Block 3 SuperHornet set to be better than Eurofighter in every way?
Comment on this if you could, please...
>>Guys SH may be a bit of a slouch in raw performance terms, but the block two is a far better BVR performer than allmost all of its contemporaries, including the Eurofighter. Its radar/missile combo and EW suite are practically world beaters and it is also a better strike platform. Whats goint to serve you better in BVR? Higher sprint speed or better instentainious turn rate? Or one of the best LPI radar systems operational anyware, arguably the most sophistocated EW/EWSP suite on a fighter, and some LO cahrecteristics? F/A-18E/F Bk II would shoot down a European made aircraft long before they ever merged. And even if they did, how much is maneuver going to help you when your facing an AIM 9X with its kinematic performance and off broadsight capability???
>>Just you wait until Block 3 joins the fleet in 2009. The Eurofighter will never know what hit it WVR. The main upgrade will be a full 25% increase in installed thrust (up from 44,000 to 55,000 pounds of thrust), for little or no increase in engine weight or SFC, through the use of advanced fan designs, materials, and construction techniques. This will pretty completely make up for any deficiencies in acceleration, top speed, rate of climb, and instantaneous/sustained maneuvering that the old Super Hornets might have had (what I've read says it was the equal of any -402 equipped F/A-18C up to Mach 1 in level flight).
>>yeah, the SH with the upgrade is going to have T/W to spare, beyond even what Eagles dream of, roughly 1.25 at full fuel (Eagle around 1.13, Raptor around 1.27). Its going to be a top shelf airplane as far as non VLO is concerned
Is European aviation, ultimately, doomed?