To be fair Lightning was quite a dog fighter when given the chance. In respect of RAF pilots and WVR experience I hate to say it but this is something that I have been hearing a lot of. Certainly the days of practicing BVR intercepts has gnawed away at certain skill sets within the RAF. Just having a fighter that is excellent in a knife edge fight doesn’t make a win without the pilot retaining certain skills.

If anything the Lightnings were rather handy in WVR, even againsts Harriers and especially in Germany when they were stationed at RAF Gutersloh for low-level intercepts, they had a reputation of, if you like, being the ‘bully boys’ looking for a punch up and coming better off. Sadly, the RAF had to more or less bring up their beloved Lightnings alone, i.e trying to keep them up to date the best they could with the little resources they had due to recieving very, very little funding, sad fact but true. When the Tornado F2 intercepter entered RAF service, the Lightnings gave the Tornado F2 a teaching lesson in WVR, even with some Tornado F2s having ex-Lightning jocks in the seat, but when it came to BVR the Tornado F2s had the fight in their pockets.

In its day, (50’s & 60’s) the Lightning was considered the best fighter/intercepter of its kind, weapons, performance & even though it was difficult to operate, the radar, avionics, it was all state of the art stuff. but as I say, the lack of funding put it at a dis-advantage. One could only imagine how good it would have been if it had been developed to its full potential. But one also must say, hats off to the RAF personell, they put their blood, sweat, tears and hearts into this aircraft & they truly loved it.

I think it may be a little unfair to say that the RAF pilots lack any WVR abilities, the Lightning was the last real fighter until the Typhoon came along. During the ‘lack of a real fighter gap’, they still practiced WVR fighter with the likes of the Jaguar GR1/3, Tornado F2/3 & GR1/4, Harrier GR5/7/9 and of course that little pocket rocket, the Hawk. Yeah the aircraft lacked credible A/A capabilities but it didn’t and still doesn’t stop the RAF trying. Its just the same old story, getting on with what you’ve got. Be asured, even with A/G aircraft, they know how to be a pain in the ar$e in WVR.

Nice image of an RAF Gutersloh Lightning F2A:

Anyway back on topic, I went a bit off there, very sorry. 😀

I was going to ask: I remember someone posting an image of a Spanish Typhoon with a double-rail launcher for their IRS-Ts. Is this going ahead and about to be used in the not too distant future? I haven’t really heard anything about it.

hello.

does anyone have any information about the 3:0 DACT “victory” against Typhoons by Pakistan AF F16s in Anatolian Eagle?

it seems a bit surprising to me…

When did this take place & which Typhoons took part? Italian?

Dr Carlo Kn*b, I mean Kopp (“DR” standing for ‘D!ck Rot’ I imagine) has been at it again…Yet another pathetic attempt at bashing the Eurofighter again *yawn*. He seems to think its just jumped up Mig-21 that doesn’t have any A/G capabilities and India wouldn’t recieve any of until well into 2020…Something like that anyway – I paid little attention & its not worth posting the link. Thinking* I wonder if he’s confusing himself with the Typhoon 2020 variant? 2020 = is when it’ll recieve full A/G capabilities! Of course. What a silly “See You Next Tuesday”.

He loves the Typhoon really, he just doesn’t want to admit it! 😀

Anyway back in the real world:

New Delhi, May 31:

The German Chancellor, Ms Angela Merkel, said here on Tuesday that Germany “will wait and see” for India to take a decision on the acquisition of fighter jets. Germany has offered the Eurofighter jets for the Indian Air Force.

“We are convinced we have the best product on offer. We will certainly not exert any pressure on the procurement process. We wish this to be transparent and smooth. We shall wait and see,” the Chancellor said.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/article2065975.ece?homepage=true

I welcome the British Pilots and Typhoons for what they do over Libya , really 🙂

They try hard to use the aircraft/pilots to their actual best and the result is sound . They do the job .
If it is not too much to ask , could someone give us a quick “brief” on the latest Typhoon ‘s missions like where they take off , refuel and land ? How much time they stay in the air , etc … Thanks .

Cheers .

For decades the RAF and also the British Army & Royal Navy have always had to make do with what they’ve got due to cuts, cancellations and what not, fortunately they sure know how to get the best out of what little they had or have, the Ligthning was a perfect example of this, the RAF more or less brought that aircraft up themselves. Also, forunately, the Typhoon isn’t going the same way as the Lightning and looks to get at least 3 types of A/G weapons in the next 3-4 years plus AESA and Meteor. But at the moment they’re certainly making a hell of a job out of it as it is.

