And who says that Typhoon scored worse during this specific test?

Its from one of those mysterious sources that never reveals to anyone other than a select few.

BAeS have done some work on a Naval Typhoon to compete with Rafale M, but as always with Typhoon, it’s achilles is price.

As always? Last time I checked the Typhoon has 2 exports one of which with 48-71 additional orders likely to be signed, a more or less done deal in Oman of around 20 units, UAE dropped Rafale because of too high a cost and apparantly Typhoon being cheaper in the UAE and Switzerland, less than 5% more expensive as was reported for Typhoon Tranche 3 in India and apparantly, France pay more for their Rafales than the UK do for their Typhoons. Nah, as always, Rafale’s Achilles Heel is price. The same can hardly be said for the Typhoon.

Wrt to this news. As much as I’d like to see Rafale in Royal Naval service, I don’t believe for a moment it’d happen. A fine aircraft but it comes at a high price and adding on top of that the intergration of systems that the British would use, and as we know, Dassault are happy of selling their product at a price but aren’t that keen on making it suitable for a potential customers requirements. *Cough* UAE *Cough-Cough* And what of the RAF? Would us British pay more for a bunch of Rafales or would we rather, for example, order a few more Typhoons at a cheaper price and create more British jobs? I’d fancy the latter.

As for the F/A-18…Well, *yawn*…Again, a capable, fine, fair priced aircraft but it’s getting a bit long in the tooth now, ain’t it. Then again, this is just ‘interim’ so maybe it’d be fine just for that.

Actually, I just had a better idea! Which shed did we put those Harriers again, I’ll go have a look. *Opens shed door and thinks* ‘Oh yeah…Bollox!’ :rolleyes:

Wouldn’t feel very comfortable landing on a ship at post/pre-stall speed relying on FCS and TVC? Those aren’t the only things one would have to rely on on a Naval Typhoon. Of course, the TVNs will need to be very reliable as you say, but the same still stands for other naval aircraft even TVNs, you’d better be sure the engines and other systems are very reliable because the slightest error would end you up in the drink. The same safety standards still stand and whats different doesn’t mean it won’t work. Besides, TVNs aren’t exactly new, the Harrier uses the same technique albeit to a different approach & it works just fine.

On a slightly seperate note; the TVN’s can be seen as a safety feature, couldn’t they not?

Wrt CFTs, why would they affect Typhoon’s performance any more than three external drop tanks which hold the same amount of fuel?

‘C’ in CFT standing for ‘Conformal’, meaning they’re built partially into the airframe which in turn reduces drag and are more efficient than having three drop tanks on three hardpoints. Yes, you still have the weight of 3,000+ litres onboard but you’ve done away with those bulky drop tanks, which in any case weren’t much of a hindrance on Typhoon’s performance anyway.

Once again…And again, Typhoon was designed from the beginning to be multi/swing-role albeit weighted more towards A/A as most other multi/swing-role fighters are. Theres no reasons why Typhoon can’t perform deep strike sorties, many people claim it wasn’t designed to or can’t do such roles without backing their claims up. Of course, it might not carry the most fuel when compared to others but what it does, or be able to carry isn’t what one would call lacking neither. With two CFTs and a single centre drop tank onboard it adds up to 4,000 litres external/conformal plus 5t internal then you’ve got 12 stations for weapons, six A/A and six plus for A/G: i.e. for the latter; two Storm Shadows and up to eight SDBs that have a range of approx 50+ miles and a hell of a lot more for the former. Add to that it’s A/A capabilities, Captor-E, HEA, DASS and other systems etc. With those in place, it’s hardly lacking.

It may be that the Mirages are now due a major overhaul or something along those lines.

Or, Brazil checked out how much India paid for their Mirage upgrades & thought; ‘To Hell with that!’

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-01-15/news/30629745_1_lowest-bidder-defence-ministry-eurofighter

I’ve only heard of TVNs being offered to India on the Naval Typhoon for the IN. Not for the IAF. Not heard of any Typhoon Tranche 3s coming with TVNs for the MMRCA.

Wether they actually have been proposed as part of Tranche 3 for India, who knows.