enlight wrote:

Which version is this since is has not been discovered by the west in 10
odd years, and in more detail what would the "sophisticated" electronics
be ? Is it of any value to anybody today ? One would wonder how
sophisticated anything on a 20-30 year old Foxbat would be.

Just because the airframe itself is 20-30 years old doesn't mean the internal
hardware has to be. I'm sure both the Russians and the Americans have done the
same deal: since we're upgrading our forces, we can pull these older warplanes
off the first line and have them rehabbed for export. Sweeten the deal by using
the same radar sets and instrumentation as the newer planes, but it's still
cheaper for the buyer than having to buy factory new. When America sold
Phantoms to Greece and Egypt and Turkey and other nations in the late 70s/early
80s, the production line for them had already been switched over to Eagles. But
all those Phantoms were overhauled and upgraded for the sale, so in some ways
they were better machines than they were when the USAF was using them.

So the Iraqi Foxbats might have internal electronics the same as maybe the
Fulcrum or Flanker, with improved radar and fire control. During the embargo,
since the Iraqis couldn't necessarily buy new planes themselves, they could at
least get the electronics upgraded...perhaps smuggling them over the border in
shipments of civilian goods?

The Iranians have done all sorts of upgrades to their American-built warplanes
over the decades since the Revolution there. Who's to say the Iraqis couldn't
do the same with their Russian and French-made planes?

Stephen "FPilot" Bierce/IPMS #35922
{Sig Quotes Removed on Request}