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No, we should sell them brand new F-15Ks. As far as our old F-15s and F-14 go, they were maintence intensive, and that’s what they have now with the F-111s that they wish to retire. If they wanted aircraft that required lots of maintenace, they’d stick with the F-111Cs and Gs they have now.

The highest mark of F-16’s for dogfighting and the F-35 to replace the Harriers they never bought.

A more pressing need for the Aussies is for the govt there to tear up the idiotic ban on guns so they can field an experienced army that has some idea which end of the tube the bullet comes out of.

It really doesnt matter what you sell them or want to sell them. The main point about the article is not whether Superhornets are all that better then Sukhois or whether F-15s would be better option. What really matters is how much dough you can put on your hardware. If sufficient amount of $$$s are poured, even a Mig-21 can become formidable. Its not that Asian countries havent had russian hardware before. Whats has really changed is that with rapidly rising economy Asian countries have more dough to put on their russian hardwares. Main point of the article is that Australia is having trouble keeping pace with a rapidly modernising defense of Asian countries. Today's Russian equipment is a lot more then the 80's Soviet technology, now they come with european electronics and weapon systems depending on the amount of dough you can throw on it. Todays russian hardware more dangerous then what was fielded by the Soviet Union in the 70’s and 80’s. Add to that Chinese and Russian equipment have more bang for a buck. They have sufficient technology edge and they are dirt cheap enough to be fielded in large numbers. And thats gonna be a tough opposition for Australia to take on. Regardless of whether Australia buys the F-22, F-35, Superhornets or F-15s it really doesnt have much dough to put on them.

Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia will be much tougher opposition in future. And only in their dreams will Australia be able to beat China.