Your Nation's Air Force Mark II:

[Celibrae]

Military budget is around 10-20 Billion, and the military is based on Cold War era British and Russian stuff.

Relation with worlds powers - literally none. Although I fell it might turn into Vietnam V2.

Strategic Situation - defense and killing pesky separatists with napalm. It is also on the way out of a regional Suez Canal-equivalent, so it acts as a major stopping point.

Is it a *Democracy*

*GLORIOUS JUNTA*

Hmmm...

Invest heavily in light attack aircraft/trainers like the Super Tucano and utility helicopters that can be gunshipified and still used in a transport capacity (Mi-8/Mi-17 etc)
Buy lots of low cost fighter bombers and attack aircraft (Su-22, MiG-27, Q-5 etc) and a smaller number of advanced air superiority fighters (later model Su-27s and MiG-29s etc) to protect important sites

Yes Comrade Padnak!

[Celibrae]

If you want to be dangerous to others around you, invest in tactical and strategic transport aircraft capable of landing on unimproved airstrips (An-12, IL-76, An-22 etc) and in airborne early warning aircraft/AWACs aircraft. If your early warning systems are good enough, keeping around a bunch of interceptors like the MiG-21 and MiG-25 would most likely be worth while. Having a small unit of attack helicopters, if you have the budget to spare, would also be worth looking into, particularly stuff like the Mi-24 which can be used in a (very limited) transport role to supply remote bases and forces under attack in addition to being able to insert comandos or other elite troops. Although they would most likely fall under the jurisdiction of your navy, anti submarine and patrol aircraft would also be worth looking into if you're interested in controlling the waters around your island. Going on from that, a smaller number (maybe three or four at the most) group of helicopters suited to landing on ships (Ka-25) would also be useful if you're interested in boarding and searching civilian cargo ships. Anti submarine helicopters might also be worth looking into. If you have the budget to spare, some light attack/recon helicopters like the Mi-2 would also be a good investment.

If you have allot of money to throw around and or in the past had them based in your nation, a squadron or two of heavy bombers like the Tu-16 or Tu-95 would also be good to keep in service for anti ship warfare and counter insurgency operations (depending on how developed your command and control is)

Ok. I'll sort out the military later today.

Thank you for the excellent help fellow glorious junta!

[Celibrae]

O so I am looking for a multi-roll fighter that fit this criteria:

#1 can be in realistic service today
#2 were in production before the year 1999
#3 are UK or EU nation in origin
#4 can be in realistic service until or past the year 2020.

Does this fighter exist?

Panavia Tornado

[Celibrae]

You think to small. If I allocate 1/5 of LRNSA's cargo capacity to guns. It could carry 200 GAU-8s, each with 1,200 rounds. I'm not going to because, while LRNSA is ridiculous, I'm trying to keep it plausibly ridiculous, which rules out close air support. If a LRNSA is in a position where it could engage a target with 200 GAU-8s something has gone very very wrong. An armed LRNSA is best used (And I use best here in the loosest of fasions.) by camping a few hundred kms away from the battle and lobbing missiles and/or parasite fighters at things. Or if you're feeling lulzy, one million kilometers from the battle lobbing not-SLAMs at things.

That is why you pack the forward ord bay with 128 GAU-8s, each with more than two minutes' of ammo. They'll never expect it! Dale Brown aerial battleship the hell out of it!

The amount of sense this makes is astounding.

[Celibrae]

It resting responses thanks for the 4 cents and other change. Though one thing I haven't seen mentioned is the ability to arm said carrier, put say a 5 inch gun or two on the bottom and you have a pretty good fireing platform, and there's a bit of a shock value to something like that too, a giant hovering carrier that just blew up your armored support is a bit scary.

Any flying carrier getting close enough to the enemy to use 5" gun is well within strategic SAM range and is therefore dead. Plus why would you bother using guns when the fighters it carries should have already done the job using bombs?

BM-30 Smerch on top = win.

[Celibrae]

Ok, I have been given control of a Soviet Socialist Republic of Ukraine during the 1970s, what kind of Air Force should I have? I am allied with the WarPact.

[Celibrae]

You mean with a helicopter?

Could be he helicopters, could be tilt rotors, light choppers, big heavy ones, STOL fixed wings, etc.

That is why i was asking.

I have mobile hospital units being moved around by trucks and able to be set up just about anywhere for either disaster relief or for near_to_front battlefield medical care, I also have 2-litter light combat ambulances and 6-litter Maxi-ambulances for transporting wounded on the battlefield and mobile surgery trucks for battlefield triage and stabilization.

What i do not have is an air-mobile option for getting them from the maxi-ambulances and mobile-surgery units, to the mobile hospitals.
So i need to set up an air mobile ambulance service

CH-47s, perhaps NH90s.

