>its the 1980s (2000s), start of a brand new decade, the field is wide open for next generation fighter sales. Time for Europe to catch up with America!
>A British-German-Italian consortium, Panavia (Eurofighter GmbH), after much toil and setbacks, has finally produced an advanced multirole combat aircraft, the Tornado (Typhoon), which meets all the partner nations' diverse requirements. Hopefully some of the cost of its convoluted development can be recouped with foreign sales
>Meanwhile, Dassault is certain that its own offering, the Mirage 2000 (Rafale) will enjoy the same export success as its predecessor the Mirage F1
>prospects are looking good for Euroboys, many countries are looking for a low cost, high performance light fighter to keep up with the latest generation of scary Miggers (Sukhois)
>Yes yes, well done, Europoors, well done. HOWEVER
>USA has just unveiled the F-16 (F-35), meant to be a less advanced, affordable export-friendly alternative to its primary air superiority fighter, the F-15 (F-22) .... but it still mogs the shit out of everything else
>the Israelis just tested it over Lebanon (Syria), no better advertising required
>oh fugg, everyone is lining up to buy it
>Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands, which France and the consortium had been hoping to capture, are the first in NATO to place orders
>sells just as well with third world countries and proceeds to utterly dominate the market for cheap Western fighters over the next two decades .... sales which should have rightfully gone to the Tornado (Typhoon) and Mirage (Rafale)
>EuroTurkey ends up being bought only by Saudi Arabia due to UK political bullshittery, only breaks even due to initial orders by the partner countries
>Mirage does slightly better outside Europe thanks to an extensive overseas bribery campaign by Dassault, but not as good as expected
>Still better than the Viggen (Gripen) I guess.... lel
How does this keep happening? Why does this keep happening?
