[Astro_Bot]

I've thought the same myself - buy Su27 (or is that Su35 these days) airframes and engines (which aren't that costly) and fit with western avionics and weapons. It would be time-consuming and expensive (but then the JSF is both of those anyway), and, IMVHO, it would be no more of a technical risk.

But, the time to do that seems to have come and gone.

On a related topic, I've wondered for a decade now why we wanted the JSF at all. I though the RAAF fighter mission was air superiority over Australia and its maritime approaches, and a reasonable maritime strike capability (not necessarily in the same aircraft, and the F-111s did deliver a pretty good maritime strike capability, AFAIK). Why the enormous emphasis on ground attack now, forcing a decision for the JSF? Am I missing something?

Edit: I suppose I should add that at the same time I thought of the Su27/35-derived aircraft, I also thought we should also get a couple of squadrons of F22s (if the Yanks agreed to sell them) - with attrition and training units, that would be 30-35 F22s.