Typhoon

[Talk Wrench]

Love it, loathe it, want it or not Typhoon is here to stay

Some very good footage here.

www.metacafe.com/watch/115274/eurofighter_typhoon/

Talk Wrench


PS, Is there any chance that a Mil Aircrew forum Good Video thread could be started up. It may have been done before but I cant find one.

[RIDIM]

Quite some time ago...

http://www.eurofighter.com/News/Article/default.asp?NewsItemId=190

[On_The_Top_Bunk]

It looks very nice.

What's it used for?

More importantly. Ten years down the line will anyone actually say? "It's a bl00dy good job we had that squadron of Typhoons"

Nah thought not.

[Jackonicko]

Top Bunk,

And what would we say that about?

Apart from:

Those FRS1s in the Falklands. That Chinook in the Falklands. The TIALD Tornados in Granby. ALARM. The TIALD Jags in Bosnia. The Canberra PR9s and R1s in Afghanistan. Storm Shadow in Telic. The Merlins in Iraq? Tankers again and again and again.

As a deployable, affordable, multi-role fast jet I'd suggest that there's as much chance of Typhoon providing a life-saving "what we need exactly when we need it" as there is of anything else doing so.

JTO, RIDIM,

Without picking holes, BAE did that. Weren't 17 supposed to have banged off an AIM-120 or two by now, following their ASRAAM successes last year?

[Lazer-Hound]

I don't think anyone would deny that Typhoon is a vast improvement on what the RAF has now, and will in various low-medium threat environments prove useful in the future (obviously high-threat will require stealth and/or UCAVs), but isn't the real question, do we really need all 232 of them? Surely tranches 1 & 2 will suffice for the RAF's needs? Wouldn't the tranche 3 money be better spent on tankers, transports, some sort of nascent U(C) AV capability? Or maybe even (perish the thought) decent kit for the army?

[Pontius Navigator]

Jackinoko, you forgot the Buccaneers in Granby and the Vulcan/Victor, esp the Victor.

[L J R]

Everyone to their own, Jacko, but 'successful' would not be the words that I would use for the RAF's equipment during said ops.

'Sufficient' arguably - then again that is all Brit taxpayers need, but the cost and functionality of some of the BWOS stuff Vs 'allied equivalent - off the shelf products' is questionable.

Point of note was Bucc with 'old' stuff in 1991 doing pretty much what TIALD does now!

[Jackonicko]

I was just thrashing round for
"Thank God we had those, then" moments.

And there really weren't many, which was kind of the point.

Only a handful were also examples of equipment that performed better than anything anyone else had at the time. (R1, PR9 with RADEOS, Jag/TIALD - what a hit rate they had in Bosnia!).

Though actually, of the examples given, most were rather more than adequate, though some of the Gramby stuff was significant because it was there at all, not because it performed flawlessly (TIALD/Tornado, ALARM).

[NURSE]

I would like to say in 10 years time Typhoon was a superb airshow display but we never saw what it was like operationally because we never needed to deploy it operationally!

But I hope in 10 years time we are happy with its operational performance and when it comes to be replaced it is treated with affection and its successor criticised for not being able to do what Typhoon can do now.

[Zoom]

But I hope ..... its successor [is] criticised for not being able to do what Typhoon can do now.

Well I sincerely hope that you are wrong on that last point, NURSE. I would like to think that each new bit of kit will be better than its predecessor (which will undoubtedly be the case here), even though many times in our military equipment procurement history that has not been so.

[Green Flash]

FJ booked for RIAT this year (so far) are .....

F-15C (West Coast demo team)

USN F-18 (Ric Traven again - should be good)

F-16 from 306 Sqn

Slovak Mig-29 (the thrust vectoring OVT thing)

Gripen

Swiss Hornet

.... and a Spanish Typhoon.

All in the air over EGVA on the same day. Might solve a lot of arguments!;)

[tonyosborne]

Slovak Mig-29 (the thrust vectoring OVT thing)

The Slovak MiG-29 is a standard aircraft, the OVT thingy is a different jet, a company demonstrator over for Farnborough- should produce a wacky display...:}

[Green Flash]

TonyO

Sorry, yes, you're right.

Ok, 2 Migs! :ok:

[Violet Club]

...a company demonstrator over for Farnborough- should produce a wacky display...:}
Yeah, if it doesn't pile in at ILA next week.
It's a breath-taking display though, even better than any of the TVC Russians we've seen before (believe it). So if it does make it to F'boro do go and see it...
...but early in the week.
VC

[LowObservable]

Wot, another live K-36D demo?

[Ivan Rogov]

Brilliant, so you are suggesting that an airshow is the best place to assess our latest pointy aquisition? That must be ideal to demonstrate its abilities :ugh: