics, payload, range, and agility of a late model flanker. Sadly, I doubt it will happen as it would make much of the F-35…

Yep, war is hell, people forget that.

Aye, that would be brilliant!

Yah, my response would have been “because this is a free country and I can ask whatever the fuck I want”

I could be wrong, but I believe the writer of the article the OP linked was very confused. It sounds to me like they have kit that data links to a bomb that possesses maneuverability and a datalink, and the plane spots it down. If such tech existed like the article says, there would be no need for Russia to be using…

Just don’t buy the GPS the U.S. navy puts on its boats, it doesn’t seem to know where Iran is, or where coral reefs are in the Philippines