I think they’re holding off till AIM-260 is export cleared
Not that long probably since we already have GBU-53 and a bunch of other stuff in. Late development for F-35 a2g so won’t matter
Amusingly not really, as part of the original ASRAAM programme the UK had transferred the seeker design and rights to Hughes as part of the work share agreement (as under the original agreement BAE had too much of the work).
So they just had Hughes design it?
Build it, with some minor design changes for Production
Do you have proof it wasn’t Hughes though?
I’ve found proof that ALR-94 wasnt designed by BAE (ik it’s very different but similar timeframe)
Sounds the like the US thing to do. keep putting off foreign weapon intergration so they can force sales of domestic weapons. They did the same with ASRAAM for a while. Denied its export due to the few US parts and is only just become available for export with the Block 6 which replaced all US parts
4 Likes
To be fair western weapons falling into wrong hands through export has happened before. So I get why they did it (on top of helping the economy)
No, this is just the US wanting block other nations sales to promote Aim-9X exports.
2 Likes
That’s why I added economy bit to end of post.
But stuff falling into wrong hands is why F-35 is so restricted.
Imo, we should have kept it between US and UK and not sold it until later. Maybe Canada before the rest but still after issues are worked out. I don’t doubt that a fair bit of money has gone to other nations F-35 in some form
french homegrown stuff doesn’t sound like a bad bet after all, especially in this timeline
UK wouldn’t be able to export a F35. + Meteor combo to anyone without approval of the US
it’s just a move to sell more 260s, by removing the possibility of its main competitor on a plane sold in large number. Being too restrictive can bite back though, so i’d be careful if i were lockheed or raytheon
2 Likes
well yeah because the UK isnt going to be the one exporting F-35. its a lockheed product
i do agree with them being a bit too restrictive. itll backfire in some capacity im sure.
maybe the AIM-260 is just that much better than meteor, and they are trying to stop other country from getting invested in meteor so they wont have to interrupt existing logistics to sell AIM-260
Or maybe Meteor is much better than Aim-260 and the US want to force the sale of Aim-260s for the nations with F-35s, especially as many already use Meteors on their existing aircraft
4 Likes
they are going to be forced to integrate meteor at some point. they are just buying time until the AIM-260 gets through export hurdles
I would argue that China getting any of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Cambodia would be fine. They already have a lot of Pakistani vehicles, and the vehicles they can get from Bangladesh and Cambodia seem to fit their style of vehicles.
Iran going to the USA wouldn’t make much sense outside of the vehicle they actually got (the F-14A IRIAF). According to the long term leak list we got last year, Iran would more than likely go to Russia - and I assume the F-14A is simply the exception there.
Long Term Leak List (October 2024):
Zimbabwe going to the UK at least makes some sense on a geopolitical level. Zimbabwe is a former colony of the British Empire - meaning it’s adjacent to the claims of the Commonwealth. The UK got South Africa, Canada, and many Aussie vehicles for having closer ties of course, but we can understand where Gaijin is coming from by giving the UK one of their domestic designs from their former colony.
3 Likes
Canada is not a sub nation of any nation.
1 Like
I didn’t mean to say it was, but the UK does have the Canadian ADATS and Skink.
1 Like
hopefully not the F-16 though. its already been through so much copy paste
China will 100% be receiving the F-16V through Taiwan, so I don’t see why a Pakistani F-16 would change anything.
2 Likes