Best 4.5 gen fighter

By: KGB - 14th February 2017 at 03:06 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

All I know is that its not the J 10.

By: KGB - 14th February 2017 at 03:08 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

F/A-18E/F, of course. The most mass produced, combat proven and equipped with AESA radar and whole bunch of the latest weapons and targeting/recce systems.

No super cruise.

No TVC

su 35.

By: MadRat - 14th February 2017 at 03:31 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

Pretty obvious the F-15K offshoots are better than anything else listed. MiG-31 is my pick for running counter-air sweeps. If the US or Israel actually used the F-15K offshoots without export handicapping I'd be sure to cite it instead.

By: Loke - 14th February 2017 at 08:11 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

Pretty obvious the F-15K offshoots are better than anything else listed. MiG-31 is my pick for running counter-air sweeps. If the US or Israel actually used the F-15K offshoots without export handicapping I'd be sure to cite it instead.

What F-15K offshoots?

By: Loke - 14th February 2017 at 08:12 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

That's being overly simplistic as it does not take into account LPI modes or "why" the radar was used in the first place. For an "information sponge" like the F-22/35, the radar may only ever be used to get a precise range for a track that was originally created using the ESM, EOTS, etc and would only radiate for an extremely brief period of time. There are plenty of RedAir pilots that will talk about going against the F-22 and never getting any hint on their ESM that the F-22 was targeting them. Keep in mind that the F-22 does not have an IRST so the only way to get an accurate range is to use it's radar.

F-35 and F-22 are 5. gen and thus not part of this discussion (see first post that specified 4.5 gen... :))

By: TooCool_12f - 14th February 2017 at 08:25 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

F/A-18E/F, of course. The most mass produced, combat proven and equipped with AESA radar and whole bunch of the latest weapons and targeting/recce systems.

er, sorry, but by your standards, among the american fighters the F-16 comes ahead..

total mass production, 4500 f-16s built for about 1500 hornets if wiki numbers are anywhere close to reality

both combat proven, AESA radar today, weapons at least as various if not more (with users like israel for example) and so on... ;)

By: Ivan Colorado - 14th February 2017 at 09:08 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

Obviously the J-20

By: djcross - 14th February 2017 at 11:25 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

Arguing about who is the tallest midget. :stupid:

By: garryA - 14th February 2017 at 13:16 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

its directional data link means a stealth fighter is forced to use radar, at which point its no longer stealth and can be detected at greater ranges. If the stealth fighter doesnt flip on radar, it still comes out second best,
because skyward G isnt less than any other IRST, while gripen frontal cross section is less and therefore radiate less

ESM is very bad in ranging a moving airborne target so Gripen would need a way to generate firing solution and F-22/F-35 can also be linked together so only one would need to transmit

By: obligatory - 14th February 2017 at 13:23 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

at the modest ranges that is A2A, triangulation is done accurately

By: Y-20 Bacon - 14th February 2017 at 15:03 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

best air superiority: want to say Typhoon but probably F-15
best a2g: F-15
best multirole: F-15
best for peacetime: Gripen
best value for money: Su-35
best for most air forces: Gripen
best naval: Rafale
best looking: Rafale, su-35 tie

By: MSphere - 14th February 2017 at 15:07 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

Best A-A: definitely something that employs the METEOR.
F-15? No chance..

By: a89 - 14th February 2017 at 15:55 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

F-15? No chance..

Why not? It has an AESA radar (unlike EF-2000) with a very advanced sensor suit. Great payload/range and a wide range of weapons.

By: JSR - 14th February 2017 at 16:44 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

Best A-A: definitely something that employs the METEOR.
F-15? No chance..

That would be MIG31 and Su-35 they provide the highest top speed and altitude for missile launches. MIG35 is close second to them.

By: Sintra - 14th February 2017 at 17:03 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

I'd like to explore this concept of silver cars not requiring as many washes...

Personal experience, dear chap, having owned a red Renault, a blue Nissan, a grey Skoda and now a silver Fiat i´ve discovered the joy´s of the silver colour in cars. Been doing photo treks in some fairly decent sized mountains for two and a half decades and silver has some magical properties over capot mud, it stealthifies it (the mud)... more or less...

Cheers

By: garryA - 14th February 2017 at 17:41 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

at the modest ranges that is A2A, triangulation is done accurately

A group of Gripen with directional datalink+ triangulation can geolocate the F-22 with its radar on
A group of F-22 with directional datalink + radar can geolocate all Gripen
Big different there

By: TomcatViP - 14th February 2017 at 19:22 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

Personal experience, dear chap, having owned a red Renault, a blue Nissan, a grey Skoda and now a silver Fiat i´ve discovered the joy´s of the silver colour in cars. Been doing photo treks in some fairly decent sized mountains for two and a half decades and silver has some magical properties over capot mud, it stealthifies it (the mud)... more or less...

Cheers

It's called aging and generally comes with an inherent eyesight loss my friend. ;) :very_drunk:

By: Kovy - 14th February 2017 at 21:03 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

best air superiority: want to say Typhoon but probably F-15
best a2g: F-15
best multirole: F-15
best for peacetime: Gripen
best value for money: Su-35
best for most air forces: Gripen
best naval: Rafale
best looking: Rafale, su-35 tie

"General, we are going to war !"
The General : "thanks god, we have the best fighter for peacetime !"

Wait, what ? [ATTACH=CONFIG]251374[/ATTACH]:very_drunk:

By: MSphere - 14th February 2017 at 21:03 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

Why not? It has an AESA radar (unlike EF-2000) with a very advanced sensor suit. Great payload/range and a wide range of weapons.

F-15s will not field Meteors, AFAIK.. In that regard they will always stay behind..
BTW, Typhoons, too, start to employ AESA radars. Rafales already have them..

By: SpudmanWP - 15th February 2017 at 02:04 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

F-35 and F-22 are 5. gen and thus not part of this discussion (see first post that specified 4.5 gen... :))

Perhaps you should tell that to OB.. the guy who actually brought them into the conversation.

gripen E ...its directional data link means a stealth fighter is forced to use radar, at which point its no longer stealth and can be detected at greater ranges.