It just hit me how ironic the Swiss Gripen acquisition his. Afterall the Swiss designed this two decades ago!
And if the mission is long range strike against a fixed land target, don’t forget that the RAAF have integrated the JASSM with the classics. JASSM is a more stealthy missile than Storm Shadow, helping to lower the chance of you having to repeat the mission at a latter date.
And for strike missions generally, can you really write off the F-18F? With its APG-79 giving its two man crew simultaneous air and ground modes, how would it compare to the Typhoon with its old tech radar and single man crew? Then we could talk about the Rhino’s much deeper and coherent use of low observable technologies…
1º “JASSM is a more stealthy missile than Storm Shadow” – Based on what? A highly doubtfull claim and one that MBDA would surely dispute.
2º “With its APG-79 giving its two man crew simultaneous air and ground modes, how would it compare to the Typhoon with its old tech radar and single man crew?” – Hmmm…
3º “Then we could talk about the Rhino’s much deeper and coherent use of low observable technologies” – You had access to the RCS charts of the two aircrafts? And having to hang on everything in external pylons doesnt compromise in any way the RCS of those aircrafts, right?
The SHornet is a much more mature platform in the ATG scenario, no contest there, but if you want to highlight the SH strong points use coherent reasons.
Just to name a few F-16Blk60 RCS reduction measures:
Have Glass I/II, semi-recessed faceted FLIR, internal IRST (as opposed to a pod), and CFTs instead of under-wing EFTs.
Part (or the totality for the fortunates with enough money) of the Have Glass I/II programs can be found in an awfull lot of EPAF Viper MLU TAPE 4 and 5 around Europe (at least the Dutch bought enough paint for their entire fleet, i wouldnt vouch for FAP, but at least the canopy his ok)… And the Block 60 doesnt have part of the Have Glass II (it doesnt need to, a chunk of HGII had to do with mechanical antena of the radar, RAM behind the antena, it was part of the Pacer MUD Program), and i would be a bit surprised that the UAE had actually bought PACER GEM II, the material is “famous” for looking dirty in a very short time, the UAE Vipers looked ok even after being operated for quite some time (yes, the material can be replaced often, that would explain it).
Semi-Recessed faceted Flir?! Have you ever looked of a photo of the “thing”? It heavily protrudes from the front of the fuselage! Have you ever seen anything from LM claiming that this particular equipment and location have anything to do with RCS reduction?
Internal IRST, its not exactly a cutting edge stealth feature, now is it?
And finally the CFT´s are there because without them the Block 60 would be able to bomb the end of the runway…
The Block 60 has the worst internal fuel fraction of every fighter/combat aircraft in production today, it has slightly less internal fuel than a Gripen NG while weighting the same has a RAFALE. The CFT´s in this particular aircraft are not an optional, they are a necessity, unless the mission his defending the airspace over its air base (yeah, i am exagerating a bit, but not much).
All in all i would be a bit surprised that this Viper version would have a smaller RCS by comparison with the likes of the Eurocanards. I am the first to acknoladge that the RCS is not measured by the “eyemeter”, but that particular Viper has external protuberances all over the place.
Take note tho that EF is also displayed from it’s best side, with the semi recessed stations occupied.
Can EF carry Meteor on those stations ?
Yes it can. This particular AAM was designed specificaly with those stations in mind. The MBDA Meteor was designed around RAF Staff Requirement (Air) 1239, wich laid the specifications for a medium/long AAM to be used (specificaly) in the Typhoon.
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