That has no meaning on anything. Germany has had Eastern and Western vehicles for some time. As have others. Its never been a rule that a tree can only get East vehicles or West vehicles.
Its a self made rule by some here.
Its very strange for some to ask for Commonwealth vehicles, with the only connection being Commonwealth and then deny others despite the same or similar connections.
It gets even deeper than that, they even re-designated it the YF-18L. Northrop was practically begging lol
Also, according to the reports of the French Pilots the thing easily outmaneuvered F-5s and had some crazy engine power, here’s the full interview excerpt:
“the engines were so powerful that on touchdown you had to quickly shut one engine off, instead of what the brakes would overheat trying to slow the plane down . Vice-admiral Debary (ret.) comments : the flights went perfectly, and we had a chase F-5, flown by Hank Chouteau, Northrop chief test pilot. I had the satisfaction of really impressing him during a flight when I saw him coming from 4 o’clock. I said to myself “now’s the time to see what the plane is really worth”, and broke him up, full AB and stick to the stomach…until I found myself in his 6 o’clock incredibly easily. It was great to hear him ask where I was, and to tell him “in your 6 o’clock, in firing position” During the course of this flight while performing a loop without the afterburners and without pulling too hard, I found myself in a touchy situation at the top of the loop but with my speed decreasing fast, down to 60 knots (very slow for this kind of plane). I engaged the AB and realized that the plane was climbing and accelerating, which was astonishing and more proof of the plan’s qualities. I has the opportunity to debrief the flight (with Northrop test equipment to prove my claims) with Canadian pilots in charge of their fighter replacement, and I sincerely think I was part of the their decision to choose the F-18. After his first flight, colonel Bonnet told me as he was climbing down the ladder “the Mirage 2000 will never do what this plane can do”. As far as I was concerned I was not convinced by the plane’s performances strictly speaking which were inferior to that of the Crusader (Mach 1.6 instead of 1.8 and a smaller climb rate), but it’s handling and thrust-to-weight ratio were really impressive. Since then I have always thought, and still do openly, that the best fighter for our carriers was the F-18.”
Not really, I would wager theres like, 3 people who say that lol. Most say they want the unique stuff India makes and only copy where necessary, such as versions only developed for India eg Su-30MKI, or where the UK wouldnt have its own version (a lot of SAM stuff would fit there).
The majority of content added to Britain is domestic and even those recently that have not been (like the OSA) we have explicitly said has no baring on domestic additions. The OSA didn’t cancel the Scimitar.
Lets not create an alternate reality please and stay with the facts.
It wasn’t and its never been a requirement for a nation to be “occupied” to receive a type of vehicle. It is however part of the commonwealth. Which is why those vehicles can be added.