Low-cost, muti-role aircraft for small militaries

Miragedriver said:

Agreed amigo. I was just using the Yak for comparison of price. However, like you said labor rates in the USA are different than is Russia.

The Yak-130 would look nice in USA makings, but they could always buy the M-346

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Don't make me Yak....

TerraN_EmpirE said:

Don't make me Yak....

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I’ll throw in my thoughts. I was thinking the other day (never a good thing after several glasses of wine) of how many air forces need a small, economical, robust and easy to maintain point defense fighter. I’m not talking about a multi-roll like the JF-17, but a simple point defense fighter to replace the many F-5E and MiG-21/J-7 aircraft out there.

My though was a modified Hongdu L-15 in a single seat configuration (similar nose configuration as the Hawk 200)? This aircraft would be in the same class as an (updated) F-5E and would serve well as a point defense fighter and can patrol for airspace violations and provide valuable flight hours for pilots.

The Hongdu L-15 is another possible contender for a small point defense aircraft. I imagine that a single seat version with a small AESA radar and IRST could sell in the $US20m price range, considering that the trainer sells for around $US15m

FA-50. One of the better LCA in the $US30m to $US35m price range

Mikoyan-Gurevitch Izdeliye 33 (MiG-33 Foghorn acording ASSC-NATO nomeclature).

Around 1980, the Mikoyan OKB design bureau began working on a very light “strike fighter” that was intended to be a direct competitor to the F-16 Fighting Falcon. This new Mikoyan design, designated Izdeliye 33 (Izd 33) (and variously translated as “Article 33”, “Project 33”, “Product 33”, or “Project R-33”), was of conventional layout and similar in appearance to the F-16. It was powered by a single Klimov RD-33 afterburning turbofan engine – the same engine used by the twin-engined MiG-29. While extensive wind-tunnel testing was conducted on the design, no prototypes were built since the Soviet Air Force (VVS) dropped its support for concept about 1986. The program was one of several victims of the VVS’ changing operational needs, financial constraints, and a growing preference for twin-engined,multirole designs