Rejoining... and enjoying some very well informed discussion. Thanks to all who actually read these posts...
A couple of points. MM's assessment of combat radius does draw out the key fact that F-35 is designed to do its combat mission without external tanks, whereas Typhoon really needs external taks to do any sort of strike mission. That's a key difference between a strike design and a fighter design. Both good aircraft, but very different design philosophies.
MM's estimate for the impact on Typhoon range of tanks is, in my view, optimistic. External tanks on a relatively small aircraft like Typhoon have a BIG drag penalty, and you will normally only get a 35 to 45%(max) return on the fuel you carry - the rest goes to overcome the drag of the tanks.
F-35 has AAR as standard, the A model has the USAF top fuselage boom receptacle, B and C a neat probe on the starboard side of the nose. External tanks have been dropped from the SDD phase apparently, but they are still in the design for the future, and they are being catered for in the various weapons configurations.
MM - the F-35C take off run will depend on weight and wing area (among other things) and it will only be 'respectably short' if it is not fully loaded. But fully agree your point about potential trades.
Regards
Engines
Last edited by Engines; 1st Jul 2007 at 19:28.
Reason: Spell check