http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/nato-warship-hms-duncan-towed-back-to-plymouth-just-two-days-after-leaving-devonport/story-29928583-detail/story.html

After all the talk about Kuznetsov and her tugs.

Ah! Just some teething problems on new tech – a bit like an Armata tank breaking down on Red Square.

If this is the only contestation you have about my post, it went WAY better than I expected.

I wasn’t really bothered by the rest of your post, one way or another, obviously. I just wanted to point out something which people tend to forget when they mention the Typhoon’s multiple production locations.

Radius Wing action “Admiral Kuznetsov”

http://bmpd.livejournal.com/2270527.html

That radius map was originally sourced from a French language blog – they don’t provide any kind of source for the combat radiuses given, so it could be just complete conjecture on the French blogger’s behalf. Best to treat the map with a pinch of salt?

???

Typhoon has been a failure on the export market. In particular it cannot really compete against the Rafale on technical capabilities (not today, it does not even have AESA; and not in the future, when Rafale development will get a big boost from the Indian deal), and it cannot compete against F-35 on both capabilities and price; and it cannot compete against the Gripen E on price.

It lost in Brazil, Denmark, India, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland. It will lose also in Finland.

C’est la vie.

I’m pretty certain that twice the number of countries operate, or will operate, the Typhoon, and twice the number of Typhoons have been produced, compared to the Rafale?

Zaslon was the first fighter-borne PESA ever installed. Electronic beam steering and absence of moving parts alone put the accuracy and reliability numbers to a new league.. Can’t see why it wouldn’t be more accurate and reliable than anything slotted out there once the bugs were ironed out.

There is little evidence that Zaslon was a reliable radar. The PESA type antenna might be reliable but the there is also the back end of the radar system to consider, processor unit etc.

AWG-9 sucked against ground clutter.. Just like the APS-96, it might have been great over water but the performance over the terrain allegedly was less than satisfactory. The Zaslon, OTOH, has been designed for over-the-terrain ops against low flying low-RCS targets like cruise missiles from the outset. Can you see a pattern popping out here?

I can see the R-33/R-37 having a problem with wildly maneuvering targets, the question remains if you have the balls to evade a Mach 4 missile with a warhead of rather monstrous dimensions..

Don’t forget that many F-14s were upgraded with the APG-71 radar in the 1980s – AWG-9 is 1960s tech.

The APG-71 was a 1980s upgrade of the AWG-9 for use on the F-14D. It incorporates technology and common modules developed for the APG-70 radar used in the F-15E Strike Eagle, providing significant improvements in (digital) processing speed, mode flexibility, clutter rejection, and detection range. The system features a low-sidelobe antenna, a sidelobe-blanking guard channel, and monopulse angle tracking; all of which are intended to make the radar less vulnerable to jamming.

The system itself is capable of a 460-mile (740 km) range, but the antenna design limits this to only 230 miles (370 km). Use of datalinked data allows two or more F-14D’s to operate the system at its maximum range.

Hughes delivered enough APG-71 radars and spares to equip 55 F-14Ds before the program was scaled back as a cost-cutting measure and eventually canceled. The F-14 was officially retired from United States Navy service on September 22, 2006, with the last flight occurring October 4, 2006. The last navy squadron utilizing the F-14 was VF-31

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AN/AWG-9#AN.2FAPG-71

A MiG-29K crashed at Mediterranean; Any info/confirmation about this incident from Russian posters???

http://www.combataircraft.net/2016/11/14/russian-navy-mig-29-in-mediterranean/

https://theaviationist.com/2016/11/14/russian-mig-29k-from-adm-kuznetsov-aircraft-carrier-has-crashed-in-mediterranean-sea/

That’s the third MiG-29KUB that has been lost in the last few years – and people are criticising the F-22’s crash rate?

thats ****ty but rafale m is the carrier variant so f-22 couldnt be used,

Well I know that.:rolleyes:

I’m just passing comment on the fact that people are always criticising the F-22’s availability record – when in fact it doesn’t seem any worse than most other combat types brought into service in the last 10 or 20 years.
Take a look at Typhoon’s, Rafale’s and Su-30MKI past records.