Are we there yet?…..are we there yet?

In a joint “confidential” missive to the Prime Minister sent last week, British PM David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel — along with Italian and Spanish Prime Ministers — have said the EADS’ Eurofighter is an “excellent aircraft that stands on its own merit”.

The joint letter has also welcomed India as the “fifth partner country” in jointly developing the medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA), in the event of Eurofighter being chosen for the contract. The four PMs have also reaffirmed the “security of supply” in the case of Eurofighter Typhoon.

This joint letter, sources said, is “unprecedented” since the four countries have lent strategic support to the commercial deal ahead of the final decision. They are pitted against the French government-backed Rafale.

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/UKItalyGermanySpainpitchforEurofighter/892756/

Jane’s Gareth Jennings enters the fray:

Japan is currently in the early stages of developing its own indigenous ATD-X stealth fighter, so any expertise that can be gained from industrial participation in F-35 production will certainly be welcome. In all likelihood it’s this, coupled with Japan’s long-standing political and industrial allegiance to the U.S., that secured F-X success for the F-35.

http://the-diplomat.com/flashpoints-blog/2011/12/22/japans-f-35-choice-questioned-2/

Imho, what India needs is a broadband stealth successor to the Tu-22M3, namely a rapid response, long range (~7,000km)/endurance strike bomber primarily for area denial of enemy naval combatants in the Indian Ocean, but also to reach their interests in the Persian Gulf and the South China Sea.

I guess the Indian MoD will take a serious look at such an aircraft probably next decade, as such a platform would be well suited for internal carriage of the hypersonic BrahMos 2 (with its 600 mile range). Perhaps like a scaled-down NGB, as the intercontinental PAK-DA may be too big, expensive and surplus to requirements. Maybe even a large UCAV packing 2 BrahMos 2s would be the cheapest option- something like a scaled-up X-47B but with twice it’s range (~4,000nm).

Nuclear deterrence can be left to their IRBMs and future SSBNs, as I don’t envisage such an aircraft overflying the Chinese mainland (or around the coast of SE Asia) to attack coastal targets in the PRC.

Given the careful shaping and discrete installation of the 101KS-U sensors below the cockpit and above the tail, I’d say the Russkies are happy with their treated main IRST sensor, 101KS-V.

’52’s aborted take-off @ MAKS:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMamX3Si6hM

No it’s true, the APU inlets have been modified- they slope outwards as opposed to inwards on 51 & 52, and there appears to be a single 101KS-U sensor under the cockpit.

That’s the whole point, Mack8- this appears to be the first stage of the radar blocker for the ATD-X’s engine (which incorporates a complex series of fixed and variable inlet guide vanes in three stages). It is obvious a similar solution will be sought on the PAK-FA (and possibly even Boeing’s NGAD), and what we see on that (now infamous) picture is some sort of aerodynamic simulator for the yet to be installed device- they even look similar. The T-50’s engine installation & geometry simply don’t add-up for that thing to be the real comp.face.

Not quite, radome shape is important because (despite transparency) it is an integrated component of frontal LO (and aerodynamic) shaping, hence dictating array shape (‘diamond’ on AN/APG-77 and elliptical on N036) otherwise F-22 and T-50 would have conventional round radomes and arrays.

On a conventional m-scan the back of the antenna and front of the bulkhead would be insulated with plastic/carbon RAM foam to mitigate returns, but on a solid-state AESA the array is canted with corresponding ‘saw teeth’ around the external joins. I’m not sure to what extent either fighter uses/will use frequency selective surfaces (FSS), whereby a combination of material use acts to transmit or reflect the EM wave selectively through the radome- but I see what you’re getting at, Msphere.

Mack8, here’s the original report:

http://www.1tv.ru/news/techno/191751