[pburgh01]

Yes we see these threads every couple of years, invincible Russian fighter...blah. And then in real combat with real airplanes, our F-18 and F-16 seem to get a 1 to gazzilion kill ratio. Just like the T-72 and T-80 tanks are better than our A1 Abrams. The Russian philosophy is to put 4 inches of amour around the pilot, a monster engine and crappy avionics and you can sell it anywhere. The Foxbat, Flanker they are all capable airplanes but well despite the crowing at Jane's they are not up to snuff in the real world with our F-16, F-18 and a world behind the F-22. The last good Russian armament was the AK-47 and the their 60’s era SAMs.

[cunning_fish]

It is not the stuff winning and not the stuff losing battles.

People like to point at Israely-Arab and Gulf wars as an example for failure of Soviet technology but it is just wrong.

As for stuff it is also not fair to compare a T-72 to an A1. They belongs to different eras. Just like Iraqi or Syrian Mig-21/23s were outdated comparing to most US legacy fighters Israel and coalition used.

I think if you are to put a T-90 vs M60, or a latest Flanker vs a F-4 the Soviet will win.