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Per Derek Wood (Project Cancelled), the 177's problem was that it had been nixed by Sandys and Germany wasn't keen to buy an aircraft that wasn't being supported by its own government. I have a vague recollection of English Electric trying to sell the Lightning there, would have to check up on that, but......ultimately Italy modified its Starfighters to work with Italy's version of the Sparrow, Aspide, which the Lightning wouldn't have been amenable to. In Italy's case, they were able to fit the Sparrow gear in by taking the gun out but the fact that the Lightning's radar is in a centre-body bullet and not within proximity of the weapons pack probably precludes a similar modification.
Per Derek Wood (Project Cancelled), the 177's problem was that it had been nixed by Sandys and Germany wasn't keen to buy an aircraft that wasn't being supported by its own government. I have a vague recollection of English Electric trying to sell the Lightning there, would have to check up on that, but...
...ultimately Italy modified its Starfighters to work with Italy's version of the Sparrow, Aspide, which the Lightning wouldn't have been amenable to. In Italy's case, they were able to fit the Sparrow gear in by taking the gun out but the fact that the Lightning's radar is in a centre-body bullet and not within proximity of the weapons pack probably precludes a similar modification.
