Badgerboy

How old are you? Enjoy while you can, because that lovely metabolism is going to desert you come 19+! The day you can't drink 6 pints every night without putting on weight was the saddest of my life Having to exercise to drink beer! Fancy that! (Besides, I think I did severe damage to my liver in those days. Ah, the life of a student)

Meh, please don't ever quote Fox News sources. Thats the equivelent of quoting the 'Sun' over here. (Oh, and incidently they are owned by the same chap!) I saw Farenheit 9/11 last night, and the segments of Fox News shocked me. Crazy war film intro's, and pumping music, and then to top it off, the presenter who announces 'Your damn right I'm biased, go US!' Errr, do they simply draft irate citizens off the street at random, or are all the presenters complete twats? Christ, its as bad as the Dail Mail!

I believe the current version is the PAC3. It is a very capable SAM system, one of the best. However it is being used in situations it can't possibly be effective. It did sod all in the last Gulf war, and its looking like it didn't get anywhere near the kills claimed in the recent conflict. And no its not perfect, its bloody awful. Its being used for a task it was never designed for, and backed up by a shoddy support system that is going to end in more accidents. If the support and tracking side of the issue could be fixed, it would be safe to operate in the field. At the moment, it a liability to everyone.

Sorry to drag this back up, but people might find this interesting Linkage Why has nothing been done about this systems failings? Its been underachieving since 1991, and its still a liability.

i would buy the F/A-18 super hornet, i can't see what is wrong with buying american equipment specialy since they put most of the money in to developing the thing and works out to be cheaper to, bloody crazy  Not at all. A far superior airframe to the Hornet can be found in the SU-27 range, which is FAR cheaper to purchase. Add western avionics and radar system and it's the better choice.

1. More often than not. (But not always!) 2. Yes

Thats 100km under 'optimum conditions' Its assuming you have a track on the target, that the target isn't using ECM, is at a lower altitude than the shooter, and is heading straight into the missile envelope before and after the launch, and still keeps heading in when the seeker goes active. Strangely enough, this doesn't seem to happen much in BVR combat. A range of 55km to 75km is far more realistic, and even that can be negated by a simple manoever by the targeted aircraft.

If the Meteor is everything its touted to be, it will be the best performing BVR missile around.

Bah, that was terrible! Ohh an eye! I suppose if you have 100% of your concentration on the flash program its worse, but as long as you have a small portion of 'awareness', its not a problem. People wetting themselves and having heart attacks? Ha! These must be the same people who think a bomb has gone off when a door slams shut! This will thin out the numbers a bit.

I'm not geologist And Ran's English is probably a little better than your French.

Eurofighter useless? Â How do you figure that? It has been ordered by Britain, Spain, Germany, Italy, Austria, Greece and Singapore. All in all over 1000 aircraft. Still doesn't mean that its usefull Tranche 1 no, Tranche 2 potentially, Tranche 3, now your talking! It's years late, but its still an awesome piece of kit. The A-A role is diminished, but the A-G versions are most impressive. I single aircraft can project the SEAD capabilities of a 4 ship of F-16's, AND carry the ALARM, an altogether far superior ARM than the HARM. Technically you can load 18 Brimstones onto one. Thats 18 radar guided anti tank missiles, that talk to each other in flight and prioritise targets. Target gets destroyed, the weapon chooses others! Oh, and it flies like a dream!

Eurofighter useless? Â How do you figure that? It has been ordered by Britain, Spain, Germany, Italy, Austria, Greece and Singapore. All in all over 1000 aircraft. The Eurofighter is a great aircraft, so i agree with you Denoir. I might be flyin one of them, hopefully, in the future. Ha, like we'd give you Army gimps fast jets! Your lucky we even give you helicopters! (And no bugger can get fast jet at the mo, everyone is shunted onto multiengine, and then potentially moved up in a couple of years. Lots of very unhappy bunnies at the moment.)

I think you will find that opinion all over Europe. The recent ban on a death penalty in Iraq had alot to do with British pressure. The British Government doesn't support executions, just as the French and Germans don't.

The British equivilent is the RAF Regiment for defense of airfields. They are also tasked with the capture of airfields in wartime, and preparing them for CAS aircraft. They have light armour, and their own support units.

Has anyone practised Wing Chun? I knew someone who had done it for years, and was pretty good at it. Small thin guy, but could snap anyone in half if needed. (Wing Chun was used by Shaolin monks to beat the crap out of other Shaolin monks. Yikes! )

Actually, since the book is based on the game it should be the other way around... "the only guys in the book from the game..." Nitpicking, I know. But right should be right Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the game was based on the book. Hence the massively cut down plot that was tenuously linked to the book. Sadly I know the film will be poor. All the Brits will have cockney accents, and everyone will fire from the hip.

Considering that portion of 'terrorists' are willing to die for their cause by detonating explosives carried on their person, do you really think the risk of beheading is worrying to them? I'm sure the 11/9 hijackers would be too scared to fly their 'mission' if the US beheaded terrorists. I'm sure they were worried if they survived the intial impact, explosion, fire, and collapse of the building, they would be dragged out to be executed! Considering these are the fella's that cause most of the maiming/killing you succeed in becoming a complete bastard, with no real effect. You can't scare these people, they believe in what they are doing too much. You have to attack the cause of the problem. Stop them from having to become terrorists in the first place. And no, they are not attacking US interests because they 'hate freedom, and are jealous of your way of life' Christ how many times have I heard that bandied around!?

I am only just remembering why we loathed the guy so much. Now he's back, and 20% more facist than before! Achtung baby!

I'm off to a party, but I'm taking my handheld TV with me to see the last 15 mins!

Meh, 90 mins! 0-0! (I'm rooting for the Swedes now!)

Well, its picking up now. Plenty of decent challenges.

The pressure is on!

Sigh. I don't know how you form your impressions, but they are seriously flawed.

Well, what are peoples thoughts so far? That Van Nistelrooy dive was bloody awful, and the ref doesn't seem to be picking up on it.

Sweden vs Netherlands should be good. Don't know who to support though, I like 'em both! Suppose I'll just enjoy the game! With all the favourites now out, its anyones championship. Its all been a bit crazy this year! (I'm still pissed off Wales didn't get through thanks to the drug using Russians. Thanks for ignoring your own rules EUFA! Bastards! ) (Oh and American 'Football' is rugby for poofs! Our blokes don't wear half a ton of padding! Shirt and shorts, thats all you need! )