[sukhoi-30mki]

Image: Raytheon

[RunningWolf]

Hey if that image is accurate, it looks like the SideWinder is no longer spin stabilized at the rear.

I always thought that an ingenious and elegant solution, much like the 'potato mashers' on one of the Russian AA missiles.

[magslinger]

SONOBUOY PING!

Post or FReepmail me if you wish to be enlisted in or discharged from the Navair Pinglist.
This is a medium volume pinglist.

[Yo-Yo]

Why all the concern with keeping their SuperHornets USN compatible? Are they hoping to sell them back to the USN after the F-35 comes online?

I would think the long term disposition for the SuperHornets, ordered as a stopgap in capability between the retiring of the F-111C in 2010 and the activation of the F-35 in 2015+, would be to retire their F/A-18As and Bs, but continue to operate the F/A-18Fs. It seems if that were the case, they would want to make the F/A-18Fs compatible with their current inventory of ASRAAMs.

Those wacky Aussies! Everybody in their neighborhood are buying Su-27s, Su-30s, and F-15s, while they're buying F/A-18Fs. Bringing a knife to a gunfight.