Personally I’m not quite sure or know at all to be honest, such information is a little tricky to come by I think. It depends on how many hours they spend on CAS/CAP or where abouts certain targets are located such as ammo dumps, compounds etc, the MOD at least haven’t given the exact locations (for obvious reasons) so its difficult to even get a rough idea. All depends on the situations on the ground really. But for an un-educated guess, around half-hour from Southern Italy to the coast of Libya, around two hours on CAP/CAS round the outskirts of the main cities then another half-hour to get back to base. So, probably around three hours at least for each take off, doing its job then getting back to base – not sure about A/A refueling.

German opposition at selling Typhoons to India :confused:

http://frontierindia.net/german-red-and-green-criticize-merkel-for-pushing-eurofighter-in-india

Merkel pushes for Typhoon

http://frontierindia.net/eurofighter-will-have-no-end-user-monitoring-and-on-location-inspection-clauses-for-india

I’ve heard a few ramblings from the German Red and Green parties a few times. Its probably like Greenpeace trying to get on BAE Systems nerves for example, (not that I’ve heard anything) really isn’t much they can do about, if anything at all. I get the impression they come out of the wood work only when theres something to moan about.

“H.E. Mr Gérard Longuet, French Minister of Defence, was visited India on 26 May had said “We have one single speaking partner (Dassault) instead of four partners.”

Thats a little bit below the belt from the French side in my opinion & I’m suspecting they’re feeling a bit pressured at this point with those words. But, the German side were right to counter that and good for them they didn’t say anything else.

The Royal Air Force is to get 2,000lb “bunker busting” bombs to boost its mission in Libya.

The Ministry of Defence said the Enhanced Paveway III bombs were capable of penetrating the roofs of reinforced buildings.

The MoD said this would enable the RAF to attack command centres and communications nodes in Libya.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13589783

Its been a very long time since I last seen a RAF Tornado GR1/4 loaded with a couple of 2000lb Paveway IIIs. Last time I personally seen them carrying such weapons was during Kosovo 1999.

Edit: Is it possible for the Typhoon to carry Paveway III on the hardpoint(s) that are positioned between the ASRAAM hardpoints and Drop Tanks hardpoints?

QUOTE from RAF website: While the Tornado used five Paveway IV bombs, again a first for that aircraft from .

I didnt think this was possible could someone care tell me how they did this? When there are only four spots for the PWIV, and three when the Tornado’s are carrying a targetting pod?

Easy, a Tornado GR4 can carry 5 Paveway IVs – underneath on its ‘belly’, you’ll notice it has, what it looks like, 3 rails, you can see this if you look at a picture of a GR4 without any weapons onboard. The 2 outer rails have 2 hardpoints each where as the middle one has just 1, although I believe its possible to add another hardpoint but I haven’t seen anything of this. So, 2 Paveway IVs on each outer rail/hardpoints and 1 in the middle, theres your 5 Paveway IVs. If you want a Laser Designator Pod then you’ll have to get shot of one of the Paveway IVs, the one on the front left.

The Paveway IV is a dual mode weapon, GPS/INS, so it doesn’t always necessary need an LDP. Although the Typhoon could have designated the chosen targets for the Tornado, of which the former was carrying 4 Paveway IIs.

Of what I’ve seen so far of the Tornado GR4’s weapons load:

2x Storm Shadow & 2x ASRAAM
1x LDP, 2x Paveway IVs, 2x ASRAAM & 1x Brimstone (with 3 missiles)
And now 5x Paveway IVs also possibly with 2x ASRAAM

Of course, there’ll be other kinds of weapon configurations but sadly there isn’t that many pictures available as of yet.

Hope this helps.

Edit:

Also, I remember seeing RAF Tornado GR1s carrying 3 Paveways during the first Gulf War. One of them was on the centre hardpoint while the other 2 were on either side, slightly positioned ahead.

This is a rather odd layout of an RAF Typhoon with 3x ‘Dumb Bombs’ & 3x Paveway IIs. I accidently came across it while I was looking for images of a Tornado GR4 with 5x Paveway IVs’, I couldn’t come across any but anyway.

Email the RAF and tell them they’re doing it all wrong…

They’ll know where a lot of valuable targets are especially when you’ll have the likes of the SAS on the ground looking around for them. They’re really going to spend hours of planning a sortie that will cost thousands of pounds to operate the moment of take-off just to bomb an empty shed in the middle of nowhere. They know what they’re doing, trust me.