WesWorld

Its kind of quite, anyway for all of you Aviation Enthusiasts:

How would your country's airforce look like in the year 2000? (neverwheres allowed)

Well I really liked that modified MiG-29 I once drew so I guess I should have painted red meatballs on it. I used the building plan of a 1/48 scale MiG-29 from Monogram (top view showing the colors as well as the decal locations) as a base. I cut it in three pieces and adding a bit between those pieces to make it longer. I also adjusted the wingspan and added Canards. Without a doubt at that point it had become a Su-27...

Guess something like this, this, this, this and this. Maybe even this.
:-)

Obviously

With a few squadrons of


A couple of


And at least one



With a dash of

and a pinch of


:B

Lots of Grumman F14F Tomcats

A fellow Tomcat lover! *bows to the master*


Suddenly F-15 Eagles for Mexico seems sane!

Fuerza Aerea Mexicana 2000:
F-15 Eagles (Air Defence)
F-20 Tigershark (multi purpose)
T-38 Talon (trainer)
L-159 Albatross (trainer/COIN)
OV-10 Bronco (COIN)
FMA Pucara (COIN)
Support Planes/helos

Armada de Mexico 2000:
Su-30MX (Air Defence)
A-7 Corsair (carrier born strike)
Support Planes/helos

Political affairs aside...

Interceptor...MiG-31M 'Foxhound'
Multi-role Fighter (Heavy)...Su-37 'Super Flanker'
Multi-role Fighter (Light)...F-20 Tigershark
Heavy Strike...Su-34 'Fullback' replacing TSR-2 Phoenix
Medium Attack...Tornado IDS
Light Attack...A-37C Dragonfly
COIN...OV-10D Bronvo

Present Day Chile operates F-5F Tiger III, A-36, some F-16Cs and F-16Ds as will as Mirage 3BE and 50DN.

However a more active and less economically/politically unstable Chile might have more F-16s and should a carrier remain in the fleet to the moder age, I imagine Harrier use as well as F-4 Phantom IIs and prehaps F-14 and F-18s by present day, though Chile would have to be operating a real carrier to do this rather than a refitted World War II carrier, or a refitted Oyama-type carrier. The deck just would not be big enough.

This on the other hand would will fill out the aerospace needs of the Chilean Aerospace Defense Forces.

Meanwhile our Pirate "friends" will be using these...
SW-190 Space Wolf


[SIZE=1]Image used from above site for reference. [/SIZE]

Always been fond of Flankers as well, so one day I decided to draw up what would happen if a Tomcat and a Flanker got drunk, went behind the hanger, and...

The result: The Tomcatski

A regular Flanker in high-vis Sundowners or Jolly Rodgers colors would look pretty sweet. I've seen Fulcrums drawn in those colors over at the What-If Modellers forum and they look very nice.

I suppose the United States Navy has retired the Pheonix Missile as well as the F-14 Tomcat (or is that Turkey/Chicken)? If I was a naval admiral I'd miss that extra long range defensive ability, but then we are not presently at war with any large techologically armed country what might actually use military aircraft (in their normal roles) against Carrier Groups. But on the other hand the F-14 and the Pheonix are 35 or so year old weapons. That doesn't stop the B-52, but I guess the Navy (or Congress perhaps) wants multipurpose aircraft in the future.

Getting rid of the Tomcat was the worst decision the Navy ever made. The Tomcat in the ST-21 and ASF-14 versions was much better, performance wise than the F/A-18 E/F "Super" Hornet. The only place where the SH excelles is maintainance. Killing the Tomcat is the main reason I dont like the current VP Dick Chenny.


*looks at AF of a "small" country, decides to buy F-22Ns for Australia*

Royal Australian Air Force 2000:

Couldnt decide so have two differnet versions.

US Version
F-14 Tomcat (Air Defence)
F-111 Aardvark (bomber)
F-26* Falcon (multi role)
TA-4 Skyhawk (trainer/strike)
EP-3 Orion (AEW&C)

UK Version
Tornado ADV (Air Defence)
TSR.2 Phoenix (bomber)
Tornado IDS (defense suppresion)
Jaguar (multi role)
Hawk (trainer/strike)
EP-3 Orion (AEW&C)


Royal Australian Naval Air Service 2000:

US Version
F-26* SeaFalcon (CV multi role)
F-6 Sealancer II (CV fighter)
A-4 Seahawk (CV strike)
E-2 Hawkeye (CV AWACS)
AV-8B+ Harrier II (CVE multi role)


UK Version
Rafale M (CV Fighter)
Buccaneer (CV strike)
Sea Hawk (trainer/strike)
E-2 Hawkeye (CV AWACS)
FRS.2 Sea Harrier (CVE multi role)


*The F-26 Sea Falcon is a twin engine (F404) version of the F-16.

Cheney pretty much killed the Tomcat and the Intruder back when he was SecDef, along with the A-12 Avenger II and then went with the Super Whorenet which is pretty much the only fixed wing combat carrier plane the US has now since I think the Viking was also recently retired. Sweet gig for Boeing and I know that back then there were charges that Cheney had it out for Grumman since it was in a Democratic congressional district. So now Grumman doesn't make the planes on the carriers, but instead Northrop-Grumman makes the carriers themselves!

