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Old 3rd Jul 2009, 12:19
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Dear Taxpayer...

Apparently every 3rd landing a Tiffie has the landing lights on it have to be replaced. The reason? A lead free solder being used in the circuitry. Link: Technograph flies on the Airbus A380 | Eurofighter / EFA/ Typhoon | RoHS - Technograph Microcircuits News
The rumored cost of replacing them is 400 pounds sterling... and there are 3 per Typhoon. Gross total is 1200 pounds sterling then.
Hmmm.... so there are 55 in service (don't quote me on that, please) and 89 are to be delivered. I'm not sure how many landings one would have to do annualy but still there is 55 x 1200 pounds being churned up from your pocket about every week. 66 000 pounds, now that would probably be every week.
Again it's just what I have been told...but from research it came apparent that it at least the use of a lead free solder is being used.
Anyway, back to the sums. 66 000 x 55... 3 and a 1/2 million pounds being spent on landing lights annualy because the MOD wants to use a lead free solder.
Now, I'm no aircraft mechanic so I wouldn't know how often they would need replaced with a lead based solder used, but the gross cost is still rather huge.
Then again you could divide up the amount of approximate taxpayers in the United Kingdom which comes to
29.3 million workers
(yes it's quoted from another electronic source). 3 1/2 million / 28.9 comes to just over 12 pence per person per year.
This is not really acceptable, I would hope most of you would think so to.
If you are wondering about my source it's from someone who worked on the Eurofighter project. No names given though sorry.

Cheers.
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Old 3rd Jul 2009, 13:03
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"Apparently...", "rumored...", "I'm not sure...", "probably...", "I wouldn't know..."

Not exactly watertight your case is it?

"If you are wondering about my source..."

I wasn't, no.
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Old 3rd Jul 2009, 13:09
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I know this is a rumour site, but you are stretching the concept a bit far. And anyway, so what - I expect that £400 is small change compared to the total cost per hour of the aircraft, manpower, facilities etc.

Your link is dud, by the way, which is not all that surprising - it's on par with the rest of the cr@p you've spouted.

Next time post about the lighthouse and the US aircraft carrier - at least that will make someone laugh
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Old 3rd Jul 2009, 13:36
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Whilst the compliant Lead free solder is crap to use and crap in service, there is an exemption for critical applications where proper lead-tin solder is the sensible option.......

The Romans built an empire with water piped in lead

Great Britain won 2 world wars and built an empire, whilst they and their forebears drank water piped through lead (and cast-iron).....

then their descendants lost the plot and decided that lead-containing solder was not safe to use joining copper piping together.

Perhaps the retard portion of the lead-affected descendants are all in Government and spend their time away from window-licking, thinking up stupid, irrational legislation.
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Old 3rd Jul 2009, 13:49
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Anyway Coningsby don't night fly, fool.
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Old 3rd Jul 2009, 13:52
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Are we calling them "Tiffies" now? Thats shoite, on a par with Chinny.

Sorry to digress, Friday afternoon and all that. Anyhoo, this solder thing then................................
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Old 3rd Jul 2009, 13:57
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if you remove the %20 from the link you will get THIS:

Company News
Technograph flies on the Airbus A380:
Techograph is proud to have 18 electronic modules on each Airbus A380. We also anticipate having parts on the Boeing 7E7 Dreamliner.

Eurofighter / EFA/ Typhoon:
Technograph has won significant orders for Tranche II of EFA (Typhoon) production. Electronic assemblies supporting various functions are made for various companies through-out Europe.

RoHS:
Technograph plans to be RoHS compliant (lead free) but will continue to offer lead based assembly options for those customer who are exempt or not covered by the directive
.

Three different items and they do not expand or explain or link together.
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Old 3rd Jul 2009, 14:08
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Dougi

Well done mate. I'd say you have a bright future in journalism.
Look forward to your next piece of work.
BV
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Old 3rd Jul 2009, 14:15
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The price of lead soldiers is shocking - although there was a nice Britain's Boer War naval gun set on e-bay the other week.
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Old 3rd Jul 2009, 14:48
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Another £400? Do we care? Each Typhoon is a waste of £85m anyway..
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Old 3rd Jul 2009, 15:08
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CirrusF

How can anyone say Typhoon is a waste of money? We needed a replacement aircraft and we have bought one. What would you replace it with? I see you are from bored - like your post!
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Old 4th Jul 2009, 18:28
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Its a waste of money because it has been in service for close to 5 years and so far it has contibuted to.......




.... an Air show.


Lets get it out to Afghanistan where it can prove that it is the best in the world.
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Old 4th Jul 2009, 22:13
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When they proposed the idea, they kinda forgot it needed air-to-air weapons. Due to some backwards bueracracy, they decided using American AMRAAMs wasn't a good idea, so they've been waiting all this time for a new medium-range air to air missile to be developed.

By the time the thing ever gets deployed, it will be superceeded. What use is it being the best at BFM (I understand this is its main selling point) when it is being shot down at 50 miles by an electronically superior system?

