Better airforce of other countries besides the U.S.

[Cobra2]

I want to know who has the superior airforce. vote for whos best, then write about there airforce telling what fighter and bombers they have and some of there GBUs, CBUs, UGBs, AAMS etc. I need the best answer so try to be as correct as you can and dont just pick your country to be patriotic  because i realy want to know...and if you have to look it up or one of your books or something to check if your correct. and also i have two fighter/attack plane books with alot of information in them so feel free to ask me questions if you want  thanks for answering.

PS: dont forget to write a paragraph about there airforce explaining there airpower and such.

[Webmaster]

Ok, we'll give this kind of vote another try.
It's a difficult choice.

 Pakistan: mostly obsolete fighters, they are giving it a good try and have a large air force, but the technology is just too dated.

 Iran: struggling hard to be independent, and to keep US and Russian equipment flying, but really not in a similar league to most of the others here.

 Russia: large, some good stuff, but most in need of upgrades, however training is the biggest problem. Good strategic capabilities though.

 UK: modern, well trained, good tactical abilities, high interoperability with other NATO countries, but lacking in some of the essentials though, such as heavy transport and still a fighter gap until the Typhoon has fully evolved. If you count the Army as well, big helicopter transport gap emerging.

 Israel: doing good on every aspect I think, with the exception of out-of-area operations and deployments for international missions.

 China: large, really large, J-10, J-11, Su-30s are looking good, but the majority of the fleet is still largely outdated, but they are moving fast. Dunno about training, but with all the new chinese trainers it's not hard to imagine that it can use some better equipment. The problem I have with China is that it is an airforce in the classic sense, and therefore cannot compared to some of these others. Another pluspoint is the development of AWACS platforms.

 Japan: same case as Israel almost, also almost entirely geared to self-defence. Some improvement can be seen.

 India: doing good on development, but bad at keeping time schedules. Until all orders and requirements are fulfilled, the majority of the fleet still exists of old MiG-21s, MiG-23s and others requiring updates. Training has been the biggest problem for the IAF in recent years, and they are still waiting for proper AWACS.

 Peru: this is at the bottom at my vote, old Su-22/25s, couple of good Mirage 2000s and a handful of MiG-29s with maintenance problems, serious lack of money for everything, especially flight hours are low. Looking only and types and numbers it might seem a potent air force in south america, but I think it's not any better if not worse than the other bigger Latin countries.

[Valiant1]

In a dogfight, the Israelis would win - remember, they've been doing this day in and day out, just about forever. 

China is the one to watch - they're acquiring just about all of the Su-27 airframes while building their own lightweight fighter, don't know the name, but it looks like the F-16.
These guys are no slouches.  I'd give them respect.  But against new technology like the Typhoon, Raptor and F-35, NONE of their planes have a chance. 

[Webmaster]

China is the one to watch - they're acquiring just about all of the Su-27 airframes while building their own lightweight fighter, don't know the name, but it looks like the F-16.

Do you mean the FC-1? http://www.milavia.net/aircraft/fc-1/fc-1.htm

I think the J-10 is more of a worry: http://www.milavia.net/aircraft/j-10/j-10.htm

[Valiant1]

Wow, the J-10 sure LOOKS like a formidable fighter.  We're not gonna know for sure unless a Chinese fighter decides to defect and land in Japan.

[Webmaster]

You're confusing China and Japan I think. F-2 is a Japanese copy of the F-16, but 'copy' in the legal sense, fully supported by Lockheed Martin.

By the way, to quote you can use the button of the original post, or use the button with the text balloon when you're posting. Or type the following code:

Code: [Select]

[quote] The quote here [/quote]


[Cobra2]

  Thanks, I thought that it would post what he was quoting and mess up my post...and I did get conused with Japan sorry.

[Gripen]

australias is good

F-18s, C-130H, SA-70 Blackhawks, F-111

and we are getting the JSF, Wedgetail AWACS and the Eurocopter Tiger or whatever its called

Our training is great, but we are more self defense then offense, but we have an advantage because we are so far away from everyone else so the range of attackers is hampered, and if we got attacked, the US would respond with one of their carriers

or we can kick them out of their airbase they have near Alice Springs!!

[terminator]

i think the best airforce is Israel in the middle east ,china in Asia ,and Peru in Latin america

[Cobra2]

Yeah, Israel is definitly one of them....Ausies next

[Gripen]

Though i have to say that our land based AA systems are no good. We rely to much on Fighters.

[Globetrotter]

Well, I don't quite agree with you when you say Peru in South America. It really doesn't have a very big airforce, and much of the material is getting old. They still have Mirage V if I am not wrong and some Su-20. Yes, they also have Mirages 2000 and MiG-29, but only in tinny numbers, and we have to take into account that probably not all of them are working...