Well, I think that if the Western European countries really want a 5th gen. fighter, they may have two choices now.

Choice one: “Buy American” ~ F-35

Choice two: Western PAK-FA ~ something like PAK-FA airframe + F136 engines + Western European AESA radar / cockpit / electronics / EWS + Integration of Meteor AAM…..

Competition makes better offer and service. The possibility of Western PAK-FA may decrease the possibility of “Buy what Uncle Sam tells you to buy” in F-35 project.

Or carry on buying Typhoon and Rafale, two aircraft that they regard as 5th generation!

I despair!

Generation = Marketing BS!

Both Dassault and EADS as well as the nations that operate the Typhoon and Rafale will happily say they already have a 5th generation fighter they are called the:

Typhoon and Rafale!

Comparing aircraft by generation is marketing BS!!!!!!!! It has no use in the real world when everyone has a different idea of what “Generation” means!

As has already been said we have nothing more then a test flight, no metrics of capability at this point.

What we do know is France and the Eurofighter nations (except Austria who have turned Typhoon into a nearly toothless point defence fighter) have state of the art fighters with state of the art avionics.

Also I am frankly cynical about stealth, useful but not the panacea everybody makes it out to be. For fighter radar manufacturers an interesting challenge but not an insumountable problem. I will be very interested what the new swashplate AESA will bring to the table in relation to detecting LO types. On the other hand with decent ESM, ECM, jamming and LO technology the capabilities of BVR missiles are being neutered forcing fighters back into WVR combat which with the proliferation of HOBS means a gunfight in a phonebooth!

We shall see!

i remember reading in about 10 years ago that the MR4 would make a very capable platform for Storm Shadow launch.

I mean really, if the USAF are using B1s for CAS in Afghanistan, then you could argue that a plane the size of the MR4 has multiple potential uses.

I’ve always felt that although its a very very capable platform, its very much under threat from its for image in the UK (both public and political).

If the RAF is going to have to give up platforms to allow the army to continue to exist, then a multi tasking platform is surely great value for money?

I have spoken to a few Nimrod personel who aspired not only to a Stormshadow capability but also the Paveway4 for the MRA4. Considering the MRA4 has an open architecture and a MILSTD1760 databus weapon integration is really a software issue.

Couple of problems aside from the more then likely full workload when the airframes hit service is first money for the integration and also how that will further strain the RAF’s relationship with the RN and its Tomohawk equipped subs.

On the other hand its amazing what British industry can do when a UOR comes up (Just look at the Seaking AEW or Shrike integration on the Vulcan) so you never know. Certainly the RAF is fully aware of what short notice global strike capability the MRA4, Stormshadow and a330mrtt offers the UK. With the politics of it better to wait for the right moment to sort it with a UOR.

In the end the Nimrod MRA4 is a platinum plated solution for the UK. Britain is arguably the world leader in ASW technology and the latest variant of the Nimrod is an expression of that. If it had been new build off the line then it might of had chance on the international market but rebuilding nearly 40 year old airframes has done it no favours.

Exactly what I thought!;)

EADS announce new flight computer for A400.

The HAL9000 will provide the state of the art system management required by this new generation air transport.

[size=3]Navy’s new carriers take shape in Scotland[/size]
Build programme ‘well under way’…

The Aircraft Carrier Alliance (ACA) is forging ahead on the Queen Elizabeth (QE) Class, having recently made contract awards worth £325 million that will drive momentum into the ongoing build of HMS Queen Elizabeth.

On 14 January, Secretary of State for Scotland, Jim Murphy MP visited Govan to welcome the contracts which have been placed in Scotland. Following the visit, he said

“These contract awards are great news for Glasgow, the Scottish economy and Scottish jobs. There has never been any doubt how important the aircraft carriers are to Scotland as a multibillion pound project securing thousands of jobs.”

full article: http://www.shippingtimes.co.uk/item_10274.html

HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH takes shape in Govan

A good sight to see!

I hope pictures like this silence the unnamed pundits who like to release statements stating the carriers should be cancelled or are under threat.

I noticed recently a couple of statements released to the press from these unnamed sources. The first one was about how the increadibly cheap to operate (just £3million a year – and peanuts in the grand scheme of things) Battle of Britain Memorial flight was under threat for financial reasons and then the next day a statement from a nobody on the inside that the new carriers were hyper expensive to buy in the modern world of counter insurgency in A-Stan and were under threat/should be cancelled. Then within days you get the head of the army stating that money should be spent on building up the Army for counter insurgency in A-Stan. (Considering that the target is to be out of A-stan by 2015 I wonder about that…)….Conveniant timing methinks!

Well I’m waiting to see if Tango III wins the first pic of Pak-FA comp…