I was reading a while ago that its RCS is not what they hoped for, either.

Sounds like the typical screw-up.

Scrap it now, and buy the F-22.

ECAM Actions.
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Old 4th Jul 2009, 22:24
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Spheroid - if Typhoon's not holding southern QRA at the moment, what is?

Or are you suggesting that defence of the homeland is not a worthwhile and important task for the Armed Forces?
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Old 4th Jul 2009, 22:36
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When those Bears came over 2007/2008, they scrambled, but apparently didn't have anything to shoot with.

ECAM Actions.
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Old 5th Jul 2009, 10:07
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The Typhoon conducting QRA.... what planet are you on...? Before the tax payer is content that it has got VFM from the Typhoon it needs to deploy and shoot at things and bomb people. We did not purchase this thing so that it could play at being the home guard
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Old 5th Jul 2009, 10:43
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Lose the piece of p**h, get some chinnies and do us all a favour!
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Old 5th Jul 2009, 10:45
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'We did not purchase this thing so that it could play at being the home guard'

Err - yes we did - although, of course, it's not 'playing'. Air defence of the UK was always going to be a key role.

Don't try and shift the premise of your argument - you wrote that all Typhoon had done was to perform at airshows, and you were wrong. You might not value the QRA role, but it is one of the key military tasks placed on Defence and one which, I think, the 'taxpayer' is keen to see done properly.

We would all agree that Typhoon needs to deliver more, but your disingenuously abrasive style adds neither information nor amusment.

Have you considered adding an 's' to the end of your handle? That would give new readers an immediate idea of what to expect from your posts.
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Old 5th Jul 2009, 10:56
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So we did buy the Tiffie (Yuk) to be the home guard....at last someone has got the guts to admit it...... Well done BM for having the bravery to put your reputation on the line and finally admit that we spent the entire economy of a small country on an aircraft which was designed to protect us from the hoarding masses. So, the next question is how many of them are right now on QRA....
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Old 5th Jul 2009, 12:30
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Spheroid, you absolute twong!

How many Typhoons do you expect to be on QRA when you've funded it so slowly (and diverted so may to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) that you still have only enough jets to equip two frontline squadrons (........just about)?

Two frontline squadrons is (and always has been) enough to maintain one station on QRA, and, guess what? Coningsby does shoulder the entire burden of Southern Q, and will be helping prop up Northern Q as well when the F3 force goes down to 12 jets in September, I'll be bound.

The Typhoon has proved its 'austere' air-to-ground capability (strafe, up to six PW/EPWII, dumb 1,000-lbers),







and has done a 'Flag, a Magic Carpet, etc. but how do you maintain that capability when you have just two squadrons and a full A-A and QRA commitment? You can't. But that's not down to the aircraft, nor to the dedicated folk at Coningsby who operate it, nor those at Warton who provide it.

You could argue that we should have deployed a handful of Typhoons for a PR stunt like the French did with Rafale, and I'm sure that industry would have appreciated that. Whether that would have had much military value is another debate.

You might also ask why we haven't gone beyond the scope of the original Austere A-G requirement and properly integrated PWIV - with all of its fusing options - now that that weapon has proved to be so useful.

But with the Falklands commitment about to be shuffled from F3 to Typhoon there's even less chance of any Typhoons being available for deployed ops in Afghanistan, but the idea that the jet isn't capable, or wouldn't be useful, is risible.

If you want to see Typhoons in theatre, then don't retire the F3 so quickly, up the Typhoon production rate, and go all out for the original plan of seven frontline squadrons - which would give a reserve over the five squadrons that have always been regarded as the bare minimum to sustain UK AD and the Falklands commitment.

You might also ensure that support contracts are signed promptly enough, and that they cover all aircraft delivered, and (hell, you seem like a go-getter) you might even reconsider the farce that is incentivised availability based support contracting and return to a properly funded, all light blue first/second/third line engineering structure, rather than the current bastardised service/industry forward/depth malarkey.

ECAM,

Just plain wrong, old chap. "They kinda forgot it needed air-to-air weapons"? Utter toss. The jet was always designed for a mix of BVR and WVR A-A missiles.



"Due to some backwards bueracracy, they decided using American AMRAAMs wasn't a good idea"? Your 'understanding' is even more limited than your spelling! Typhoon has had AMRAAM (and ASRAAM) in service since before being declared operational in the A-A role. The frontline (not just 17) had even fired them by the time those 'Bears' stooged over.





"They've been waiting all this time for a new medium-range air to air missile to be developed." AMRAAM was viewed as an interim weapon for Typhoon, and Meteor is on the way, pretty much as planned.

Your understanding (eg: "I understand this is its main selling point") is thus seriously out of kilter with reality - Typhoon is optimised for BVR (and the absolute range of Captor M is not a problem). The jet is a flexible versatile swing role platform, with BVR very much its forte, and it is not merely "the best at BFM".
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