ROLF , jokes on you
“. . .in practice the Sukhoi-made stealth jet is also too expensive, poorly engineered and powered by old and unreliable engines.”
In other words, normal-normal for Russian aircraft of any make or design.
The Indians will end up just designing and building their own.
So, who do the Indians call for tech support?
Just imagine what the Mahindra knock-off is going to look like.
Maybe the Indian brass are tired of buying Russian junk just to keep the special (India-Russia) relationship going. Holding weapons procurement hostage to foreign policy considerations can be painful if the gap in reliability/capability is too great.
“The Indians’ complaints illustrate the yawning gulf between stealth warplane design and the actual production of radar-evading jets.”
This one had me totally baffled until I read:
“In other words, it’s one thing to sketch an advanced warplane on paper. It’s quite another to build one and get it to work.”
Sounds like the Russians sold them the “monkey” version.
Well, they got a great air-frame. Just need to replace the avionics and engines and they’ll have a great plane.
I seem to remember the F-22 having oscilation (design) problems during testing.
I wonder what the Clintons got for those blueprints.
EVERYTHING in Russia used to be made “good enough for government work”, which, contrary to Al Gore's belief, is NOT an indication of high quality.
[I wish I knew who told AlGore the phrase “good enough for government work” meant ‘high quality’ in the first place- that person was probably laughing his ass off when AlGore used that phrase in a speech]
"Good enough for government work" is a humorous expression that used to be used in factories to indicate any old crap could be shipped off to government and you will still get paid. One place I know used to take the scrapped parts and put them in the 'government pile'.
Lol
Choices choices
a Ruskie fighter
Or a Mahindra tractor
Answer....neither
I will take me a crate of them there AK47S and a hunting license Mr Secretary
Or some of their babes
Or furs
Or oil
Diamonds
Wild Boar
Hey Russia has stuff of value...
IMHO, this plane is still a prototype and right now I think Indians are starting it to shake down discounts.
Their main concerns is all about engines which are still in design phase and aren’t even behind shedule.
6 billion is not too much for a technology like that. If I were Sukhoi I could have been seek partners elsewhere, including banks and own government.
They cant hate Russian Stealth plane. They dont have it yet. So...