LindermyerI think there isn’t. The idea is that the AESA antennas of spectra are able to accurately pinpoint and jam adverse radars. I think the TRD doesn’t fit in the philosophy of SPECTRA at all.
Nic
Cheers and obviously as you worked out my question should have read towed decoy, subhunting at 400 Kts??
im a bit suprised by the decision, thinking of HOJ etc but each to there own
Lindermyer[QUOTE Considering its mediocre RCS and its anemic flight performance at slow speeds, Eurofighter has an uphill battle on his hands when facing a Rafale in BVR and WVR.[/QUOTE]
Accuracy of the above not withstanding the comment could also be re written as (again accuarcy not withstanding)
Considering its mediocre RCS and its anemic flight performance at high speeds, Rafale has an uphill battle on his hands when facing a Typhoon in BVR and WVR
My point being all aircraft have areas where they excell and where they lag, The idea is to keep the engagment in youre area of strength not the opponents, In short a Typhoon pilot will not try to go low and slow with a rafale,
Is there any plan to install a towed array onto the rafale
LindermyerNosing through other forums and spanish news paper translations it appears the sequence of events was more along the lines of
Aircraft pushed back = complete failure to start APU,
Engineers at aircraft at around the 45 minute mark Ryan air instructed to move aircraft it is around this point the door was opened, the aircraft was then stuck as the slide had deployed, for a further 3 hours.
So it appears contrary to the origional reports the door was not opened after 4 hours of delays. Doesnt make it clear wether the baby was dehydrated at this point or later, I suspect later.
The news also makes a big deal about the flight deck having aircon and the passengers suffering, Without engines, APU or a ground cart (which would have also done the cabin) this wont have been the case.
As has been pointed out opening the doors without steps is a definate No No.
and also just opening the doors doesnt help like the afformentioned gent been their done that.
On another forum somebody suggested opening doors and blocking them with galley carts – not something i would like tobe justifying to ‘THE’ authority
Now i wont dispute claims it could have been handled better as im not in possetion of all the facts, but lets not condemn the crew on rumour and tabloid reporting.
Cant believe Im speaking in Ryan Scares defence.
LindermyerI dont recall the army ever claiming the future is coin – thats very much government and pundit driven. In fact the army has allways wanted to retain its heavy armour.
Dannat and Co argued for the cuts to fall on the other services as the army was bearing the weight in afghanistan.
Nobody seriously belives the army avoided the cuts – they merely delayed the inevitable – and yes that meant worse cuts elswhere.
Come 2015 the army will see large scale reductions.
But yes the army are really pushing the Heavy armour issue – especially as its keeps being suggested that its all scrapped – and light armour and or ied protected vehicles are make up the fleet.
which is fine until you actually have to kick the door in.
Personally The navy has been cut to far the Escort fleet should never have dropped below 25
The airforce is probably ok although id like to see a couple more fast jet sqns and support helicopter go to the army. (Do we still need 60 chinooks if were choping the army)
the army could reduce to 80-90 000 and we accept no long term commitments at aove brigade strength. Howver it needs to retain certain capabilities heavy armour and aviation being 2 of them
LindermyerI think Marshall’s plan has legs – we do not have to convert all that many C-130’s to at least retain basic capabilities, and the cost of say converting 4 or 5 C-130’s in a few years time would be a lot less than a new buy (not to mention that we would already have stock of spares and trained maintainers), and we could then guarantee that we had a C-130 MPA available at all time for LR SAR coordination or to cover the Vanguards as they head to sea.
I think id rather they bought backthe shak – c130s are not the smoothest or quietest of aircraft –
LindermyerAll I know is that the MRA4 decision is something that will come back to haunt them. Probably sooner rather than later if my reading of the South American situation is correct. 😡
Whilst I agree scrapping the MPA capability is a mistake (and one that will be rectified As soon as funds permit) I dont think the same could be said of the MRA4.
Had it been new build and a possible contender for the US P8 programme then
A many problems relating to bespoke and not jig built airframes would not have arisen
B the potential sales would have made the investment worthwhile
Rumours about airworthiness concerns still not resolved I wont pass comment on as i do not know.
As it is it is still a few years away from being ready and a few hundred million (to paraphrase BAE) away as well.
With the small number we were getting upgrades would have been prohibitive.
I think the MRA4 programme should have been axed about 5 years ago and definatly when numbers dropped below double figures,
P.S which bright spark retired MR2 early thus leaving us with a 1-2 yr capabillity gap thus paving the way for a 5 – 10 year extension.
LindermyerI agree with you, except about the slide deployment. Deployment of those things at the hands of qualified cabin crew is usually not a problem. However, this process in the hands of an ordinary or unsupervised passenger is fraught with danger, not only to the deployer, but those around him/her. I’d dearly like to know more about the circumstances surrounding this, especially how anyone other than the cabin crew, was able to do this. Were the doors not manned by crew members? if not, why not? We may probably never know.
I was once very nearly on the wrong end of a door deployment – by a non qualified person but with legimiate reason to be on the aircraft.
They were in the aircraft it was very hot stuffy and a bit (solvent) fume ridden and they decided to open a rear door for ventilation, as I was working directly above the door and in front of its stops at the time, had one of my coleagues not seen and physically stopped him, It would not have improved my looks.
