Free Mig 29's

[roogs25]

I guess this is one way to make friends and influence people... while the jets may be free I can only imagine the strings attached. It will be interesting to see what Russia does in the first six months of President-elect Obama's administration.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5360865.ece

 

[VetteMuscle427]

I wonder what model these are... and what... extras they have.

 

[Random Task]

Wonder if they gave them newer ones or ones closer to the end of their service life.

 

[roogs25]

The only extra that I see having any influence is if Russia is providing pilots and/or pilot training... and even then we've seen how well that worked out in past middle east conflicts

I guess I see the main story not so much as to what model or what extras (because Israel takes all of them out in the first five minutes of anything involving shooting between the two nations) but rather that this is yet another overt act of posturing against the west by Russia - the latest in a line of actions that makes one scratch their head and say, "maybe things never really change." Russia is getting more involved in the middle east as we are ostensibly on our way out (or at least getting to the point where we leave a smaller footprint).

 

[FLYTPAY]

Maybe we can hand over security in Afghanistan to the Russkies too....

 

[ea6bflyr]

Nothing is FREE. The German Luftwaffe used to fly the Mig-29 and when I talked to them in 2001 at Maple Flag, they were getting rid of them because they would go through engines left and right and it took forever to get replacements from Mother Russia. The Germans upgraded to Euro-Fighters. Pretty cool to stand next to an operational MiG though.

-ea6bflyr

 

[Flash]

The first question I would have is whether or not the MiG's actually work. The second is how much the maintenance and training package costs. Even if they do get them I doubt that Lebanon has the money or the will to keep them operating. Fulcrums are a bit of overkill for them too, AT-6's or Super Tucano's would be a much better fit for them. But I guess when your air force consists of a handful of old Hawker Hunters that haven't flown in years, you start getting desperate.

The Admiral Gorshkov was given to the Indians for 'free', but they have to pay for the mods to make is it a regular carrier. A couple years later and over a billion sunk into the ship and it still is not ready. Beware of Russians bringing gifts......

 

[scoolbubba]

Yawn.

 

[Junkball]

I read this headline as

"10 MiG Targets Shipped to Lebanon"
BERUIT - 10 Russian-made former Soviet "fighters" were shipped to the Middle East today in order to aid the combat proficiency of the IAF...

Did anyone notice that the picture accompanying the article shows a couple of Su-27's?

 

[DangerousDan]

I read this headline as

"10 MiG Targets Shipped to Lebanon"
BERUIT - 10 Russian-made former Soviet "fighters" were shipped to the Middle East today in order to aid the combat proficiency of the IAF...

Did anyone notice that the picture accompanying the article shows a couple of Su-27's?

Not like the reporter could tell the difference since he didnt know that the "flanker has a wanker" Still cool picture though. I think those airplanes have such beautiful lines.

 

[jfulginiti]

Wonder if they gave them newer ones or ones closer to the end of their service life.

I think the service life is over when it crashes at an airshow.

 

[sevenhelmet]

I'd bet they got older ones with older avionics. Not something I'm particularly worried about.

 

[HeyJoe]

Not like the reporter could tell the difference since he didnt know that the "flanker has a wanker"

+1 for correct ID.

Note: Reporters don't provide the images for large news organizations or even major city papers. They send out photographers or use their staff to "research" the images. Magazines like Air & Space will give photographers specific assignments to get top quality images since they have relative luxury of time to get best images. Due to need to meet deadlines of a daily newspaper, editorial staffs typically purchase images from Photo Stock Houses like that one from Getty Images when they don't have it in their own archives or can't send a reporter. That image came from one of largest such outfits that offer all sorts of images from flowers to fighters. So, it must be have been mislabeled by photographer who took it and sold it to Getty or by staff who put it into their digital files.

BTW - I just went to Getty and searched on Mig-20 and got more Flankers in first two pages of hits than Fulcrums

 

[VetteMuscle427]

I'd bet they got older ones with older avionics. Not something I'm particularly worried about.

Even if they got brand new ones with brand new avionics... still nothing to be particularly worried about at the moment. It takes time and money to make a credible force.

 

[HeyJoe]

I wonder what model these are... and what... extras they have.

I got mine last year. No floor mats or imbedded GPS....

Photo taken with HJ's camera of HJ and his latest "free" ride