The latest and the greatest is the F-22 Raptor's Raytheon AN/APG-77 with some 'classified' caveats installed. With everything else, to my knowledge, the United States sells fighters to NATO countries with whatever radar that happened to be installed on the aircraft. It's up to that countries finance department if they want the latest and greatest radar. Currently, the US has upgraded their systems in the 1990's and again in '05 and '06 -Aircraft- Original radar newest and so on... F-18 Hornet APG-64 APG-73 F-18 Superhornet APG-73 APG-78 APG-79 AESA F-15 Eagle APG-63 APG-63(v)1,2 and 3 APG-70
From Wikipedia:The MiG-29 first saw action in the 1980s during the Iran-Iraq war, where unguided bombs and rockets were used to devastating effect. In the following decade, MiG-29s went into combat in the Gulf War in the hands of Iraqi pilots, then thought to be among the best in the region after a decade of war and simmering tensions with Iran; over Serbia against a much larger force of western aircraft, and in Eritrea against Ethiopian Su-27 Flankers. It has largely been unsuccessful in encounters with modern Western fighters and Su-27s; however, it is generally believed that external factors, ie: the pilots and poor maintenence, rather than the quality of the MiG-29, are primarily responsible for this lack of success. In Training Combat Situations the MiG-29's of the German Luftwaffe showed themselves to be somewhat superior when fighting against Western F-15, F-16 and F/A-18 fighters. This was partly due to the MiG-29's helmet mounted "Archer" targeting system, that allowed German pilots to achieve a lock on any target the pilot could see, including aircraft far to the MiG's side or above. In contrast, the U.S. aircraft were only able to lock on targets in a narrow window directly in front of the aircraft's nose. Apparently this aircraft in the hands of the German Luftwaffe was able to best the F16 each and every time as well. After reading this it would appear that with westernized pilot training the Russian Mig is a superior platform.
I remember seeing that footage when the US pilots shot them down. My first thought at that time was something long the lines of 'what poorly trained pilots' the Iraqi's were. Providing the MiG's go up against the traditional platforms of today. Things have changed since the release of the Raptor. The only time a pilot will see a Raptor is when he is floating down to earth in his parachute.
The f-22 radar is supposedly invisible to detection. How they pulled THAT off I dunno but thats what I read. Couple that with the stealth shape and you've got a true predator in the skies.
This is now an invitation for people to post fighter footage, especially that of combat exercises or real engagements! Btw, how does the F-22 carry missles? I doubt it would be too stealthy with a handful of missles attached to the wings and fueselage.
Thanks for the info. So I guess they're not going to upgrade the F/A-18's RADAR? What improvements do the -78 and -79 have? What does AESA mean?
AESA = Active Electronically Scanned Array Here's the official product infor from Raytheon. This unit provides the pilot with more information than ever before. http://www.raytheon.com/products/apg79aesa/ "The AN/APG-79 AESA radar system represents a significant advance in radar technology. Entirely new from front-end array to back-end processor and operational software, the system substantially increases the power of the U.S. Navys F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet, making it more lethal and less vulnerable than ever before. With its active electronic beam scanning which allows the radar beam to be steered at nearly the speed of light the APG-79 optimizes situational awareness and provides superior air-to-air and air-to-ground capability. The agile beam enables the radars air-to-air and air-to-ground modes to interleave in near-real time, so that pilot and crew can use both modes simultaneously, an unprecedented technological leap. Now in flight test by the Navy, the APG-79 demonstrates reliability, image resolution, and targeting and tracking range significantly greater than that of the current F/A-18 radar. With its open systems architecture and compact, commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) parts, it delivers dramatically increased capability in a smaller, lighter package. The array is composed of numerous solid-state transmit and receive modules to virtually