Let me drop into the battle over which aircarft is more Über. Mig is really a fine aricraft, but its not made with the same idea as the amerikans do. F-15, F-16, F-18 are todays most common fighter(/bomber for F15) in the western countries. There is a very big number of them , compared to the eastern block fighters. Why? iTs simple: the amerikan aircrafts are built as disposable!! If an F16 gets hit (and somehow survives which is most unlikely), they wont bother reapir it, they will simply get a new one! It would cost a lot for poor countries to buy new fighters every time something really goes wrong... The eastern block goodies are built to endure, becasue of lack of materials. (don't forget that some of those birds were constructed about 30-40 years ago!, still in Cold War times..) But the Migs and such costs another fortune to keep flight ready. Thats why our (idiotic) country is buying Grippens.. Man, for example Germany only bought two of em to test, both of them crashed dou to mechanic failure... pilots dead. Thsoe thisng really can't fly, neither fight, nor land
We had beutifull Mig29, 31s.. To the point: none of the countries wants to build an Über fighter yet, because it wouldn't stand a chance on the market with its Über price tag.
(I know that F22, JSF, and such started out as one Über fighter, but all i hear for Lockheads officials that they throw out half of the goodies they planned every day to make the thing work, and have a "not so insane" price)
I hated the rapier, casue i couldn't see a thing from the cockpit compared to the raptor, and its guns could only fire 5-7 shots before totally draining power... Long ive the Raptor (although i dont like its shape that much)