[Celibrae]

My Air Force is designed to aid the ground troops and helicopters by striking logistical and command infrastructure, whilst keeping strike aircraft away from the friendly lines. Fixed wing aircraft are allocated on a Corps/Division level, so what kind of structure should my Air Force follow?

[Celibrae]

Thanks!

[Celibrae]

Realistic/Possible/Plausible y/n?

[Celibrae]

Realistic/Possible/Plausible y/n?

If you have to ask...

I already know the answer, but some people do not. I require a respectable and knowledgable opinion to back me up.

[Celibrae]

I already know the answer, but some people do not. I require a respectable and knowledgable opinion to back me up.

You don't really. Its generally a bad idea to say "that wont work because antiquity nation X says so". It works better if you cna take the time to figure out the issues yourself.

But honestly Anyone taking that at all seriously is likely beyond help and probabaly recently bought a golden ticket to heaven from two delightful and obviously trust worthy people in flordia.

I worked out the issues, I just wanted a little extra weight on my side, but point taken.

And yes, you aren't wrong about the latter either.

I require a respectable and knowledgable opinion to back me up.

lol

Closest I'll ever get to one, anyway.

[Celibrae]

Is there any point or plausible explanation for having both the Eurofighter and the Rafale? Both are too sexy to say no to.

[Celibrae]

So I was looking at some concept art for the Chendu J-20, and I came across a few pics of it with 4x ECW pods, and I was wondering, would this configuration work?

(Image)

(Image)

(Image)

Those are enclosed weapons bays, not ECW.

[Celibrae]

Does anyone have the dimensions of the T-50/PAK FA/FGFA?

[Celibrae]

Does anyone have the dimensions of the T-50/PAK FA/FGFA?

Wikipedia is good for that kind of thing.

Oh sorry, I meant the internal weapons bay.

[Celibrae]

[

Oh sorry, I meant the internal weapons bay.

there's still speculations about that. One i'd heard is that each centerline weapon bay have length of 4.6 m and width of around 1-1.1 m.

Would it be possible to merge the two bays so a BrahMos could fit inside?

[Celibrae]

Would it be possible to merge the two bays so a BrahMos could fit inside?

No. The Brahmos need to be smaller.

If I was to build an aircraft similar to the PAK FA, but with a larger singular bay, would it be possible or plausible, why or why not? I'm curious.

[Celibrae]

If I was to build an aircraft similar to the PAK FA, but with a larger singular bay, would it be possible or plausible, why or why not? I'm curious.

It won't be similar as PAKFA. Given that Brahmos have diameter of 0.7 m. Internal storage will make you end up with very large aircraft. Perhaps it would be the same size as Tu-28.

The internal weapons bay has a width of 1.1 metres, so it may fit, depending on the height. I know the BrahMos is meant to be installed on the FGFA, I'm wondering if it could be carried alone internally.

[Celibrae]

After seeing that many current air bases are vulnerable to missile attacks (missiles with bomblets can wipe out an entire air base), I was thinking about either one of the two options: hardening the hangars of each aircraft, or even just moving the bases underground. But now that there are weapons like the Bunker Buster, how viable will each of those options be?

AEW aircraft and ground-based radar

[Celibrae]

AEW aircraft and ground-based radar

I already know about those assets, but I was thinking about what I can do to harden the airbase itself. After some consideration, I may get myself some subterranean air bases - difficult to track through airborne/satellite assets, yet quite survivable.

It's stationary, so tracking it out of the question, or maybe you mean locating? Anyhow, you will still need runways, and the activity of aircraft taking off and landing will give off visible and electromagnetic signatures, so really it's just a massive shield of rock. Radio transmitters and the tower will also still be visible.

Edit: Personally, I would invest in more and better early warning systems so incoming raids can be better intercepted. Once the enemy knows that you're using subterranean bases, they'll adjust accordingly and use deep penetration munitions such as the GBU/57 or shove a MOAB through an entrance.

[Celibrae]

AF OOB

5 Chengdu J-7s w\K-13 Missiles
5 Su-22M4s with Rockets
4 Mi-17

Any suggestions? Thinking of uping my order to 12 J-7s, possibly buying 4 An-12s as well.

MiG-21 Bison is a nice alternative. Apparently it was quite good against even USAF F-15s. J-7 is probably cheaper.

[Celibrae]

I decided to buy all the J-7s available in the region, and also the An-12s.

AF OBB:

Fighter Sq.:
12 J-7s

Attack Sq.:
5 Su-22M4s

Transport Sq.:
4 An-12s
4 Mi-8s

Sound good? Also, should I invest in some S-300 SAMs to bolster air defense or is it not worth it?

Systems like Tor for airbase defence against cruise missiles and precision bombs is an idea, and then have an additional outer layer of a few batteries of S-300.

[Celibrae]

http://iiwiki.com/wiki/Sokol_So-30

Realistic y/n?

[Celibrae]

Does anyone have any images of the BAE Replica?

The ones on Google seem quite random.