eliminate mechanical breakdown. Other system components include an advanced receiver/exciter, ruggedized COTS processor, and power supplies. Since the contract award in 2000, the APG-79 program has met all its milestones on time and the system has shown exceptional performance in flight tests. Currently completing its operational test phase, the program's next milestone is operational evaluation due to start in spring 2006 with the APG-79 radar entering service towards the end of 2006. The U.S. Navy plans to buy over 400 APG-79 systems. Potential foreign sales span seven countries now using the F/A-18 aircraft. In addition to the APG-79, Raytheon supplies the F/A-18 E/F aircraft with several other systems. Among these are the current APG-73 radar, ATFLIR forward-looking infrared targeting pod, AN/ALE-50 towed decoy and a variety of missiles and bombs, including laser-guided weapons such as the Paveway and JSOW. "
I was thinking a better comparison would be an F-86D vs. a MIG 17 myself... Or a bunch of Mirage-series vs. the F5 et al Aside from that, my brain is still firmly entrenched in the 'Century Series' fighters. THOSE were the days, when at any air base you could see around 20 different aircraft fly in/out. F-100, 101, 102, 104, 105, 106, B-57, F-89, F-94, F-4, F-5, F8, A4, A6A, A7D, F-111, T-38, even T-33's until the early 70's, and I could add more as I think of them... March, Norton, El Toro, Pt. Magu, etc.
Yeah, but if you have ever flown in the front seat of an aircraft: that's MUCH easier said than done. I have not flown in a fighter, but I've flown front seat in a bunch of civillion aircraft, and how folks can see anything not directly in front of them more than about 2 miles away on the same level as them is amazing.
There two little doors on the sides of the fueselage just underneth the wings that open up and fire out one missle at a time and there's also a door underneath the F-22 simlar to the B-2 and F-117 that also carrie missiles. There's even a gun on the F-22, go figure!.
I don't see it other than the Tomcat is the closest thing I could think of. Everything else is just a possiblity.
I highly doubt that they will use it, The Raptor is just to damn stealth and by the time an enmy will see it the fight is over. I guess the USAF didn't want to recreate the same problem that the F-4 Phantom had when that was first built, that didn't have a gun.
The MiG-29 and Su-27 (and all it's variants) are the front-line threat to the West's fighters. Especially some of the latest variants with thrust vectoring - they surpass all Western fighters in terms of maneuvering.
The Mig29 has already been owned by an F-15 Eagle and I think a tomcat. As far as the Su-27 goes, its overated, thats just me.
^^^ If the MiG-29 was flown by pilots who lacked the skill or training , of course it was shot down by the Eagle. You can`t compare the flight hours/year of an USAF pilot with the time spent in the air by a pilot from a 2nd or 3rd world country. EVERY fighter pilot knows how capable the MiG-29 is , and some would say that in a dog fight it would easily outrun a SU-27. (I`am refferring to the first models from the respective families)
THe Mig 29 is a front line defense fighter while the Su27, which is much bigger, is designed to penetrate deep into enemy territory, or so I read. I also read that all things equal, the Su27 has the edge over the F-15.
The F-15 has been undeafed for a reason, its the best aircraft in my opinion to ever take to the skys because its never lost to another aircraft of any kind other than well other F-15's. The Su-27 is a agile aircraft and can do some cool tricks but thats all I have seen it do and ever heard it doing was the Cobra. I never heard of it having better technology or weapons than the Eagle. Personally the only thing in my opinion to go heads up with an Eagle is the Raptor, The USAF back in 2003 did a simed dogfight between 5 F-15's vrs one f-22 and that one raptor beat all the other F-15's with there the best pilots amoung them where two famous test pilots, Paul Metz and Dave Fruguson. The pilot who was flying the raptor was a rookie. Thats pretty much only "True" loss for the Eagle if you even want to consider it a loss.
The Su-35 and its later development, the Su-37, both have not gone beyond the role of technology demonstraters, due to lack of funding. I think the only Su-37 was destroyed in an airshow crash. There were only a handful of Su-35s built.