Following the much publicised row between the UK government and the Pentagon related to the release of classified F-35 technical details, the British government finally made good on their threat to pull out of the JSF program. In 2007 they announced that they would be buying the French Rafale M fighter to equip their 2 new carriers, HMS Improbable and HMS Unlikely

In a surprising move, 767 squadron was the first squadron to form on the new fighter - its amazing what having a former pilot high up in the MoD can do for an extinct fighter squadron

Kit is the Italeri 1/72 kit. Which is typical Italeri, ie cheap, decent selection of stores, raised panel lines, non-existant detail mixed with lovely detail, appalling fit in some places, great fit in other places.

I started this kit last Saturday morning and finished it last Thursday evening. Unbelievably quick for me! Decals are mainly from the Fujimi Phantom, ASRAAMs are from Airfix NATO weapons set.

Kaixo Neil!

BZ

What about a navalised Eurofighter?
If the R.N. could wait a little more it would be possible, and cheaper!

Apparantly BAe did some design work in the late 90s on navalising the Eurofighter, obviously its quite a bit of work - strengthening the fuselage & undercarriage to withstand carrier landings, anti-corrosion features etc. Once all the development & testing had been completed, would it be cheaper than an off-the-shelf buy of the Rafale, who knows?

I do know that the Royal Navy's new carriers are being built to the same design as the new French carriers, which are designed for....Rafale! And in todays political climate of joint-ops, who knows......

You might have a point Neil, but do you remember the affair with the navalised Jaguar?. Even knowing that it was better than the Super Etendard, the French Navy selected this instead of a 50% french product, c´est la vie!
Cheers

patxi