Request for 'What If' RAAF Sukhoi Su-34 'Fullback' profile

[MAD]

I'm looking for someone so kind as to have a go at doing a 'What If' profile of RAAF Sukhoi Su-34 'Fullback's' - equipped with Western weapons.
This I would deem a great and economical substitute for the F-35 Lighting II, which we have committed our balls and all to  

M.A.D
 

[Maverick]

Ask and ye shall receive, (from 2008):



Regards,

Mav

[MAD]

Oh nice.........oh how very nice!!
Thanks Mav, once again you have outdone yourself (even as far back as 2008!!)

M.A.D

[Litvyak]

Methinks a model of that would look great parked next to the CA-234/Su-34MKKan I have in progress... I dig it!

[Pegasus]

, g'day Litvyak,
I have a couple of Italeri Su-34s in the stash to be built as 1Sqn and 6Sqn birds with the requested Aus/Can mods of longer stinger tails (more fuel) and larger cockpit windows (all the better to see you with my dear) seeing these are supposedly two of the Italeri kits faults. As well, Sukhoi have just offered Australia full licence production if the F-35 program does happen to fall over, (at a very attractive licence rate) and offsets as well, including ground support equipment and test equipment as well as the Russian weapons builders offering licence production of their weapons so no need to put inferior western weapons in our Aus/Can birds. Now for names. For the Australian variant either Platypus (they have spurs containing venom on their hind legs and have been known to be 'electric' like an electric eel.) Another name for our version could be Kookaburra as the nose of the CA-234 also looks like a kooka's beak. I'll leave you to think up a suitable Canadian animal to name your version after. I'm sure that Sukhoi would also grant a production licence to Canada for the -34. We could then cooperate on production and planning and in more military exercises, the RCAF could use those Northern Australian bases.

,
Pegasus.

[Litvyak]

Pegasus:

The CA-234 in RCAF service is designated "Rattler"; we don't really have any psychotic animals like you do down under!

Per the initial (AltCan) backstory I have for the CA-234, the airframes were produced by Sukhoi, but were fitted with Canadian-made engines based on an upgraded/modernised development of the Orenda Iroquois (which I will call the Orenda Haida), along with Canadian avionics, etc.

But the actual build is using RL-type markings (I don't have Canadian Blue Ensign decals!), so I've been toying with a new backstory for the build itself, a backstory that will tie in to that of a future Whiffy build for a kit I have on the way to me (Zvezda Su-50) - this backstory is also predicated on the cancellation of the F-35, and the RCAF, needing to replace the aging Hornets, decides to ignore the political aspect and go for the best possible alternative presented: a package offered by Sukhoi consisting of Su-34 and Su-50. Politics of course does come to play a role in the deal, and as a result the delivery of the CF-250s is delayed by a few years until HAL of India can set itself up to build single-seaters just for Canada (and buying from India would probably go over well with Canada's not-insignificant Indian populace)... maybe the RAAF, too? I do have two of the Zvezda kits on the way to me, and have been puzzling over what to do with the second one. Of course, these would get a Canadian-made powerplant too - perhaps the Aussie versions, too?

I'm quite certain the RCAF would jump at the opportunity for exercises with the RAAF and for perhaps stationing a detachment in Australia; in exchange, I wonder if the RAAF would be interested in putting a similar detachment at, say, Cold Lake or Comox. On another thought re: the political aspect, I suspect that being able to point out that another Commonwealth Realm is taking up the same equipment would help the public-consumption end of things.

Our American friends would probably have a conniption over all of this, buuuut... that should be entirely secondary, shouldn't it?

[Pegasus]

, If joint Canadian/Australian exercises became a realtiy I'd have to warn the RCAF crews to be on the lookout for the Kookaburras as they're known to eat snakes. They swoop down and grab the snake just behind the head where it can't turn on them and then flies up into a tree and lands on a branch and proceeds to bash the snakes head against said branch until it's dead. It then bites off the snake's head and eats the rest. Snake is fairly tasty, even to us humans; it tastes like chicken and I know I've eaten parts of an eastern brown snake that a mate of mine killed with a throwing knife.

,
Pegasus

[rickshaw]

For the Australian variant either Platypus (they have spurs containing venom on their hind legs and have been known to be 'electric' like an electric eel.)

Only the males have a spur - one only, on their right hind leg.   As for being "electric" they are known to utilise a form of electro-magnetic sensing with sensor "pits" around the edge of their bill, however that doesn't make them "electric like an electric eel".  If anything, it makes them similar to sharks, particularly Hammerhead ones which hunt crabs/rays on the ocean bottom in a similar manner (the spacing of the sensors on the wide head allows them to better triangulate the faint signals from their prey).  The Platypus on the otherhand because of how faint the signals are from their prey virtually have to shove their bill between and under rocks on river bottoms to sense/catch their prey of insects and Yabbies (fresh water crayfish).

I'd suggest "White Pointer" as an alternative name.  It has a similar shaped, sinister fuselage IMHO. 

[Pegasus]

, Yes Rickshaw, you're quite right about that. I posted that late last night as I was heading to bed so wasn't bothered to change it although something in my mind was telling me I was wrong and I looked it up when I awoke this morning. Thank you for the correction.

,
Pegasus.

[Litvyak]

Your land has the weirdest animals in existence... kookaburras, kangroos, GAF Nomads...

[Pegasus]

, We even had the CA-15 Kangaroo back in the late '40s - early '50s. It apparently used to bounce around on its undercarriage during taxiing.

,
Pegasus.

[rickshaw]

Your land has the weirdest animals in existence... kookaburras, kangroos, GAF Nomads...

I refer you to Terry Pratchett's "Last Continent" for perhaps one of the most accurate descriptions of Australia and its fauna... 

[Litvyak]

Thanks for that tip, Rickshaw... I only recently read my first Pratchett book - Going Postal - and I laughed myself silly! "But now I am ambulating in the sunshine. This is better, Mr. Lipvig, this is better."

[NARSES2]

Your land has the weirdest animals in existence... kookaburras, kangroos, GAF Nomads...

I refer you to Terry Pratchett's "Last Continent" for perhaps one of the most accurate descriptions of Australia and its fauna... 

Yup, wellcome to XXXX 

Thanks for that tip, Rickshaw... I only recently read my first Pratchett book - Going Postal - and I laughed myself silly! "But now I am ambulating in the sunshine. This is better, Mr. Lipvig, this is better."

The first one I picked up was Guards, Guards. Immediately after reading it I went to Waterstones and bought everything prior to that. Been to a couple of conventions as well. One of the few reads that makes me laugh out loud even in public. Do that on a crowded train and people look at you rather oddly until they see what you are reading 

[NARSES2]

Do that on a crowded train and people look at you rather oddly until they see what you are reading 

Given what you do tend to do on crowded trains, there could well be another explanation for people giving you odd looks.... 

Nah they get off at the first stop and go in the next carriage