Hello! And a small question

Kongsberg and Tenix I think it was are to develope a version of the NSM I think it was for the F-35 since the Harpoon is far too big to fit inside the plane. I’ll find the article and post about it when I have it.

Hei hei, trivelig å treffes!

I wasn’t aware of any Kongsberg/Aussie missile cooperation, do you have any project name for this?
Will it be a variation of the NSM or an all new product?
Last thing I heard of the NSM was that the German portion of EADS were working on a new warhead for a variant that might be used on the German K-130 corvettes.

Hvorden har du det? Moj jeg presente mig fur du, Ja est mine name og jeg er glad fur at tref du.

Hope I spelt it all right, my accent is perfect but writing is a bit off.

I remember Jack Hammond from my time on the Commonwealth Navies Forum. I found that if you don’t talk about mainstream stuff there, you are out classed and called an idiot, sad really since poeple have every right to learn and give their oppinions.

From what I am hearing these days the Norwegians are really not happy with the F-35 idea and are about an inch away from pulling out, needless to say that other countries are in te same boat, but as one member said to me in a IM Chat, you really need to give the F-35 a chance to mature. The first one only just came off the production line so lets see how far it goes. That said, The decision by the US not to allow Israel to equipe their planes with home made equipment isn’t looking good for the sales perspective of the plane.

Personally I think tha a few countries will pull out of the F-35 deal and other planes will benefit from it such as the Gripen (N) which is promising to be a world class fighter and might even be a step off a Carrier fighter. Could you imagine the USMC buying an F/A-39 (nice thought isn’t it)?

Norway has teamed up with Australia to develope and produce the Harpoon replacement which looks like a nice little package, and should it eventually come through it’s going to bring home the bacon to both countries even if they don’t buy the F-35 for which it is being planned. Adaption of this missile to fire from helos will soon follow and this is were the money will be made.

Just a quick question (yes, off topic, but hey) – since Saab/Sweden have been courting the Norwegians, I was wondering if there has been any word of a newer version of the Ericsson Erieye, updated with newer technology. As it stands, the Erieye is now ~10 years old, and aside from better processors, I have not seen any real evidence of any improvements. It might make the current Gripen-N (see other thread) offer more attractive – Norway could probably get 60 Gripen, 60 UCAVs and a few Erieye aircraft for the same price as the JSFs…

I am not so sure how far the IRIS-T decision goes in that direction, the real issue is whether the IRIS-T gets lock-on after launch capability – the ability to be told to launch, point in a specific direction, then lock on, rather than acquire a target, then launch. This ability is crucial to JSF integration, since any missiles carried internally must have LOAL capability.

I see, thanks!

Actually this is an Aviation Forum with a navy Sub Forum

It’s still the best navy forum I’ve come across. 🙂

Bigvern1966, nice to hear! I know the navy here is still reminiscing about the times they were sailing S-class destroyers with the RN.

Emerson, always cool to see good aircraft pictures! At any rate, it’s a purely political issue as the government budget for the fighter procurement is double that of Lockheed-Martin’s quote for 48 F-35A. Our previous government had a clearly stated intent to go ahead with JSF procurement while the current Labour gov’nt are keeping their options open.

Tom Burbage from LM quoted 3.3 billion USD earlier this year for 48 JSF. (Direct quote at http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2006/04/03/462702.html if anyone is proficient in the language.)
Eurofighter apparently offered 48 Typhoons for 5.8 billion while claiming that the JSF would definately not come cheaper than that when the cost was finalized. Mind you that last EF quote was a press quote, not direct, so take it with a big load of salt.
On the third hand, there was a recent press release where the government were planning on using 6.6 billion USD on a fighter purchase. I don’t know if this is for 48 or 48+9 planes, though. I also don’t know if this indicates that they’ve been getting signals via US gov’nt channels, saying the actual JSF cost will be a lot higher than Burbage’s quote of 69 million USD per plane.

As for operational requirements… I don’t see us moving in on Murmansk nor spearheading any NATO assault on SAM-infested territory. I would be happy with a 2010 edition of the Gripen with the stuff SAAB has planned to offer. (Ericsson AESA, Meteor, larger engine, range to do the north sea patrols.)
Also partially because I used to live in Sweden and was a SAAB fanboy as a kid, there’s something about that Viggen tail end 😉

Here’s the affordable fighters.

F-35 JSF

For those who are unfamiliar with this fighter.

Hello there, I’ve been lurking these forums on and off for a couple of years and it’s by far the best naval forum I’ve come across. I remember skimming one naval forum where a topic by one of the posters here (I believe it was Jack E. Hammond making an SSM topic) received one reply, saying “who cares?” Whereas on this forum it would probably develop to a thread going on for several pages.

Now for a small and somewhat off-topic question. The Norwegian AF recently (well, six months ago) chose to replace their old Sidewinders with the IRIS-T for their F-16MLU, as opposed to a newer model of the AIM-9. Deliveries are to go on until 2009.

Am I reading this right in that it is a very strong indication from the RNoAF that they do not want the goverment to buy the F-35A?

(Personally I think any of the four possible aircraft would be good enough for our patrol needs and small NATO/UN tasks, but I wondered what people thought of this?)

P.S. The RNoAF is still using the fighter wing (132) and squadron numbers (331, 332) they were assigned to by the RAF while operating under British command during WWII. You could say the current RNoAF was born on British soil with Hurricanes and I can see the RNoAF wanting to have a chance at using the Typhoon now.

— A bit of off topic —

132 Wing did most their best work with Spitfires, and they were highly rated by the RAF due to their mixture of aggressiveness , airmanship and discipline, in that when they did the mission, they didn’t go into a total bloodlust whenever they saw a German aircraft. This was unlike some of the other 300 series RAF Squadrons (the Polish units, being the best example) which had a habit of doing just that.

😀 😀 😀 F35, Typhoon or Gripen? BAe wouldn’t mind if Norway picked any one of them. :diablo: :diablo: :diablo:

Welcome dude!

Actually this is an Aviation Forum with a navy Sub Forum, the Navy Sub forum along with the Army one was axed recently to howls of derision! The Navy sub forum was restored eventually to my relief but not the army one.

I am not so sure how far the IRIS-T decision goes in that direction, the real issue is whether the IRIS-T gets lock-on after launch capability – the ability to be told to launch, point in a specific direction, then lock on, rather than acquire a target, then launch. This ability is crucial to JSF integration, since any missiles carried internally must have LOAL capability.

As for getting the Typhoon, I believe that the Norwegian authorities are probably responding to the ridiculous unit cost of the JSF, and looking elsewhere. As discussed on some of the other threads, there is question over whether nations would be better buying a combination of UCAVs and Typhoons or Gripens – those fighters lack stealth, but the UCAVs would be stealthy. I suspect the best mix would be the Typhoon and UCAV combination, which together would still be cheaper than JSFs!