1st: Yes, SAS73, this is hipotethical, cause the FAA nor the government have released official data.
2nd: nonpilot, I didn't mean it's not possible to use MICAS with the mirage, but I don't think we'd buy that, or they's sell them to us. (Chile's F-16 can use AMRAAMs, but they don't have them.
Oh, And don't get confused with the Matras
.-Matra R530: SARH missile used by Mirage III versions (argentina had them at the time the Malvinas war happened). Their performance was similar or worse than the one of the Sparrows.
http://www.geocities.com/ryanhothersall/MATRA_R_530.htmhttp://www.probertencyclopaedia.com/cgi-bin/res.pl?keyword=Matra+R530&offset=0.-Matra Super 530: Improved version of the previous one. Completely redesigned. Comparable, I believe, to the first versions of the AMRAAM, but also SARH.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_530.-MICA: with TVC
, fire and forget.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MBDA_MICAAbout the Chineese fighters... well, I think that to form a more accurate impression of them, we'd need to know more about their performance. I personally prefer the J-10 to the JF-17, which I see rather like an improved F-5... even if it's not completely true. I don't know, but the impression I have about it is not precisely robust...
The J-10, if cheap, might be an option. But Chinese made things have the reputation of not being good, or durable. Sorry, no ofense meant to anyone from there, but that's just it. Maybe the airplanes they make are very good, but they'll have to prove so. Then there is also the question of compatibility of weaponry and systems to our current aircraft. That's why it's said that, if bought, our Mirages 2000 would have to have Sidewinders (same as A-4s) for short range.
China, appart from the things you stated, buys a lot of soybean. I remember they bought 50% of our production once.
that could make things easier... but would USA let us buy from them? I've heard they want to sell us Block 15 F-16
And there is a possibility of we buying them, unluckyly. I think you'll understand me here, where these aircraft are so old, and so "over-used" specially the navy agressors, working with high G-loads constantly. Appart from that, they probably wouldn't sell us the AIM-120, which is a vital part for improving our air superiority (we don't have BVR capability now). They did so with Chile, at least.
3rd: Thanks, Webmaster, for the explanation! much clearer now
Well, I hope I've answered your questions, nice to discuss about the FAA
... that's something not very common in international forums