The max range of Mica is 80km (as quoted in former DGA website, or here : http://www.ixarm.com/Technical-card,11177 ).

However, i’m not the one who will tell you that Mica IR will be launch at a target 80km away, because this extreme range is probably only true for the EM, at high altitude, high speed, head to head engagement of a non maneuvering target.

SO…. If 60km is the range, shooting a Mica IR passively, in my opinion, requires an external designation. Then, the missile will fly autonomously unless target change its trajectory (and thus, Mica will receive new data through the LAM). The missile burns during 3 secondes aflter launch, which means that after a long flight, it will reach the target without smoke, and possibly no hint of a threat.

UNLESS the target uses a sophisticated dual band missile warner ? Or an active MAW.

What would be the external designator ? Why not a Typhoon… 😀

And seeing as how there was no actual missile approaching, the Typhoon’s MAWS wouldn’t give them warning of inbound threats. That makes a big difference in terms of situational awareness for the pilots. Most of the pilots that were shot down during Desert Storm never knew they were targetted.

Well, one day Hugo the clovn is gone.
And then its all for the better..

Anyway, is it that bad that Venez is somewhat anti US and trade with Russia/china?
What could Venez possible do, start a war.. not very likely.
Ofcourse they have Oil, and US need it;)

Thanks

Chavez has a lot more faults than just having anti-US views. He’s running a Thugocracy, while trying to portray himself as the hero of the common man.

Just out of interest… (not arguing either way here)…

… but what was that supposed to prove?

You think a random youtube video of a mission launch proves something?

Did you bother to read what that video was countering before responding?
That article said the F-22 had to slow down to subsonic to fire its weapons, unlike the PAK FA. That video was of a supersonic launch of AMRAAMs, pretty much calling into question the veracity of the rest of the article as well.

Article from Reuters India

Russia to make 1,000 stealth jets, eyes India deal

By Gleb Bryanski

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Russia will build more than 1,000 stealth fighter jets within four decades, including at least 200 for its traditional weapons buyer India, the head of plane maker Sukhoi said on Friday.

Sukhoi test-flew its long-delayed fifth-generation fighter at the end of January, and Moscow said it would be able to compete with its U.S. F-22 Raptor rival built more than a decade ago.

Sukhoi said last week it hoped the fighter, codenamed T-50, would be ready for use in 2015.

“If you talk about warplanes of this type, there is definitely a market for it if we produce more than 1,000 jets,” Sukhoi director Mikhail Pogosyan told reporters on the sidelines of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s visit to India.

“We have all grounds to believe that there will not be tough competition on the world market,” he said.

He said Russia would produce more than 1,000 of the planes within 35 to 40 years.

After the test flight, Putin said Russia had plenty of work to do on the plane.

Analysts say Russia’s plans for a joint venture with India to produce the stealth fighters will likely be watched with unease by India’s uneasy neighbour Pakistan and regional rival China.

Pogosyan said an agreement on joint output of the jet with India was still in the works and did not say when a deal might be signed.

“I believe that more than 200 planes will be delivered (to India),” Pogosyan said.

“I think (Russia’s) defence ministry will buy no less than this amount,” he said. About 600 of the planes would be sold elsewhere, he said.

Analysts say several nations, including Libya and Vietnam, have already expressed interest in the fifth-generation fighter.

“Apart from America, the only other fifth-generation project is Russia’s, while the Europeans have given up such plans,” Pogosyan said.

“Probably the Chinese will try and promote such a product, but I think they face an immense amount of work to make their product competitive,” he said.

They’ll build that many if they can find buyers would be a more accurate headline. Libya and Vietnam aren’t going to buy 300 each, and how many third world air forces can afford large numbers of $100million+ aircraft?

I guess it was talked about already, but I just read another article (dated yesterday) aboutF-35B’s VL-heat problems, also exposed by the Navy back in january:

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&newspaperUserId=27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7&plckPostId=Blog%3a27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3a27103ee8-d867-4e32-a619-92297fa29cf3&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest

seems we haven’t finished hearing about it yet.

Well considering they’re conducting tests now, we shall see if this is indeed a problem as is being portrayed, or merely naysaying.

Only planned availablity on F-35s and F-22s…. although I suppose it is only on stealthy platforms it is effective. Apparently also short on range.

Meanwhile, support aircraft will still have to broadcast open signals across L-16 or similar.

Oh, and other nations should not expect it on export versions…

A- the F-35/22 and B-2 can all receive Link 16 datalink info for situational awareness.

B- non-stealthy support aircraft are further from the threats, and aren’t trying to penetrate enemy defenses

C- the eventual plan of the USAF is for the vast majority of its combat aircraft to be stealthy.

D- do you have a source saying that MADL won’t be available on export variants?

Thanks, that is very interesting. That means the aircraft must stay in permanent connection? Does that work only on two aircraft? What happens if you want to connect several units?

It’s not limited to 2 aircraft. That’s why NCW is the way forward with regard to how air forces fight. Everyone on the network, knows what everyone else knows, and can get updated situational awareness from a variety of sources in real time. This allows for pilots to use the best tactics each differing situation calls for.

And also orange!

If you really believe those claims you’re hopeless. No radio signal is truly directional – except for lasers. And LPI would only be possible if there is really scarce dataflow, which is quite the opposite of the a datalink’s purpose.

Very narrow beams though, combined with discreet power levels. Unless the enemy aircraft happened to be in between the sources, it would be sheer luck intercepting the datalinks on the F-35/22/B-2.