Trump said we may sell watered down versions to allies because they may become enemies. Wonder if that is going to be in the Boeing brochure? We didn't sell F-22s to Israel, Japan and Australia because they would leak the plans. That in part caused the small number built as to make them silver bullets now. Some push back on F-35 purchases from Portugal and Canada. Might be a selling point for the European/Japanes 6 G plans and/or upgraded Grippens. Who knows?
Cloud Yeller of the Boomer Age, My continued existence is an exercise in nostalgia.
This has always been the policy for pretty much all countries. Soviet Union did the same thing. Saudi and Egyptian Abram’s tanks have less effective armor packages and Turkish F-16s are not equal to the latest block US F16s.Originally Posted by Glenn E. Meyer
Everybody in the business knows this but of course when Trump says it - it’s a scandal
Optimists study English; pessimists study Chinese; and realists learn to use a Kalashnikov.
Well, if you tell the allies they may be enemies, that's the nuance that was surprising. Didn't the Israelis get into it when they wanted the ability to put their own systems in their F-35s? Like someone didn't sell all the plans already.
Cloud Yeller of the Boomer Age, My continued existence is an exercise in nostalgia.
Another example would be systems built specifically for export. After the US military decided it didn't want Northrop's N-156 prototype, for anything other than a trainer, the T-38, the Kennedy administration pushed for a fighter aircraft for export. That became the F-5, which developed out of the N-156. While the F-5 did have limited early use by the USAF, it was intended and developed as an export aircraft.
The F-5G/F-20 was intended to bring a more modern version for export in the 1989s, because the US policy at the end of the 1970s was that we would not sell the F-16 to most other nations. The program ended after the policy changed during the Reagan administration.
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"Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here I am. Send me." - Isaiah 6:8
IIRC, Northrop tried to sell the F-20 to be a continental US air defense fighter for cheap but it didn't sell. Do the French or the Euro Fighter crowd water down their planes when selling them abroad. They go to India, Indonesia, the Middle East, etc. Trump hinted at F-35s for India but would they want a skimpy version. Also, wasn't there an offer to build F-16s in India? Sweden says they will assemble Grippens in Canada!
Are all those fancy F-15s in the Middle East watered down also?
Cloud Yeller of the Boomer Age, My continued existence is an exercise in nostalgia.
They tried to sell to anyone, and everyone. I don't specifically recall the push to get the US to buy it, as the USAF was happy to have F-16s, and F-15s, but that wouldn't surprise me. They were really banking on the US continuing to refuse to sell F-16s abroad, and hoped to get customers who were in need of something more capable than then the F-5, but still light and relatively inexpensive. The choice to open foreign sales of the F-16 is generally regarded as what led to death of the F-20, as potential customers went with the proven design, already in production.
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"Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here I am. Send me." - Isaiah 6:8
Y’all are making me want to dig out my copy of Barrett Tillman’s Warriors.
Ken
BBI: ...”you better not forget the safe word because shit's about to get weird”...
revchuck38: ...”mo' ammo is mo' betta' unless you're swimming or on fire.”
To be fair, governments can change. I suspect there was a fair bit of regret in selling all those F-4's and F-14's to Iran back in the day, and the Soviets probably regretted all their hardware the Egyptians had after Camp David.
"You win 100% of the fights you avoid. If you're not there when it happens, you don't lose." - William Aprill
"I've owned a guitar for 31 years and that sure hasn't made me a musician, let alone an expert. It's made me a guy who owns a guitar."- BBI
Oh man, I forgot about that book. IIRC, the story was a middle eastern country bought F-20s, and used retired US pilots to train their pilots to fight Isreal.
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"Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here I am. Send me." - Isaiah 6:8
The Moroccan AF had F-5's in 1968. Their pilots were all trained in the US. The USAF had a few pilots on the MAF base to keep the MAF pilots in top trim.
Apparently the Russian AF also had them because I saw it in the movie Top Gun.
In the P-F basket of deplorables.
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