It also appears that the F-117 stealth is also on its way out too, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU YANKS DOING?!!!

Please PLEASE keep the A-10 Warthogs flying!!!

As for what Atlantis would fly, it would likely be a mix of French, Russian and American designs where Atlantean designs couldn't fit the bill.

Aeronautica Militaire Italiana

Eurofighter - Primary F/FB replacing Tornado F3
Probable follow on to G.95/6 for Marina Militaire
Tornado IDS - Primary FB
G.27 - Transport
EH101 - Large Helicopter

Fiat G.95/6 - VTOL Strike aircraft "SuperHarrier" from 60s
Fiat G.222 VTOL transport - replaced by G.27
Augusta A.120 Elibus - Think Rotodyne but 3-4 times larger
Augusta Erica Tiltrotor - note that this actually works unlike the V-22

Not a lot of choice for Italian designs recently, more international projects because of cost. Maybe it'd just be easier to buy Gripen.

Draken, Viggen and Grippen!

Quoted

It also appears that the F-117 stealth is also on its way out too, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU YANKS DOING?!!!

Please PLEASE keep the A-10 Warthogs flying!!!

The F-117 is on the way out, but by no means gone yet.

The A-10 is getting new refits to keep it flying until around 2025 or so, and to allow all-weather operations.

Quoted

since I think the Viking was also recently retired.

Not yet, that's scheduled for 2009 or so.

I won't speculate on specific designs - there'd be some domestic stuff that doesn't exist historically, and some collaborative stuff that also doesn't exist historically.

We'll assume a couple things:

A) Borders are the same as 1932, except Asir is on its own

B) Same basic operational notion: control the Indian Ocean, deny it to bad guys

C) Increasing cost means India's limited to SCS/CVH/Through-deck-cruiser type carriers

So, we'd see operating off the mainland and larger island/atoll bases:

-A long ranged, four-engined ASW/maritime patrol aircraft akin to the P-3. Useful payload with 4-8 torpedoes and a couple of anti-ship missiles. Slowish, but with a long cruising time.

-An AEW version of the same, internal ordnance swapped for the radar and operators, external ordnance perhaps replaced by a couple of decoys.

-A long-ranged heavy strike aircraft capable of reaching out to any of the entrances to the Indian Ocean and dumping a couple dozen tonnes of ordnance on things. I don't know whether I'd want a B-52 type or a Backfire type aircraft, or whether the ASuW load would be lots of small missiles (~Harpoons) or a few big missiles (~big frickin' Russian monsters). Depends on who and what is on the receiving end. A couple hundred of these pointed at the Persian Gulf could make oil prices interesting.

-A version of the same configured for a long-range interceptor role. Change the radar, modify the crew composition and gear, and swap the ASMs for a couple dozen long-range air-to-air missiles

-Large airborne tanker for use in conjunction with the above

Operating off smaller/forward bases, smallish Indian carriers, and other ships would be:

-STOL or VSTOL fighter-bomber, twin-engined with two crew. Nothing too fancy - F-18-ish capability for air defence or strike missions.

-A tilt-rotor or helo optimized for ASW use but with a secondary ASuW function.

-An AEW version of the same

-UAV with limited ASuW capability via ATGMs or small SSMs could be useful for ships tasked with anti-piracy, blockade, or escort missions.

-Perhaps a UAV capable of dropping sonobuoys and/or carrying a magnetic anomaly detector, for work in conjunction with a ship carrying stand-off ASW weapons. Even better would be a single UAV capable of swapping out Recce, ASuW and ASW kits depending on the task at hand.

Interesting ideas Rocky,

The payload of the ASW/patrol aircraft is massive. You're talking something even larger than Nimrod MR2/4. You don't tend to really need all that capability. The problem is going to be in finding the submarine/vessel as there are a distinct lack of choke points into the Indian Ocean. Just don't go the route of Nimrod AEW

Not sure on the long-range strike/bomber aircraft. I'd probably combine the above aircraft with this. A couple of hundred! Backfire/Blackjack would be more suitable for use as a combined interceptor/bomber. Where is the threat coming from however? Africa, Australia or China are the main areas. Not really enough time for an ac inbound from China and too much space to detect an aircraft from either of the others. I'd expect Diego Garcia to get whacked pretty quickly. Not sure if F111/TSR.2 has the range from Oz for that however.

The long-range missiles make things interesting against carrier groups. I'm thinking quite a large AA missile, ramjet powered for M.3+ range 300km+, active and passive radar homing. Perfect for shooting down E3s from range.

You're more or less limited to V/STOL aircraft considering the small carriers. Forger or Freestyle? Twin engines makes things more complicated for VTOL

The ASW plane's payload is not unreasonable, looks pretty standard for a P-3C or the new 737-based P-8, and light for a Tu-142.

A Tu-142 would allow some cross-over between the ASW and ASuW roles, though it doesn't have the dash speed of a Backfire.