Your theory is a myth created by Jon Lake/Jackoniko , a BAE and Typhoon lobbyist (in an unamed article) and repeated everywhere on the net but with no named sources.

You might want to read a piece by Jon Lake that was writen about 2-3 issues ago in Air Forces Monthly. Put it this way it wasn’t polite & far from supporting the Typhoon.

As for Typhoon AESA and AtG weapons integration, lots of talks and declarations but very little “concrete” milestones achieved to date. I believe that there is a chance that these anouncements are more a communication spin to gain momentum in the MMRCA competition hoping for a victory and thus funding. A kind of bluff to say it more simply. I am not questioning in any way that these developments are being carried out just that it the communication might have been amplified/exagerated for commercial reasons and that the reality of testing and developping might be slower.

I mentioned a few months ago that a piece was reported in Air Forces Monthly that a senior RAF Official stated during a press conference that the RAF has/will be recieving more funding to integrate the likes of Paveway IV, Brimstone, Storm Shadow etc in the next 3 to four years. That was all was reported & it was shortly after the RAF’s Typhoons started dropping LGBs in anger for the first time. Very little else, if anything at all, has been mentioned since, so a lot of people might doubt it mightnt’ even get anything concerning A/G capabilities.

These things have hardly been reported so its not just to get the Indians to buy & help fund it, make no mistake about it, the likes of the RAF want these A/G capabilities for their Typhoons and they’re getting them & the companies producing it want sales & also want to show the likes of India they’re keen – so a bluff? I think not! So just because its not reported doesn’t mean nothing is happening…Look at the Meteor trials, they were well under way before we heard anything official. In fact the first we heard of it was by an amateur photographer that had taken a photo of a Typhoon that just happened to have a couple of Meteors bolted to it.

If they wanted to spin things then they’d report it every other day but not actually do anything about it.

Concerning Singapore: Well, the French claim their aircraft was the better one technically and Eurofighter claimed theirs was better. Its called promoting ones self and the simple fact of the matter is, none of them won the overall competition. There were reports that the Rafale done well in A/A trials, the Typhoon was the only one to beat 3 F-16s in one go etc but again, none of them won the competition. And at the time the F-15SG had/has some rather attractive A/G capabilities that put the Typhoon and Rafale to shame while still having a credible A/A capability. So, although the decision was heavily politicle to purchase the F-15SG, at the time one could say it was a good purchase.

And at that time, Eurofighter’s personell team was very different to what it is now – if they had the same team then as they do now things might had been different. Not sure about Dassault’s team though.

But anyway, that was that competition & the rest is history. So move on.

Also, concerning hot & high performance of these two aircraft; theres no getting away from the fact that its widely reported that this isn’t the Rafale’s most favourite place to perform so whether its true or not, well one can make up ones mind if it is or not. Where as its widely reported that this is an area where the Typhoon can perform very ruddy well.

Air Force Montly reported that the Typhoon was the only aircraft in the competition to take off, perform a display then land with a full A/A weapons load and 3x drop tanks while operating with only one engine at Leh Air Base. So no surprise if it can outperform so many aircraft at hot & high altitudes, Rafale included.

But anyway, back to the Malaysian MMRCA competition please…

Russia is in a strong position to sell the Su-35 Flanker-E to Malaysia, and with them already operating Su-30MKM – theres a lot of commonality between the two, obviously, airframe, electronics, weapons systems etc & then theres the likes of training of ground & air crew for the RMAF. Plus, a deal good be made to upgrade the existing Su-30MKM to Flanker-E and also the likes of ToT etc, an area where Russia are usually quite generous with. They could be a leading player if they play their cards right.

On the other hand, it seems that the RMAF want a mix of Western and Eastern-Block fighters of no more than two types so maybe going for the Flanker-E maybe too much of a particular type. Neverless it still puts Russia in a strong position.

The F/A-18; to be honest I believe it would just be a repeat of India’s MMRCA competition for more or less the same reasons.

The Gripen; an attractive offer, very agile, capable, versatile, well priced etc but what are the RMAF’s views on single engined aircraft?

The Rafale; again an attractive offer, verstatile, capable etc, a fine aircraft, but not cheap and doesn’t seem to enjoy hot & high altitude performance. (Expecting flak*).

The Typhoon; yet again an attractive offer, versatile, capable, great performance/agility especially at hot & high altitudes, huge BVR abilities, not cheap but it does come with a lot of offers, likely offers such as partnership in the Eurofighter programme, ToT, R&D etc…And will most certainly be the ‘2020’ variant with CFTs, TVNs. Plus Malaysia seem rather keen on the Typhoon too.