"robert arndt" wrote in message
om...
"Hog Driver" wrote in message
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"robert arndt" wrote in message
om...
(Shane D. Maudiss) wrote in message
. com...
I think today even the French would beat them...

What aircraft are you particularly attacking?

The high-tech German Eurofighter which will be carrying the IRIS-T and
Taurus s/o weapon, radar-cancelling emitter pod and IR scrambling
wingtip sensors?

Lots of production variants flying around.

The ICE Phantoms that can fire AIM-120s?

The integration of the radar and fire control suite is largely
*******ized,
and in no way comes close to the capability of Dutch or Danish F-16s.

The re-engineered MiG 29s that beat the USN and Marines several times
in mock combat?

When allowed to 'survive' a post radar missile engagement perhaps.
Their
high off-boresite IR missile capability is cool, but something can be
said
about the fact that they are phasing them out of service.

The Panavia Tornado that can fly 75 ft off the deck at 920 mph armed
with an array of weapons plus Mauser's 27mm BK-27?

Which is exactly how the Brit Tornados got schwacked during Gulf War
'91.

... speak up... I can't hear you...

I must say the German pilots are very talented, and get their primary
training in the US (and F-4 and Tornado training in the states as well).
However, they do NOT have the most advanced aircraft out there, and the
Eurofighter is still not out there in any numbers yet. One of the
reasons
the Italians are going with leased F-16s in the interim.

The German pilots do train in the US under GERMAN command in NM. And
yes, they do not have the most advanced aircraft around... even with
the best of the Eurofighter fittings; however, despite the press, the
Luftwaffe has plans within a larger EU on various stealth projects and
UCAVs. Perhaps some aircraft even operate today like the Firefly II.
EADS subsequently has designs for the FAWS program, aircraft that
benefit from the X-31 VECTOR program, stealth and anti-stealth
missiles, conversion bomber aircraft, cargo dropped palletized weapons
platforms, the Taifun-Brevel-Mucke UCAV trio, and exotics projected
for the far future like the NiMet- a metamorphic aircraft. The Sanger
II project is also still alive and may yield a hypersonic LEO
spacebomber in the future.

For cryin' out loud, the German military R&D effort is a fraction of what
either France *or* the UK commits, and you think there are some kind of
operational "uberaircraft" out there? Geeze, when are you going to get a
grip on this Aryan Superiority Complex you have? You have promised us new,
advanced German medium battle tanks--but the Budeswehr is now getting ready
to cut the heck out of their existing armored force structure. You promise
us now advanced Luftwaffe projects--from a nation that is struggling to keep
its existing committments to projects like Eurofighter, A-400, Meteor, etc.
Get real.

Brooks



Rob