Comments by "" (@RedXlV) on "French Eagle – the Dassault Mirage 4000" video.

  1. Another good comparison would be the Grumman F11F-1F Super Tiger, in that both were in part brought down by outright bribery. This time around, rather than Lockheed it was British Aerospace paying out the bribes. That's why when the Saudis decided they needed non-American aircraft (out of worries that the Israel lobby might succeed in blocking further F-15 sales), they ended up with the less capable Panavia Tornado instead of the Mirage 4000. Not that the Tornado is worthless, but the Mirage 4000 is clearly much better. Whereas the Tornado required separate ground attack and interceptor models, the Mirage 4000 could simply perform both roles without modification. The Mirage 4000 also had a better than 1:1 thrust-to-weight ratio at typical combat weight, while both versions of the Tornado fall well short of that. And the Mirage 4000 is much more maneuverable.
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  2. That might be a bit of a hard sell given that the Rafale is already there for anybody who wants a heavier twin-engine fighter with greater payload than the Gripen. The Gripen's biggest selling point is that it has much lower operating costs than other 4.5-gen fighters, while still having equivalent air-to-air capability and not that much worse air-to-ground. I'm not sure if trying to compete even more directly with the Rafale than they currently do would be to Saab's benefit.
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  3. Saudis would've been far better off with the Mirage 4000. Honestly would've been better off with it over their initial F-15C/D purchase as well, despite how good the F-15 is. Since they would've been getting F-15E equivalent capability a decade earlier. Plus the logistical and maintenance advantage of a operating a single type of fighter instead of two vastly different types that share no components in common.
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  4. Not tricked, bribed.
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  5. The Mirage 4000s would've been a dramatically better choice than the Tornado, but Britain bribed the hell out of some Saudi princes to make sure they'd buy the Tornado.
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  6.  @uwsinned  Taiwan's own F-CK-1 has plenty of F-20 in it as well, along with F-16 elements.
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  7. The same way the F-104G managed to beat the F11F-1F Super Tiger and Saunders-Roe SR.177. British Aerospace showed they'd learned how to play Lockheed's game.
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