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wow, Russia and China have started building realistic opponents for F-15s/F-16s and F-18s just now? I'm not sure whether I should laugh, cry, or tear my eyes ou

• run4yourlives 16y ago
  To be fair, the Russians did have that massive collapse of society to deal with a few years back. It slowed them down a little. The Chinese still aren't big players in this space, and they mostly take their lead from the Russians. The Russian's haven't exactly been twiddling their thumbs, but while they make great aircraft, their radar and weapon systems are just now starting to eclipse western fourth generation standards, and the Raptor is still posting 20-1 kill ratios in simulated combat. That will probably change as the PAK-FA and J-XX come online (the Sukkoi being the greater threat, realistically, since nobody really knows what the J-XX actually is).
  • borism 16y ago
    I was being sarcastic. Russia had equal opponents to mentioned 4th gen fighters since late 70s.
    • run4yourlives 16y ago
      No, they did not, actually.
      • borism 16y ago
        I will not get into arguing about that here. Let's just say HN isn't the place to get factual information about weapons systems - when I need that I go to Key Publishing forum and such.
        • run4yourlives 16y ago
          Keep in mind that many of the opinions around Soviet technology were overly optimistic. Until the Mig-29 and Su-27 entered service in the 80's, they had nothing that could match the F-14/F-15/F16 and F-18. The kill ratios of the F-15 and F-16 speak for themselves.