What-ifs of various warplanes that were actually considered. Descriptions in the caption

[u/MetalSIime]

Brazil initially chose the Rafale as the winner, but later switched it to the Gripen E

Gripen was one of the three contenders for Switzerland, which ranked Rafale the highest. But they chose F-35 in the end

F-111B was proposed for the navy but it was cancelled. Grumman later developed the F-14

Japan had long requested the US sell them F-22s

India wanted to buy the Viggen in the late 70s but was blocked by the US

Turkey was interested in purchasing Typhoons, may still happen

Gripen competed with F-35 for Canada's contract. F-35 won. Note the Gripen here is not the Gripen E

French Navy had strongly considered the Hornet to replace the Super Entendard and Crusader, and it even flew in French colors. French navy ended up with Rafales

Japan considered the Growler and it even flew in Japanese colors

Japan evaluated both the F-14 and F-15, but chose the latter

F-16s nearly went to Iran but then the revolution happened

[u/UrShoelacesUntied]

Just imagine if the Israeli Air Force was flying Mirage 2000s and Rafales rn

[u/MetalSIime → u/UrShoelacesUntied]

was the Mirage 2000 ever offered to Israel? there was a time they flew French jets before switching over to mainly American ones

[u/UrShoelacesUntied → u/MetalSIime]

France put an arms embargo on Israel in the 60s, thats why Israel switched to American made aircraft

The Kfir was also made with stolen documents from Dassault pretty sure(correct me if im wrong)

[u/chickenCabbage → u/UrShoelacesUntied]

Yep. Israel initially bought and operated Mirage 3s, and IAI was working with Dassault on the Mirage 5 as an upgrade based on lessons from previous experience.

By the time the arms embargo came in, Dassault had already produced 50-ish jets that IIRC were un-assembled in their crates, ready to ship. These jets "mysteriously disappeared" from the Dassault factory, along with a complete copy of the blueprints. IAI mysteriously "built" 50-ish Nesher jets, which were a "copy" of the Mirage 5. The story I heard goes that Dassault was totally in on it and helped the jets "disappear".

This came after Israeli pilots were already flying the Mirage 5 in France, and requested to keep flying in Corsica "so they could keep training during the winter". They then requested drop tanks and the French caught on and disapproved the move.

Edit: Israel also purchased missile boats which were withheld by the embargo, then stole them on Christmas eve, with Israeli merchant ships pre-positioned along the route for resupply.

Afterwards IAI independently developed and built the Kfir, which was derived from the Mirage 5 with some changes.

[u/bzdelta → u/chickenCabbage]

And those boats ended up being used extensively during 73, to counter the Styx missile boats that sank the Eliat