And bang on time our resident Russian turns up with all his same old incorrect points.

Slow induction: only in your opinion.

No force projection capability: only in your opinion.

Outdated weapons: debatable. Air to Air yes but adequate for QRA (God it is getting boring writing that) Ground attack, pretty much excellent.

Attack Turkey and Arabia: Why would they want to. Both are regional Super Powers.

Sigh

Let me get this right Aurel, you are calling the F-16 which is the most successful fighter jet to be fielded in the West in the last thirty to forty years with a production run of over 4500 and over 74 air to air kills for no loss a “Lemon”?

Really?

BAE Systems Samlesbury, new integrated F35 assembly line:

RAF and FAA cold war fighter jet training, of course a “Laughing stock” based upon Seahawks sage appraisal:

What is interesting about that list is the 052B and the 051C, two orpan types in the China Navy Orbat.

Neither were continued beyond the first two built, my guess is the 052B was intended as a more general purpose type but the 054 was found to be a more cost effective solution in that role. The 051C was probably a low risk hedge in case the 052C was not a success, whilst the 052C had an advanced CODOG propulsion, domestic radar and missiles the 051C used the Russian radars, missiles and a domestic steam plant.

Considering the success of the 054 and the 052C with both being made in reasonable numbers and then further developed into more advanced variants the 051C and the 052B will be a foot note in China navy history.

Some new stuff to look at, the new Flyco is on. Also mention of flight trials off the United States:

There is a big article on Flight Global (which you need to sign in to read) outlining the work being done on the Taranis test programme and how this might feed in to FCAS.

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/rolls-royce-details-ucas-power-challenge-398678/

Highlights include:

Power requirements for the systems are a challenge with the Adour engine.

“….writing in the Defence Equipment and Support organisation’s Desider publication, Air Marshal Simon Bollom, Chief of Materiel (Air), describes the campaign so far as having demonstrated that the design is “at the forefront of low observable technology”.

“With regard to the Anglo-French FCAS activity being led by industry partners BAE and Dassault, R-R’s Banks says only joint aspects are being pursued through an ongoing demonstration programme preparation phase, with national-only work on Taranis and Neuron remaining fully firewalled.

“We have very clear security aspect levels,” Banks says. Similarly, development activities pursued by R-R in the USA for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s *ADVENT future engine technology project are protected from any exchange.”

There is a lot more, but my question is this. Lets just say that the UK and French decide they like what nEUROn and Taranis show them, how do you produce a production aircraft out of them? I have long suspected that Taranis incorporates stuff which the UK has worked long and hard on on its own, and won’t want to share.

I’m sure the French must have similar issues even if nEUROn is a multinational project.

How might that work?

Looking at the Adour power issue I have pondered why they didn’t make the drone slightly bigger and go for a different engine.

An ideal solution IMHO would of been to use the RB199 MK104, now stick with me on this one:

1) There were plenty RB199 MK104 going spare as the Tornado F.3 fleet were being drawn down to retirement
2) There is plenty of experience with the engine
3) It is fairly fuel efficient
4) Would of provided more power
5) Is similar in size to the EJ200 allowing the option to swap out for that engine at a future date

Remember the first Typhoon were powered by the RB199.

Still needs an extra logistical chain. What advantage does it offer over CAMM, which will be in inventory anyway, to justify that?

Anyhow I believe these days the RN like the 20mm Gatling gun of the Phalanx for its ability to quickly rip apart small boats and the last ditch nature of its use against anti ship missiles is a bonus. Also the Falklands and San Carlos waters still sticks in the minds of navy planners, tight waters where missile systems are not so effective if the T21 and T42 had Phalanx they might well of had a better chance against those low flying fast jets carrying dumb bombs.