There's only rumors and opinions floating around. This thing is so hush-hush it's bringing us back to the old days.
But looking at that new pic of the Su-35, notice the leading edge of the horizontal stabilizer and how it's just bare metal? Probably titanium just like the same metal around the gunport. I couldn't find any literature on why they keep that front half in bare metal and paint the trailing half only, but then it dawned on me - because the H-stabs are below the level of the wing, they take the brunt of the rocket fire blasting off of whatever missiles are being fired from under wing pylons, especially the inner one closest to the fuselage.
Interesting how you don't see that, though, on any other fighter. Here it's more visible in this pic.
Bare titanium metal on the leading half so that the heat and rocket fire blasted off of missiles and guided rockets etc. don't burn off the paint or affect the horizontal stabilizer in any way.
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Here you can see the shiny titanium metal also directly in front of the gunport right below the cockpit and directly behind the 08 serial #.
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You can see on other aircraft such as the F-16s, Eurofighter Typhoon and even Rafale where both, the gunports and flare dispensers pop out with a serious amount of heat leaving behind burnt and soot marks on the fuselage. This is a great way to protect those vulnerable surfaces that are directly in the line of fire.
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I just found out that this Leonardo contract for the 23 AW-149s & AW-189s was one of two proposed tenders for the EAF. The other was actually from Airbus for the NH-90 Marine helicopter, but for some reason (probably cost is my guess as well as souring relations with France at the time) they ended up accepting the Italian offer for the AWs. So I think it's safe to assume they will be using quite a few of these on the Mistrals as well as the FREMMs and Corvettes. Great utility, transport and intelligent surveillance/recon & search and rescue helo.
Too bad our friend
@Abu Sulayman didn't answer my tag to give us more info on these things. The man is from Canada and works with newly built helicopters and one of his jobs is to go out on their first maiden flights after coming off the assembly line and taking notes on all the items that need to either be adjusted, fixed or replaced as well as check all systems to see if their working properly etc. Definitely a cool job!
But it is interesting that they did have somewhat of an interest in the NH90. That would've been nice to see in the EN but I'm sure it was much more expensive than the Agusta Westlands.
It said 2022 right on the top front page IIRC. And I don't look at that in any competitive way, just interesting to see their rankings and the way they list them. They actually had the EAF list of fighters completely wrong, so there are some questionable discrepancies. Egypt was ahead of Pakistan a few years ago, but Pakistan has moved up rapidly in the last couple of years.
Funny because Egypt still didn't have destroyers in 2020 yet it ranked higher lol. It only increased its number of frigates and corvettes since then and its ranking still fell by one which is weird.
Frigates & corvettes are really the product of most navies preferring medium-sized ships that are less expensive to build and operate and by arming them more, they can serve as destroyers and easily ship blue waters.
We might see larger frigates in the EN in the future such as the German-built F124 which is classified as a frigate but it might as well be a destroyer with its size and destructive armament.
Even Pakistan's newly acquired Chinese ships are frigates. I think you will be seeing that trend a lot more. Is the Pakistan Navy still operating the Brooke & Garcia class destroyers from the 80s?
Yep, destroyers weren't needed at the time of purchasing the FREMMs and Corvettes but might be part of the EN's "blue water navy" expansion it's planning with the possible larger aircraft carrier and submarines. In the meantime, the frigates and FREMMs were much more feasible for fleet escorts for the Mistrals and all-purpose maritime duties.
I know they were in discussion with France on the A330 MRTTs and the military satellite, but did they actually sign a contract for the tankers?
Why? Just because
@joker87 says it doesn't mean anything LOL!
Just kidding. No it makes sense and evident by seeing that the $1.3 billion a year had not really been spent at all in most of the last 10 years or so. That probably added up to a lot of scratch. Still, they need to spend it well even if it's aid $ and bargain the heII out of the Americans!
Check out this new pic I found of an EAF F-16 and the closeup shot. Looks better on full screen.
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A few more, wow!
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This is why they could use the JDAM kits, to add precision bombing capabilities to their large stock of these Mk84s, as well as their Mk82s & 83s.
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EAF C-130 cockpit during a transport flight.
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EAF Apaches in the middle of a sand storm.
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@ARCH٤R , a bit of an older pic but a lineup of F-4 turds lol.
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