(there was no external access to the door and all the mechs new i was there but in hindsight i perhaps should have put a big DO NOT TOUCH on it).
LindermyerMy gut tells me there is more to this than the article tells.
We all know that the new media these days dramatise things. Drama sells.Interesting is how the article does not mention a single thing about the passenger who caused an emergency slide to deploy, until a single sentence at the end of the article.
Why would they article not go into more detail about that? My gut says it’s only mentioned briefly to keep the negativity focused on FR.Once that slide deployed, that aircraft was grounded until a new one could be installed.
Whilst absolutly not a fan of Ryan Air – I hope that the pax who deployed that slide is prosecuted to the full extent of the law (assuming there was no danger to life),
Setting that slide off could well have endangered the enginneers/airport personnel working around the aircraft.
His/her actions were irresponsible (not to mention criminal)
LindermyerUPS are banned from self screening their cargo it has to go through UK channels as the CAA arent happy with UPS security arrangements.
at least thats my understanding – i admit the headline had me scratching my head, although no where near as much as “Virgin alerts clients to virus infection”
Lindermyeras they were offered to the air force not navy – could it be they are expired airframes regarding carrier ops
LindermyerWhat comment are you referring to? What 3rd hand story are you referring to? Can you re-explain your second paragraph? I don’t follow.
Cheers
I think he means its a bullish, over excited and somewhat cheeky comment, in much the same way as other comments have been made about other aircraft, (but are sometimes treated as gospel).
LindermyerAIR International, June, 2011:
Typhoon’s First Spike by Jon Lake
Air Vice Marshal Greg Bagwell, AOC No.1 Group:
“Nothing touches it! I can tell you now, we have done DACT with Su-30s, F-15s, and F-16s. The only aeroplane that Typhoon would be frightened of is the F-22. But they won’t do any combat with us, because they have only got to lose once and they’re second place for ever. We have been on exercise with them, but they have not, shall we say, engaged.”
Dact proves nothing and is particuarly meaningless without context, however he is clearly pleased with the aircrafts abilities and hopefully a posotive comment from an operator will stiffle some naysayers in the press
LindermyerSorry Swerve, but Dannatt was CDS when the Army was begging for helos in Afghanistan. The cheapest and easiest solution would have been to buy Blackhawks off the shelf as an Urgent Operational Requirement, but if that had happened:
a) they would have been flown by the RAF, because of their size; and
b) it would have ballsed up the order for Lynx Wildcats (still not in service!), which in turn would have compromised the Army Air Corps.
The government was under big pressure over the poor equipment for our troops in Afghanistan, and if the CDS had said they needed Blackhawks, he’d have got them. So why didn’t he? You have to draw your own conclusions, I doubt he ever signed a memo saying “I have decided I would rather let men die in Afghanistan than risk the future of the Army Air Corps.” Having said that, Dannatt is so damned stupid he just might have done!
But wildcat / scout is a different requirement to support helicopter and dropping wildcat would have ballsed up the navy as well.
so you are effectivly saying taht because GB cut the budget the CDS had a choice fund puma replacement or lynx replacement and hes a ****** because he chose lynx which the army and navy required not Support helicopter which the army also required.
Seems to me he made a bad decision out of a choice of 2 bad decisions.
Dannet is starting to qualify for sympathy from myself since he seems to be the focal point of all cuts related anger.
OK he really pushed the issue to minimise cuts to the army (prior to 2015 at least), and yes it was a bit short sighted if we take the long view, but land forces are heavily commited, and in many ways its his own kith and Kin on the line.
What would we be saying about him if he hadnt fought the armys quarter and gained a stay of execution until post Afghan.
Land centric he may be, misguided and wrong possibly but lets not turn him into the bogey man.
if were going to lay blame lets look at the people that commited us to 2 wars, whilst only funding a force sufficient for 1, in real terms cutting that forces budget by year, and pissing around with things like CVF etc causing massive price increases in the long term just to make a years figures look better (BAE for once not being responsible for massive overuns and delays)
Oh and nimrod should have been new builds ( thus enabling us to bid for P8) or killed off years ago.
Puma should have been repalced back when pontius was a pilate.
On topic i suspect the 5th Apache will be ferried into theatre and will be used as a spare airframe
LindermyerMy point about Dannatt was prompted by mention of his article in the Telegraph, in which he credited the Army Apaches, but did not mention HMS Ocean. This was not an oversight on his part. He is an Army politician, and rather than support a plan to acquire Blackhawks at the expense of the Army’s Wildcats, he would rather see the Army go without the Blackhawks. Given that sort of mindset, failing to credit the Royal Navy is nothing for a man like him. As I say, the way the press give him credit as some sort of military go-to guy sticks in my craw. He’s nothing special. His judgment is so poor that he allowed himself to be talked into being announced as a Conservative defence adviser whilst he was still employed by the Army, before he had even retired. No great intelligence, just an adept political operator. Every large organisation has people like him, and, sadly, they often claw their way to the top.
But buying blackhawks at the expense of wildcats leaves the army without a light utility/scout – so i suppose from an army point off view its seen as a choice between light utility scout or larger utility.
the blame should really fall at the door of procurment **** ups and defence cuts and posponments in the last 10-20 years
LindermyerOxymoron : Real simulations :p
given the content of the post i would drop the oxy.
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